The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide Part 2 [Format Kindle]

Part II of this outstanding Gluten Free primer is finally here and even though I've only had it about 12 hours I feel a quick review is in order. You see, I was a lucky tester and have already made the Flaky Pie Crust, the Pineapple Upside Down Cake, the Naan and the Pita Bread (which got left out of the index and is on page 128) plus a few more. Everything was so delicious it surprised me. The Pita Bread still makes me think of substituting all other bread for it, but then I couldn't eat bagels. It's a conundrum.
As you most likely already know, There's an incredible wealth of information squeezed into these two volumes. This one details the uses of Sweet Rice, Sorghum, Buckwheat, Teff, Cassava and Potato Flours. Gluten Free Baking 101 (as I call it) which discusses flours, starches, substitutions, egg replacers and alternate sugars starts out the book. Plus, I really love the interviews with all the other Gluten Free baking experts.
The recipes are:
SORGHUM FLOUR: Cheesy Cornbread Balls, Apple Cinnamon Waffles, Spinach & Shallot Souffles, Spicy Chipotle Jalapeno & Corn Muffins, PB&J Snack Crackers, Butternut Squash Pot Pie with Vegan Crust; YEAST-FREE VEGAN SANDWICH BREAD (I made this and loved it), Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and Lemon Crumb Cake.
BUCKWHEAT FLOUR: Buckwheat Crepe Tortillas, Buckwheat Tortillas, Buckwheat Molasses Bread, German Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches (my husband loves these), Chocolate-Coated Apricot Brownie Bites, Sesame Buckwheat Breakfast Cookies, Winter-Spice Pancakes (soo good), and Apple Kuchen.
TEFF FLOUR: Whole Grain Dinner Rolls (Egg-Free)- my husband said "they're just like bread!" Pizza Roll Ups, Gingerbread Men, Oat Bars, Toasted Pine Nut & Rosemary Flatbread Crisps, Cranberry Upside Down Cake, Oreo Style Cookies, and Gingerbread Angel Food Cake.
SWEET WHITE RICE FLOUR: Chocolate Wafers, Flaky Pie Crust, Cinnamon Rolls w/Espresso Icing, Cutout Sugar Cookies, Snickerdoodles, Nilla-Style Wafers, Powdered Fried Cake Doughnuts, and Lemon Bars.
POTATO FLOUR: Mini Pizza Pockets, Naan, Paprika & Dill Waffle Crisps, Pita Bread (pp. 128-129), and Bagels.
CASSAVA FLOUR: Snickerdoodles, Brownies, Peanut Butter Cookies, and White Butter Cupcakes.
MAKE YOUR OWN VEGAN PANCAKES AND WAFFLES: This chapter is precisely that - how to make your own with whatever flour you have on hand and whatever suits your preferences. This is one handy chapter as is the Quick Bread chapter in Book 1.
FROSTINGS: Frostings, Syrups and Glazes as well as soft caramel candy.

Just do yourself a favor and buy it. These recipes cured my 4 year Gluten and Dairy Free headache and got me back in the kitchen and I'll be forever grateful to Iris and Brittany because of it. Buy both. They belong together. They'd be handy bound together. Triumph Dining, are you listening?

This review covers both Part 1 and Part 2, since I bought both. The difference between the two books is in the flours that are emphasized and explained: Part 1 details Amaranth, Almond, Quinoa, Garbanzo [a.k.a. chick pea], Millet, and Coconut flours; Part 2 details Sweet Rice, Sorghum, Buckwheat, Teff, Cassava, and Potato Flour.

Although the names of the non-wheat flours may sound exotic at first, the authors The first part of this slim volume is packed full of exactly what one needs to know to accommodate one's needs by telling the reader how to make satisfying substitutions. In addition to providing tips regarding which non-wheat flour(s) can be substituted one for the other, sugar-free and dairy-free adaptations are also covered.

Then you get to the great recipes! This is not a case of buying a book with hundreds of recipes, but only find a very few palatable - every one of the 50+ recipes is enticing. And there is something good to try for each flour, so that flour purchases can be made step-by-step. The result is that the reader stops thinking about what cannot be eaten, because the things that *can* be eaten are so delicious!

The authors also provide a list of additional resources, including additional cookbooks, magazines, and informative websites to help the reader find additional information and recipes.

All in all, I'm very pleased that these are my first purchases following the very-recent diagnosis of my wheat allergy.

In all honesty, after 5 years of eating and baking gluten-free, these two gluten-free baking guides are some of the absolute BEST GF baking cookbooks on the market. I wish books like this had been available when I was first gluten-free in 2007. Iris and Brittany have reviewed and tested the most useful gluten-free flours available and have created outstanding gluten-free recipes that WORK the very first time. So far I've tried the brownies (using cassava flour), the PIE CRUST using sweet rice flour, and the Vegan, Yeast-Free Sandwich bread using teff flour!! What I love about these books (in addition to the amazing recipes) are the great introductions on each flour, a short history of them, how they work, how they should be used, and then at the end of each chapter --> Super fun interviews with the best experts in the gluten-free baking field. Truly awesome books. I plan on buying these guides to share with people who are new to the GF diet. Take my word for it (as someone who has owned and reviewed way too many gluten-free cookbooks to count!) that these two little books are some of the absolute best available! Great job Iris and Brittany!