Gluten-free baked goods have come a long way. Not being a gluten-free individual, I don’t eat gluten-free baked things very often. But when I do I usually think they are pretty good.
Of course, the food companies love to label every food product they can gluten-free. Most people who can’t tolerate gluten know that a jar of pickles, a dozen eggs, or a can of pineapple do not contain gluten. Just another way to sell stuff, I guess.
I don’t know when gluten became evil. I certainly understand if someone has celiac disease or other disorders that prevent them from eating foods with gluten. But for me, bring on the wheat. The only reason I would avoid gluten would be to cut calories or carbs. And that happens less than it should.
My first experience with a gluten-free baked good wasn’t good. Someone brought in a gluten-free birthday cake, probably about 10 years ago. It must have weighed 40 pounds and had the texture of gluey sawdust. It would have made a great doorstop.
I have since been impressed by gf concoctions, until the other night when I was buying cookies for dessert. Perusing the cookie choices, I went for the Tates macadamia nut, white chocolate chip cookies. My eye also stopped on the brownie thins. Sounds good right? I grabbed a bag of those, too. When I got home I noticed the brownie thins were labeled — in small print — gluten-free. This did not alarm me, because Tates makes great cookies. Of course these would be up to my standards. The regular chocolate chip variety is excellent as were the macadamia ones I chose.
But the gf brownie thins? In a word, yuck! They tasted like burnt sawdust with a good dose of sand. They were so grainy they irritated my tongue. All I could think was come on, Tates, step up your game on the gluten-free products.
If people have to eat gf cookies, then at least they should be good, Mr. Tate!
— LUCY
I just have two words for you: wild yeast.
I suggest that everyone interested in the gluten-free movement read what they can from Michael Pollen on the subject.
Google it.
He raises interesting points about gluten and wild yeast and the such.
Eye-opening.
And I hope it makes people ferment on the subject, so to speak.
Meanwhile I’m going off to buy more flour from King Arthur’s.
— LOU