To blog or not to blog. . .

I won't be blogging for while. Needless to say, I've had a good scare, and can't be bothered to post anymore. Knowing that people I don't like or don't know purposely read my blog only to post comments I find inappropriate is just too much. That, and the thought of posting my recipes only to have someone else use and possibly make money from all my hard work makes my skin crawl.
So, wasalam for now, and perhaps in six months or so I'll post again.

Leslieville -Le Cafe Vert

Due to a letter I received from Sheldon N. Silverman, B.A., LL.B. Barrister, Solicitor and Notary threatening severe legal repercussions for stating my personal opinion I hereby apologize to Le Cafe Vert for any offense that may have been perceived from my right to speak my mind.

Hagman, Bette Bush	View/Sign Guest Book
Bette Bush HAGMAN, a.k.a., The Gluten-Free Gourmet Age 85, passed away peacefully on August 17, 2007 at her home in Seattle with her daughter, Karol, by her side. Bette was diagnosed with celiac disease, an intolerance to wheat, barley and rye, when she was around the age of 50. From that point forward, she dedicated herself to improving the quality of life for celiac sufferers worldwide. She was a self-taught food scientist who revolutionized gluten-free cooking by developing a number of non-gluten flour blends that replace wheat flour and dramatically expand the number of tasty foods that celiacs could prepare. Bette was an author, a teacher of writing, and a lecturer, speaking throughout the United States and Canada. Bette authored six cookbooks as Bette Hagman, a.k.a., The Gluten-Free Gourmet, and was in the middle of writing her seventh book when she passed away. Bette was a member of, and very involved with, The Writers Guild, Pacific Northwest Writer's Association, Puget Sound Sisters in Crime, and the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America for many years. The celiac community will dearly miss Bette for her energy and passion in helping to improve the lives of people with gluten intolerances through developing good tasting foods. Bette was born in Portland, Oregon, graduated from Estacadia High School at 16, and entered Linfield College, where she met Joe, her husband of 65 years. Bette spent her adult life in Seattle enjoying waterskiing, snowskiing, and golfing, as well as exploring the world on tours and cruises with her family and friends. She dearly loved the family vacation home on Stretch Island where the tranquil country setting invigorated the author in her and fostered her love of gardening. She is survived by her daughter, Karol, sister, Eva Jean, two step great-granddaughters, and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. A Celebration of her Life will be held on Sunday, October 21, 2007. If you wish to attend, please contact Gluten Intolerance Group of North America at 253 833-6655 or gig@gluten.net. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to American Celiac Disease Alliance, ACDA, (Please annotate on the check, "In memory of Bette Hagman.") Mail to: ACDA, c/o Gluten Intolerance Group of America, 31214 124th Ave SE, Auburn, WA 98092.
Published in print on 9/16/2007. Reposted from http://www.legacy.com/nwclassifieds/deathnotices.asp?Page=SearchResults (The Seattle Times Company)

Foodie Blog Roll

For those of you interested in other Foodies Blogs, you can now link to them through The Foodie Blog Roll right beside this post.

More about Filo dough

The planned attempt at filo dough is now on the back burner until after we move : ( So is pide (or pita), and a couple of other things. Moving sucks.

Le Cafe Vert

I'm now happily and firmly ensconced in my new role of Sous Chef and Gluten Free Baker Extraordinaire at Le Cafe Vert. My husband is my boss, which is fun and most informative as he has more than 15 years in professional kitchens compared to my measly 4. It's such a joy to go into work and bake my own recipes after not being able too do that with any degree of regularity anywhere else I've worked. As the weeks progress, I'll be adding to the gluten free baked items that we're currently offering (Tarts, Vegan Brownies, Bread) and offering holiday treats: Pumpkin Tarts (or Pie), Gingerbread, Biscotti, Strawberry Shortcakes, Madelienes. . .the list goes on. For now, it'll be an item or two a week. (We're finally moving house in about 3 weeks.) Once Thanksgiving hits, (and hopefully as demand increases) I'll be adding more.

Hope to see you all there! : )

Xantham Gum

Xantham gum n. A natural gum of high molecular weight produced by culture fermentation of glucose and used as a stabilizer in commercial food preparation. (from answers.com)

It's expensive, can be hard to source and indispensable in gluten free baking. It adds much needed cohesion to gluten free baked goods, especially bread.

A couple of months ago, I switched from El Peto Xantham gum to a commercially available product from Grain Processors. There is a couple of substantial differences between the two. Commercial xantham gum is a finer powder and much more potent. I use about half as much of the commercial as I would have with the El Peto product. So, in recipes that I post please take that into account.

Filo Dough

Last week, I found a recipe for filo dough in a Turkish cook book. I haven't tried it yet, but hope to this week. Filo dough, like so many other wheat pastries, is very straight forward and most of the difficulty in converting it to gluten free will probably be in getting it to handle well. Xantham gum should take care of that.

Bette Hagman

It is will great sadness I pass on the following news: last friday, Bette Hagman, beloved gluten free cookbook author, died. She was an inspiration and saviour with her six cook books that covered all aspects of gluten free cookery and baking. She saved people from the despair of not being able to eat the foods they grew up with and has inspired so many of us to push the limits of gluten free baking. It was her recipes that first challenged me to try gluten free baking and gave me the confidence to serve the results to friends and family. Without her cook books I wouldn't be the baker I am today. I owe her a unimaginable debt, one that can never be repaid or measured.

A Brief History of Gluten Free Baking

Ever since Celiacs were first correctly diagnosed in the 1940's and given the correct diet; from which our diet now does not differ much from other than the addition of 'exotic' grains; has there been the quest to replace the forbidden items. I don't know how these Celiacs fared; but one can guess, that the baked goods were none too appetizing. (This can be illustrated by the fact that, while 'The Joy of Cooking' has had gluten free recipes in it since at least 1975, they're mostly rice flour based.) The earliest gluten free cookbook I have at present is 'Good Food, Gluten Free', published in 1976. I bought it out of curiosity, at Chapters. It details a gluten free diet with no refined gluten free starches, or white rice flour and focuses on a whole food approach, and there is not much in the way of pastries, but a goodly number of cakes, puddings and bread products. There is more variety in 'Gluten Free Cooking' (1983) by Rita Greer, but she heavily relies on Trufree flours, and does not give sources or formulas for them. Without having made any of the recipes it's impossible to judge it they were edible or not. Since the book is British, there is a possibility they were. 'Clubhouse' always printed recipes on the inside of boxes of rice flour, potato and tapioca starch. The pie pastry was awful! 'Food in the Gut Reaction' was the first experience I ever had with gluten free baking -it was based on no grains (paleolithic diet, 'The Grain Free Gourmet', that sort of thing) and relied solely on nuts as 'flour'. Yummy, but expensive.

It wasn't until Bette Hagman wrote 'The Gluten Free Gourmet', that gluten free baking started getting a lot better. It was published in 1990, but I didn't come across it until 2002, while in Alberta. That cookbook seems to be the turning point in gluten free baking. Since then, there has been a ever growing number of gluten free cookbooks, including five more from Bette Hagman, that have been building on the successes of the previous ones. Gluten Free baking has only gotten this yummy because of the endless experimenting of hungry Celiacs who just weren't satisfied with the few options available. May the never ending quest for yummy baked goods continue : ) !!!