Advice?

[purpletigron]

I've just heard from a friend about their results from a Yorktest food intolerance test (Ig G). My friend has been told to cut out wheat, gluten, maize, yeast, chilli pepper and egg white, and only have a little soya, egg yolk, vanilla and carrots.

I'd be grateful for any specific suggestions on dealing with these dietary restrictions. For example, are there any strong flours in the UK suitable for chemical risen breads which are gluten, soya and maize free? Any good cook books to recommend?

I find myself darkly intrigued as to whether I'd get positive results on such a test, given that I don't believe myself to have any food intolerances...

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

> My friend has been told to cut out wheat, gluten, maize, yeast, chilli pepper and egg white,

Swearword!

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Exactly my reaction.

Doves Farm

[muninnhuginn]

http://www.dovesfarm-glutenfree.co.uk/gluten-free-flours.htm

Now, I'll add the comment that I haven't tried the particular one your friend might be interested in, but I've used the strong white, spelt, and their yeast, all of which are very good. So this might be OK too.

Re: Doves Farm

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I use their yeast and regular flours with success.

Thanks indeed for finding the info about their gluten-free range - the bread flours sound well worth trying for chemical-risen loaves...

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

Rye? but that's quite strong by itself. Need to look out for the maize, it's often a filler in gluten-free things. Potato based breads can be good, if boring after a while. Try buckwheat.

I'm intrigued by the vanilla and carrots. I can't think what is in them that isn't in other things as well. Carrot is often quoted as a salicylate intolerance, but that would mean avoiding a whole range of stuff including apples.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

If she's off gluten, she'll have to avoid rye, barley and oats I fear. I've suggested buckwheat, which I like myself.

I've not heard of vanilla or carrots as allergens before myself, either. Didn't know about the salicylate. Must have a look... my friend's going to cut out all these things for starters, and 'feel' for symptoms after a month or so. So we might need to know about carrot-similar problems :-( (Hopefully, they'll gradually re-introduce things off the go-easy list ...)

[timill]

Gram flour? Give up on bread and eat chapattis instead?

But no beer? :-((

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Mmm! Gram flour!

My friend never liked beer anyhow .. but no wine?

[timill]

No wine either :-(

It strikes me that those restrictions are reasonably compatible with Indian food, and that finding a cuisine that she can eat most of is likely to be better for her than trying to make ersatz copies of now-barred foods.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

That depends on how successful the alternative versions are. When I discovered my gluten problem I took the approach you advocate, and tried to create a mindset in which bread simply doesn't figure. It took 6 months to stop dreaming about bread, but after that I slowly got used to it. A few years later, however, when I discovered I can make an enjoyable gluten-free bread I went out and bought a bread machine. I don't eat as much as I used to because I got out of the habit, but I get a lot of pleasure from being able to bake and eat bread.

Same with pizzas. And I probably eat more cake now than I did when I was eating wheat - because I enjoy experimenting with recipes, and the results are good by any measure, not merely good-considering-you-didn't-use-wheat-flour.

All that said, Indian cuisine is very reliable for coeliacs, especially those who eschew meat.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

The Doves Farm bread flour works and is a mix of rice, potato and tapioca flours with xanthan gum for stickiness. These days I mix my own because it's cheaper and because it's more convenient since all the baking I do is based on those three flours.

The best gluten-free cookbook in the world evah is Healthy gluten-free eating by Darina Allen. I can't recommend it highly enough. It does however use eggs (as does my bread recipe), though I guess judicious use of gluten-free baking powder (and maybe extra liquid?) might get round that. There are recipes for scones and muffins and sticky toffee pudding, and a fantastic one for pizza bases which wouldn't need adapting at all for your friend. All the baked stuff is based on rice and tapioca flours in this book. Oh, and yoghurt seems to be one of the secrets to success in g-free baking.

I'm not sure about potato flour but all the other things can be purchased at health food type places, though the cheapest option is an Asian store. The Wing Yip (where I need to go myself sometime soon) in Birmingham has potato flour in large quantities at very low prices and the tapioca flour is only a fraction of the price charged at my local whole-food warehouse.

There are gluten-free pastas which don't include any of the forbidden ingredients, but the best g-free pastas are the rice/maize mix, I'm afraid.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Good to hear that you can make bread flour at home - how do you use the gum?

I've been doing vegan baking recently, and I can recommend either apple puree, banana puree, or 'flax egg' (ground flax seeds made sticky with about twice as much water) as various substitute for eggs (also, although not for my friend, silken tofu) - it depends what the egg was trying to achieve in the recipe. If you're interested, there's a great link about vegan baking that I could scare up...

Thanks for the tip about Wing Yip!

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

how do you use the gum?

It comes as a powder, so you just bung in the desired number of teaspoons. For 450g flour in a loaf I use 2 tsps.

There are a fair few g-free recipes out there which use the items you mention to provide moisture/glue in baked goods, but there would then be eggs as well. Using xanthan gum and yoghurt means I don't have to use purees (including chestnut, btw, which makes a rather pleasant cake). Ihave a recipe for a gluten-free cheesecake that I adapted with tofu to make a gluten-free, cheese-free cheesecake forfjm - no good for your friend though, with 5 eggs.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Unless your friend has had the blood test for gluten intolerance she must *not* cut out gluten. If she does, and wants to get tested later, she won't be able to get a positive result. Without the postive result, she can't get a formal diagnosis, and without that she can't get the bone scan that people with ceoliac should get.

What on earth is the Yorktest? Quite honestly, that list sounds utterly idiotic and unless a doctor agrees, you shouldn't be encouraging her.

Did you notice my dark intrigue?

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

http://www.yorktest.com/

It's based on Ig antibodies, which I believe are also used in celiac testing?

My friend hasn't yet replied to my further enquiries, so I don't know whether this was through a doctor or not.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

My friend confirms a recent, negative, celiac blood test.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

What are her symptoms?

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I've not discussed all the details. Diagnosed as 'IBS' a good time ago, tested for celiac on flare-up of 'IBS' symptoms.