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.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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.
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