The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread : More than 200 Wheat-Free Recipes

Rating:
Summary: Great recipes, not so great ingredients
Review: I use recipes from this book on a weekly basis for my gluten-free son. It's definitely a worthwhile purchase for the yeast-bread recipes. My son refused to eat sandwiches made on gluten-free bread until I started using Hagman's bread recipes. I like her recipes with garfava flour the best - no gritty rice-flour texture. On the down side, the ingredients are hard to find, as other reviewers have stated. I have to mail-order the flours, and I have not tried many of the recipes because they call for ingredients I just do not keep on hand and would probably not use in other recipes, like NutQuik or almond meal. As for her non-yeast bread recipes, I have had just as much luck adapting wheat recipes myself, and a lot of these recipes are based on mixes that she provides the recipe for. I have not tried these recipes, either, because I am not willing to put my expensive flours into a large quantity of a mix that I'm not positive will turn out well. Overall, this is a very useful book, and considering the limited availability of sources for gluten-free recipes, it's a must-have.

Rating:
Summary: yum!
Review: I use this book all the time and the recipes I have tried are excellent. Try adding chopped walnuts to the Quinoa bread recipe on page 70. The poppy seed bread is very good for sandwiches. I find adding a teaspoon or two (depending on loaf size)of baking powder helps keep the bread from collapsing once out of the oven. Always using the minimum amount of water helps, too. All Bette Hagman's books are a godsend for celiacs.

Rating:
Summary: Bread-HOT from the oven again!
Review: I've always made bread for my family. When I got the diagnosis of Celiac disease I felt crushed even though I nearly died from this disease before the doctors properly diagnosed my illness. None of my families old favorites worked with these darned gluten free flours! Now at long last I have a book that helps me get the start I needed to get going again with the gluten free flours that I must use in order to live.

Rating:
Summary: Best tasting gluten-free bread
Review: I've had this book on my shelf for a while, always putting off baking some gluten-free bread partly because most gluten-free recipes come out disastrously and partly because I take the easy way out and buy a loaf of rice bread at the local health food/WF store.

The other day I was having a rice-bread shortage so I thought I'd try a recipe, "Basic Featherlight Rice Bread," from the cookbook. Good thing I gave it a try. That was the best, most delicious gluten-free bread I have ever tasted. The texture couldn't be more perfect, crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle, qualities that I miss and long for from regular bread. It tastes very delicious. It also doesn't necessarily need to be toasted, as most gluten-free breads require to make them more palatable. The bread was actually very easy to make. The batter is much like cake batter, thus no worries or guess work in the kneading department. I had only filled the loaf pan barely to the quarter mark, and after about an hour the darn thing rose to the top edge of the pan. I was shocked. There was one ingredient that I had to omit, the egg replacer, since I didn't have any at hand and I really do not know what it is anyways. The bread came out perfectly regardless. I also substituted the xanthum gum with guar gum since it is significantly cheaper...

Bette Hagman organizes her recipes according to how much bread you would like to make, from small, medium or large. This was extremely helpful since I didn't want to go too overboard. She includes instructions for bread machines as well. She gives a lot of different suggestions for flour mixes that you can use. I personally prefer the rice/tapioca/potato starch mixture, so I most likely will ignore the other suggestions. Hagman has truly found an excellent method to "raise" gluten-free breads, since gluten is what allows regular wheat breads to rise so well.

I highly, highly recommend this book. I think it'll be a long time before I buy gluten-free bread at the store again.

Rating:
Summary: Thank God for Betty!!
Review: If you are diagnosed with Celiac Disease Betty Hageman's books are a MUST BUY!! She is a plethora of information and great recipes!! The best part is she speaks from experience.

Rating:
Summary: Great Glutten-free book for dummies
Review: If you have a wheat intolerance this is the book to get. And if you have never made bread, this is the book to get. It explains every step with straight forward instructions. ... Happy baking!

Rating:
Summary: GFG Bakes Bread is Great!
Review: My children and I were diagnosed with food allergies 1 1/2 yrs ago. I tried quite a few food allergy cookbooks. The results ranged from tolerable to absolutely gross. I wasn't sure if there were any decent recipes out there for wheat, dairy and egg allergies. There are. Ms. Hagnman is absolutely wonderful. Her recipes make our food life much more enjoyable. We especially enjoy her hamburger bun recipe. Anyone out there looking for easy and delicious allergy recipes, this is the place.

Rating:
Summary: GFG Bakes Bread is Great!
Review: My children and I were diagnosed with food allergies 1 1/2 yrs ago. I tried quite a few food allergy cookbooks. The results ranged from tolerable to absolutely gross. I wasn't sure if there were any decent recipes out there for wheat, dairy and egg allergies. There are. Ms. Hagnman is absolutely wonderful. Her recipes make our food life much more enjoyable. We especially enjoy her hamburger bun recipe. Anyone out there looking for easy and delicious allergy recipes, this is the place.

Rating:
Summary: New French Bread that we don't have to die over.
Review: The book is wonderful. To be celiac in Iowa is very simple. All the local grocery stores carry the flours needed for nearly everyone of Bette's recipes. If the issue was needing to order the supplies I would in a heartbeat if it meant eating items that tasted like the original.

The New French Bread recipe is great. It is so good that my daughter eats that over her wheat bread! Life is too short to eat bad food... Order her books, all of them!

Rating:
Summary: Not for those on a high-protein diet
Review: This book is probably heaven for celiacs, but for those who are just looking to avoid wheat (not all gluten) it may not fit the bill. I am on a high-protein diet and the suggested flour mixes that contain CUPS of cornstarch would probably put me in a hypoglycemic coma! If you are looking for recipes for alternate flours just because you are seeking a healthier diet, this probably isn't your best bet.