Going Gluten Free

Many people are sensitive to gluten found in many foods.

This is also known as celiac disease.

It used to be that not eating gluten meant giving up so much.

But now, there are so many different gluten free flours that you can eat baked goods that you may have thought you'd never have again.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, and rye.

Gluten helps with the rising in baked goods when a leavening and liquid is added. It also helps develop structure.

If you are unable to have any gluten, you need to read all labels on food.

The FDA states that if a certain gluten is removed from a product it can be labeled gluten free. So, it could still contain small amounts.

When eating or cooking with anything that needs to be gluten free, make sure you look at all labels for certain things that could give you a clue there may be gluten in it.

Here is a list :

malt vinegar

malt or malt flavoring

hydrolyzed vegetable protein

modified starch or modified food starch- unless it specifies it comes from one of the sources listed below

monoglycerides and diglycerides

products that list "natural" or artificial" ingredients

red or yellow food dyes

vegetable gum or vegetable protein- except for xanthum, cellulose, carob bean,locust bean, guar, gum arabic, gum aracia, gum tragacanth, or vegetable starch

if it contains flavoring, stabilizer, or emulsifier

Here are gluten free flours and starches that you can use:

Corn flour

Corn starch

Potato flour and potato starch flour

Rice flour

Pea, bean, lentil flour

Millet

Soy flour

Tapioca

Arrowroot

Carob

Buckwheat

Amaranth

Quinoa

Oat flour can also be used as long as it was not processed on a machine that also processed wheat.

You can find many recipes that a gluten free, but you can also just try adjusting your own recipes with a mix of different flours.