HOW TO USE THIS BOOK - Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours - Alanna Taylor-Tobin

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