Gluten-Free Baking In Culinary Institutes

Dessert doesn't have to be off-limits to those with celiac sprue disease, because culinary institutes are instructing students in gluten-free baking.

by Sue Booth
sue.booth@cooking-school-search.com
Cooking School Search Columnist

Individuals with celiac sprue disease cannot tolerate gluten protein from wheat, barley, rye, or oat. To these folks, most baked goods are forbidden. With the awareness of celiac disease, culinary institutes are addressing the need to create baking recipes without gluten. As a baking school student, you may be faced with the task of developing a gluten-free baking recipe.

Gluten-Free Baking Ingredients 101

As a baking school student you will learn that there are gluten substitute ingredients that can make a chocolate brownie a chewy and delicious culinary delight.

Here are some ingredients that you may use as a baking school student in a gluten-free culinary institute class:

• Baking Flour
• White Rice Flour - ground rice from which traces of hulls, bran, and germ have been removed.
• Brown Rice Flour - ground rice with bran
• Cornmeal/Corn Flour - ground whole corn that is available in either coarse or fine textures for baking.
• Cornstarch - flavor-free and smooth in texture, cornstarch provides stability to gluten-free baking
• Potato Starch - made from cooked potatoes and creates a light and airy texture to baking, not to be confused with potato flour.
• Sweet White Sorghum Flour - ground from a grassy plant, this flour has a nutty flavor and adds protein to baking.
• Baking Gum
• Xanthan Gum - a derivative of corn sugar bacteria that replicates gluten, allows breads to rise, and provides structure to baked goods.
• Baking With Dairy
• Sweet Dairy Whey - this inexpensive by-product of the cheese-making process and will give your baking great color and a creamy flavor. Don’t confuse it with whey protein powders, and check your baking ingredients labels.

Your kitchen will have to be stocked with new and different ingredients; soy flour, tofu, and yogurt are also good baking substitutes.

Baking school students will learn that it may take many attempts to get baked goods to be moist and chewy, but many culinary institutes impress upon their students to not thrown in the towel when it comes to gluten-free baking.

Sources:

Gluten Avoided in Brownies
Gluten-Free Ingredients

About the author

Sue Booth is a freelance writer and a former panel taste tester for Good Housekeeping magazine.

Posted on November 4, 2006 at 3:04 PM

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