The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook Reviews
The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook
The prevalence of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity among millions of adults and children has created the need for gluten-free recipes that are as nutritious and tasty as their traditional counterparts. Popular food blogger Elana Amsterdam offers ninety-nine family-friendly classics--from Pancakes to Eggplant Parmesan to Chocolate Cake--that feature her gluten-free ingredient of choice, almond flour. Because these recipes are low glycemic, low in cholesterol and dairy, and high in protein an
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a great resource for alternative baking,
Potential buyers should know that this book is not only geared towards grain-avoiding and celiac diets, but also aims for a ‘healthy’ approach to baking, in the name of which it largely avoids butter and refined sugars. In addition to the titular substitution of almond flour for wheat flour, there is a relatively single-minded substitution of grapeseed oil for butter/shortening and agave nectar for white sugar. While I don’t have any general problems with agave or grapeseed oil, unlike some readers, I’m not satisfied with these ingredients in all cases. In particular, I generally prefer the flavor and mouthfeel of butter over grapeseed oil, and I find agave nectar imparts an unwelcome sticky, flaccid texture to baked goods like cookies and biscuits, especially over time (I like it just fine in cakes and muffins). Still, I’ve had fantastic luck substituting ‘back’ butter and sugar where i want them, although when agave is removed, one sometimes needs to add more recipe- appropriate liquid (e.g., milk or egg) to compensate. These recipes are highly adaptable, which makes the book that much more user-friendly.
I’d say that this is also a baking book aimed more towards cooks than bakers. The recipes are pretty quick and dirty- dump and stir affairs. There aren’t a lot of fiddly steps, using 7 different bowls to mix subrecipes, or explanations of techniques and experimentation a la cooks illustrated. I’m sure that aspect wins the book lots of fans among busy parents and those who don’t enjoy the craft of cooking, but as someone more in the love-to-bake camp, I would have appreciated more attention to detail, use of various baking techniques that lead to a better texture in final products and experimentation with the kinds of fillips that separate the pedestrian recipe from the sublime. For example, in some of the cake and muffin recipes, I find the recipes substantially improve if one takes the time to beat sugar (or agave) and eggs to a ribbon, or beat egg whites separately and fold them in. I also wish the ingredients were given in weight (at least somewhere in the beginning)– I had a number of failures until I realized the author packs her almond flour. Some of the baking times and such have also been off– these kinds of details really matter for baking, and hard core bakers will be frustrated at the lack of precision.
As I’ve said, even though this isn’t the perfect cookbook for my particular needs, it is a wonderful starting place for my gluten free and grain free baking experiments. (There is also a savory chapter, but I haven’t really used it.) Some particular favorites are the crackers (all fantastic), chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cherry cookies, and pecan shortbreads (all of which I strongly prefer with creamed butter and sugar, though.) Although the cookbook is pretty small, I’ve still only cooked a small portion of the recipes (the author’s website provides a lot of additional inspiration as well). I’m looking forward to baking through more of the recipes, adapting and changing as I wish.
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recommended with reservations,
I also tried several savory recipes. I have been searching for a savory GF pie crust that won’t impart that sweetish aftertaste to my favorite quiche recipes. While I am not completely satisfied with this recipe, it’s the best GF savory pie crust to date. Also, the pizza crust, again not the best taste/texture but it is really handy to throw together in just a couple of minutes and it is way better than any frozen crust I’ve had. It’s also very filling. Finally, I tried the eggplant parmesan and it is the best eggplant parmesan I’ve had since going GF. For me, that recipe was worth the cost of the book.
Finally, like others have said, the final verdict is still out on the agave nectar and grapeseed oil. I used them for the first time I made a recipe because I wanted to follow exactly. If I repeated the recipe, I replaced them with sweeteners and fats I am more comfortable with.
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Some Good Ideas, but Edit Out the Agave Nectar,
The one big caution is that the author uncritically uses agave nectar for sweetening in almost all the recipes. She says this is because agave nectar is “lower on the glycemic index”, but that’s not an advantage, that’s merely because agave nectar is largely fructose, the most dangerous of the sugars.
From Stephan Guyenet, Ph.D. in neurobiology (blog at [...]
“Agave syrup is made from the heart of the agave plant, which is pressed to release a juice rich in inulin. Inulin is a polymer made of fructose molecules. The inulin is then broken down either by heat or by enzymatic processing. The result is a sweet syrup that is rich in fructose. Agave syrup is marketed as a healthy, alternative sweetener. In fact, it’s probably as bad or worse than high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They are both a refined and processed plant extract. Both are high in fructose, with agave syrup leading HFCS (estimates of agave syrup range up to 92% fructose by calories). Finally, agave syrup is expensive and inefficient to produce. The high fructose content gives agave syrup a low glycemic index, because fructose does not raise blood glucose. Unfortunately, as some diabetics learned the hard way, using fructose as a substitute for sucrose (cane sugar) has negative long-term effects on insulin sensitivity.”
I find that these recipes can be adapted by omitting the ill-chosen agave nectar sweetner, in favor of either ordinary sugar (sucrose) or for low-carbs an equivalent combination of Emerald Forest Sugar Erythritol, 1-Pound (Pack of 6) and NuNaturals NuStevia Pure White Stevia Extract, 1 Ounce (Pack of 2), as recommended by Lauren at Healthy Indulgences blog [...]
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