Gluten-Free Baking

America's Test Kitchen is a TV cooking show produced by the folks who publish Cook's Illustrated.  It airs on public television stations in the U.S., and is also seen in Canada.  I've only picked up a couple copies of the magazine, but the half-hour TV show is definitely worth watching.

Part of my interest is the "test kitchen" aspect.  My father worked for the Colonnade Cafeteria Co., which maintained a test kitchen in Cleveland.  For more than 30 years this kitchen tested and retested every recipe served in firm's cafeterias.  They also developed what I consider the finest lemon meringue pie ever baked.  I've never found one to equal it.  Alas, the firm went bankrupt a few years after my father retired, and all the recipes were destroyed.

Test kitchens serve a good purpose, and the folks at America's Test Kitchen have been applying their testing skills to the problem of gluten-free baking.  I have friends who must eat gluten-free.  Avoiding wheat isn't easy; it's in lots of processed foods.  Moreover, finding or making high quality gluten-free baked goods is real challenge.  But this morning I learned that ATK is publishing a gluten-free baking cookbook.  Here's what they emailed me today:    

Our test kitchen has been working for two years on perhaps the most difficult project we have ever undertaken. Gluten-free baked goods are, well, awful. I say that from personal experience, having tasted muffins, cookies, pizza, and bread all made with a variety of gluten-free flour mixes including rice and beans. Muffins turn out damp and sweet; the pizza is more like a thin cracker crust than a chewy pizza; the cookies are mealy and fall apart; and the sandwich bread has no chew and is gritty. 

We quickly realized that no matter what gluten-free flour mix formula we were using (we ended up creating our own but store-bought also works), we also had to reinvent our techniques. Some batters had to be stirred hard. Others had to sit for a half hour. Pizza crust had to hydrate for a long time before par baking. But the results were spectacular—or, to put it another way, this food was, in most cases, as good as the real thing. (I could not tell that our gluten-free muffins and pancakes were not made with wheat flour. Even Jack Bishop, our editorial director, was fooled by the chocolate chip cookie—he thought we were testing the regular Toll House recipe.) 

The result is The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook. It is absolutely the best work our test kitchen has ever done since it is the ultimate marriage of food science and testing methodology. The cover price is $26.95, but we are offering copies at just $19.95. If you wish to purchase additional copies, they are priced at a full 50% off the cover price. If you know anyone who bakes gluten-free, I could not recommend this volume more highly. Order today and save up to 50%.

ATK claims their recipes are dynamite.  If you have to avoid gluten, or have a relative or friend who does so, this cookbook might be worth a look. •••