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gluten_freeA beautiful cookbook that takes full advantage of the alternative flours available to us, is low on rice, and doesn't rely on gums to give structure to baked goods. Taylor-Tobin uses combinations of gluten-free flours to provide flavor and texture, but she also relies a lot on dairy for flavor and texture, so if you're dairy free and not comfortable with swapping out dairy products, this might not be the book for you, but check out the dairy-free or vegan tags on her blog.
Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours, Alanna Taylor-Tobin: A beautiful, and beautifully arranged, cookbook. Each recipe lists what flours it uses right up top, tells you what to expect from the dough/batter, and describes the taste and texture of the finished product. Occasionally there will be instructions for variations using a different set of flours or spices. Taylor-Tobin loves figs so they're everywhere. Also flavors like lemon verbena, bergamot, and matcha. Stuff you might not have just lying around your kitchen, but she explains how to substitute for them or just leave them out completely.
There are gorgeous color photographs—taken by Taylor-Tobin—accompanying every recipe. The paper is thick and glossy, and even the type is pleasing; it's just a beautiful book and a great reference. It has an index, and if you look under the entry for a flour, all the recipes that use that flour will be listed, and at the front there's a page with recipes sorted into three difficulty levels based on the fussiness and obscurity of the flour. In the middle, the recipes are arranged by type: breakfast, cake, pie, tarts, rustic fruit desserts, custards, puddings and spoon desserts, cookies and bars. At the very end is a section on the flours, describing their characteristics, flavor profiles, and weight by volume, as well as how much is too much in one recipe, the flour's history, and where to source it. She also tells us what brand name she used in her testing, as grinds vary between brands. She uses a lot of Bob's Red Mill, which is good news for me because I'm lucky enough to live near Bob's actual Red Mill.
The recipes stand on their own, with measurements in weight or volume, making it easy to substitute flours by weight. There are no pre-prepared flour mixes to mix or buy. Instead of gums, Taylor-Tobin relies on the flours themselves to provide structure, and only occasionally uses psyllium husks or ground chia seeds to act as gum substitutes. She's a big fan of sweet rice flour, made from glutinous rice (which is gluten free despite its name), for its stickiness, and doesn't use white or brown rice flour because of their gritty texture. She also uses millet, oat, corn, sorghum, buckwheat, chestnut, almond, and coconut flours, as well as about five others. In that section at the end, the flours are sorted into groups based on their flavors, and Taylor-Tobin suggests choosing substitutions from within the same group.
Taylor-Tobin can also be found at Bojon Gourmet, where you can get a look at her gorgeous photographs. Her blog has more chatter than the book, which is strictly business, and while she talks about the nutritional benefits of the ingredients she uses, she doesn't go on about "healthy eating" or take us on any kind of Gluten Free Journey, which I appreciate immensely. The blog also contains savory recipes, as well as cocktails, while the book only does baking. Be advised there are a few recipes on the blog that contain wheat or products that may contain gluten such as bourbon.
I've made several of her recipes and they all turned out great. I especially liked the blueberry muffins made with corn flour, oat flour, and sweet rice flour.
This review appeared on my journal in a slightly different form.
Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours, Alanna Taylor-Tobin: A beautiful, and beautifully arranged, cookbook. Each recipe lists what flours it uses right up top, tells you what to expect from the dough/batter, and describes the taste and texture of the finished product. Occasionally there will be instructions for variations using a different set of flours or spices. Taylor-Tobin loves figs so they're everywhere. Also flavors like lemon verbena, bergamot, and matcha. Stuff you might not have just lying around your kitchen, but she explains how to substitute for them or just leave them out completely.
There are gorgeous color photographs—taken by Taylor-Tobin—accompanying every recipe. The paper is thick and glossy, and even the type is pleasing; it's just a beautiful book and a great reference. It has an index, and if you look under the entry for a flour, all the recipes that use that flour will be listed, and at the front there's a page with recipes sorted into three difficulty levels based on the fussiness and obscurity of the flour. In the middle, the recipes are arranged by type: breakfast, cake, pie, tarts, rustic fruit desserts, custards, puddings and spoon desserts, cookies and bars. At the very end is a section on the flours, describing their characteristics, flavor profiles, and weight by volume, as well as how much is too much in one recipe, the flour's history, and where to source it. She also tells us what brand name she used in her testing, as grinds vary between brands. She uses a lot of Bob's Red Mill, which is good news for me because I'm lucky enough to live near Bob's actual Red Mill.
The recipes stand on their own, with measurements in weight or volume, making it easy to substitute flours by weight. There are no pre-prepared flour mixes to mix or buy. Instead of gums, Taylor-Tobin relies on the flours themselves to provide structure, and only occasionally uses psyllium husks or ground chia seeds to act as gum substitutes. She's a big fan of sweet rice flour, made from glutinous rice (which is gluten free despite its name), for its stickiness, and doesn't use white or brown rice flour because of their gritty texture. She also uses millet, oat, corn, sorghum, buckwheat, chestnut, almond, and coconut flours, as well as about five others. In that section at the end, the flours are sorted into groups based on their flavors, and Taylor-Tobin suggests choosing substitutions from within the same group.
Taylor-Tobin can also be found at Bojon Gourmet, where you can get a look at her gorgeous photographs. Her blog has more chatter than the book, which is strictly business, and while she talks about the nutritional benefits of the ingredients she uses, she doesn't go on about "healthy eating" or take us on any kind of Gluten Free Journey, which I appreciate immensely. The blog also contains savory recipes, as well as cocktails, while the book only does baking. Be advised there are a few recipes on the blog that contain wheat or products that may contain gluten such as bourbon.
I've made several of her recipes and they all turned out great. I especially liked the blueberry muffins made with corn flour, oat flour, and sweet rice flour.
This review appeared on my journal in a slightly different form.
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Date: 2019-10-15 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-15 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-16 05:10 pm (UTC)I made these Soft and Chewy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from the blog, and of course I overcooked them so they were crispy as hell, but they still tasted very good.