Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours - Alanna Taylor-Tobin (2016)

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Some of these recipes can seem intimidating at first, particularly if you are new to baking, to alternative flours or to working with seasonal ingredients. Here are some suggestions on how to approach these recipes without hating life. (Read more about alternative grains and flours on here and here.)

FLOUR CHILD

If you’re just beginning to dabble in GF baking (or baking at all) and are looking to stock your pantry with a few alternative grains, start with recipes that use just two or three flours.

These flours are easy to find and even easier to love with their mild flavors and multipurpose uses:

✵ Almond flour

✵ Millet flour

✵ GF oat flour and old-fashioned rolled oats

✵ Polenta/corn grits, cornmeal and corn flour

✵ Sweet white rice flour (a.k.a. glutinous rice flour; NOT regular white rice flour)

Try these easy-peasy recipes:

✵ Tart Cherry, Chocolate and Hempseed No-Bake Oat Bars

✵ Blueberry Corn Flour Muffins

✵ Creamy Baked Grits with Sweet Corn and Berries

✵ Millet Skillet Cornbread with Cherries and Honey

✵ Vanilla Butter Cake with Whipped Mascarpone and Summer Berries

✵ Fig and Olive Oil Cake

✵ Peach Brown Butter Crème Fraîche Tart

✵ Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Tart

✵ Blueberry Plum Cobbler with Corn Flour Biscuits

✵ Blackberry Crisp Frozen Yogurt

✵ Apricot Clafoutis with Honey and Cardamom

✵ Pear and Pomegranate Clafoutis with Vanilla, Saffron and Pistachios

✵ Meyer Lemon Bars with Vanilla-Almond Crust

✵ Summer Stone Fruit and Marzipan Crumble

FLOUR POWER

If you have some experience with gluten-free, alternative flour baking and wish to expand your repertoire, try these slightly less common flours:

✵ Teff flour

✵ Buckwheat flour

✵ Coconut flour

✵ Sorghum flour

And the sometimes fussier recipes that use them:

✵ Boozy Chocolate Cherry Teff Pots

✵ Apple, Buckwheat and Gruyère Puff Pancake

✵ Huckleberry Buckwheat Cheese Blintzes

✵ Buckwheat Bergamot Double Chocolate Cookies

✵ Poppy Seed, Pluot and Buckwheat Streusel Muffins

✵ Rustic Plum, Teff and Hazelnut Tart

✵ Roasted Banana Teff with Muscovado Sugar Glaze

✵ Maple Bourbon Peach Cobbler with Cinnamon Teff Biscuits

✵ Blackberry Buckwheat Crisps

✵ Buckwheat Hazelnut Pear Financiers

✵ Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Matcha Cream Cheese Frosting

✵ Sorghum Peach Oven Pancake

✵ Cashew Lime Blondies

GRAINIAC

If you’re an adventurous baker who wants ALL the flours, look for:

✵ Mesquite flour

✵ Chestnut flour

✵ Amaranth flour

And try these recipes:

✵ Apple Chestnut Tart with Salty Caramel

✵ Cherry Chestnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

✵ Salty Caramel Banana Cream Tart with Mesquite Crust

✵ Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler with Ginger-Amaranth Biscuits

✵ Mesquite Gingersnaps and Chewy Double-Ginger Molasses Cookies (and the recipes that use them)

✵ Chestnut Fig Scones

✵ Chestnut Plum Financiers

✵ Cinnamon Amaranth Peach Scones

✵ Any of the pie or pandowdy recipes; the dough takes some getting used to but produces stunning results