My dear friend of many years has a 6-year old son who was diagnosed recently with celiac disease. That means he's allergic to gluten. Gluten is a natural protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and some oats.
Gluten is also found in all foods that contain these ingredients. Some
people have an intolerance to gluten—suffering allergy-like symptoms, bloating,
or stomach cramps. Yet, like my friend Deb's son, more than 3 million Americans have celiac disease (sometimes called celiac sprue) which is quite serious.
When people with this
immune disorder eat gluten-containing foods, it damages their small intestine and
prevents it from absorbing nutrients properly. Malabsorption can lead to
serious malnourishment, vitamin deficiencies and stunted growth and can place celiac disease sufferers at higher risk for other maladies as well. No one knows what causes celiac disease, but scientists think it's often inherited. If someone in a family has the disease, there's a 5 to 15 percent chance that another family member may develop it. Special blood tests can determine if someone has celiac disease--and blood tests can be used to monitor how well a gluten-free diet is being followed too.
Not being able to eat gluten makes things interesting and often difficult where food and kids are concerned. Gluten is found in so many foods including all the kid favorites such as pizza, crackers, rolls, bread, bagels, pasta, cereal, cakes, cookies and just about all bakery items. Through trial and error and lots more trials and plenty more errors, my friend Deb who previously didn't really cook or bake much has worked out some gluten-free options that work well. Rather than seek out gluten-free recipes, which are often "heavy as lead" and "taste really disappointing," Deb swears by this gluten-free flour blend from gluten-free chef, Jules Shepard. Deb substitutes this gluten-free flour blend in recipes in the same proportion as the traditional wheat flour the recipes call for. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, substitute 2 cups of Gluten-Free Flour Blend.
There are a few gluten free items that may require a trip to a
specialty store or a purchase from an online supplier but most, if not all, are available
in regular retail grocery stores. In fact Deb buys all the ingredients for this blend in various sections of her large grocery store here in the Twin Cities. Try the Asian or ethnic foods section, organic aisle and the baking section to round them up. If you're havng trouble, ask. Like anywhere else, food retailers sometimes stash products in odd locations!
Make this Gluten-Free Flour Blend in batches and store it in tightly sealed zipper bags in the freezer so it's on hand whenever you need it. Give it a try! I'll follow-up with more gluten-free wisdom and recipes in a future blog. Stay tuned and tell me what you think!
Gluten-Free Flour Blend
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup potato starch flour (not potato starch)
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup corn flour (not cornmeal)
1/2 cup tapioca starch or tapioca flour
4 teaspoons xanthan gum
