River Cottage Gluten Free

If you follow a gluten free diet, whether recently gluten free or an old hand, buy this book. Also very dairy free friendly. This is a wonderfully written book, not only containing great recipes, but invaluable information in the first chapter on the nutritional aspects of gluten free eating, baking and cooking, backed up with science made readily understandable. Alongside this, practical information and tips are given on selecting and sourcing ingredients, avoiding others, and the relative benefits of alternatives. If that wasn't enough, the whole thing is beautifully laid out, interspersed with lovely photography, and it lies open flat on the counter for practicality when cooking. I have been following a gluten free diet by choice for 5+ years, as well as a (virtually) lifelong dairy free one by necessity, so am always delighted to discover something new when it comes to both guide- and recipe books concerning allergy and intolerance. There are plenty of new insights and ideas to be gleaned here, and some much-sought solutions of real practical value to familiar gluten free challenges; such as how to successfully make edible short crust pastry and puff pastry which is gluten free, and how to bake gluten free Yorkshire puddings which actually rise. Many of the recipes are also marked as dairy free with a clear symbol at the top of the page, and many more can easily be adapted with substitutes, if (like me) you are so inclined. This is touched on within the first few chapters, and there are even recipes given for dairy-free 'butter' and dairy free piping creme to use in pastries. There are also some recipes to suit meat eaters, and yet plenty of variety to suit veggies in turn. Cannot recommend highly enough.

A good selection of recipes

This is an excellent book, certainly the best gluten free cookbook I have come across. As a coeliac I have to be careful and have so often been disappointed with horrible concoctions & inedible recipes full of weird ingredients. Although the ingredients aren't available in supermarkets, they are available online. The recipes are great and tasty, my only criticism is that although she says the bread recipes can be made with fresh or dried yeast rather than the sourdough starter, she does not tell you the amounts you need. I have tried, but cannot get on with making sourdough starter so would like to know the recipe for bread made with yeast rather than with sourdough, if this had been included I would have given 5 stars because it really is a great book for people with coeliac disease.

I never write reviews but finally I've found a book that deserves it. About 18 months ago I became aware that I was gluten intolerant and about a year ago that Xanthan Gum wasn't good for me either. Attempting to find a gluten free cook book that didn't use Xanthan gum was a bit tricky. Whilst there are a couple of recipes in this book that use the product most use other products like Psyllium Husks. Certainly the shortcrust pastry works very well with Psyllium Husks so I can finally eat pies again! I've tried a number of the other recipes with good results (although my initial attempt at the luscious lemon cake did sink so in future I'll use the suggested cake tin rather than the loaf tin). Additionally, at the beginning of the book Naomi Devlin provides lots of useful information on all the ingredients she uses and the positives and negatives of using certain products which I have found extremely helpful. The only possible downside is the need for lots of different flours but it appears that most gluten free recipes require a mixture of different flours so it would seem this is an inevitability of gluten free cooking. For me this is an excellent book, full of lovely recipes in its own right but I'm hopeful that the knowledge that Naomi imparts will also help me to modify my favourite recipes that I thought I'd never be able to use again.

This is a fantastic book. All the recipes I have tried so far have been successful and delicious. The coconut flour based chocolate brownies are genius. I really like the premise behind the book that the ingredients should be nourishing, the author has thought to up the fibre content of the recipes. I have read that a coeliac diet where wheaten baked goods are just replaced with GF white flour substitutes can be lacking in fibre and more calorific. Adding in the flax seeds, e.g. in muffin recipes makes me feel like I'm sneaking in more fibre (and my 9 year old coeliac son who can't stand seeds in his bread has not detected the seeds in his muffins yet, lol). Some reviews of this book are negative due to the number of different flours in the recipes, and yes these can be more difficult to source, but it is well worth it in my opinion. A diet based on GF white flour baked goods isn't acceptable to me, and this is what puts this book well above all my other GF cookbooks. As a final comment, the section explaining the properties of the different GF flours available is a valuable resource, and has helped my understanding of which flours can be substituted, and what properties they lend to my baking. Overall this is a fantastic resource, and I am so pleased this was the first cookbook I read when my son was first diagnosed with coeliac disease so I didn't fall into the trap of un-nourishing GF white flour substitutes in my baking.

Bought this book some time ago and absolutely love it!!!!! Before having to eat gluten free, I made all my own breads and pastries and cooked from scratch. For 2 years I struggled with awful shop bought breads and pastries to the point I just didn’t buy them anymore. When I got this book, it seemed a bit daunting at first with all of the ingredients, namely different flours, psyllium husk and ground linseed. However I needn’t have been worried. I easily sourced the ingredients online and found the GF flours from Shipton Mill. They deliver to you so no trawling specialist shops. The shortcrust pastry made me actually cry when I made a Bakewell tart with it! I’ve adapted this pastry with help from the notes in the book to suit all sweet and savoury dishes, substituting a quantity of almonds for oat flour and buckwheat flour giving a more savoury pastry for pies and quiches. The pastry actually feels like proper pastry and rolls beautifully, no more crumbly piece together, sallow looking, awful Gf pastry filled with xantham gum. I’ve tried the baguettes many times, always with success. As said before, daunting at first but after the first attempt it becomes the norm. The pizza base is fantastic!!! The good thing about some of the recipes is that they are freezable so I always double or triple up to have a stock of pastry, pizza bases etc as quite rightly stated in other reviews, the recipes can be mildly time consuming. HOWEVER time well spent for the difference in texture and flavour of other GF recipes I’ve tried in the past. I’m still yet to try the sourdough starter and this is one of my New Years resolutions, slightly apprehensive though....... as if the sourdough bread is as good as the other recipes, I’m going to gain lots of weight. For anyone that enjoys cooking and baking, and even those that are unsure, I would highly recommend this book. It’s been a life changer for me!!! Small word of advice, try not to be too daunted by all the ingredients, they all come together beautifully and after a couple of times you’ll wonder what all the fuss was about. I bought a small coffee/spice grinder and bought whole psyllium husks and golden linseed. Definitely worth the investment. It’s become my bible of cookery and my number one go to book.

Received this book as a gift. Some lovely recipes but equally some seriously flawed baking recipes which suggest eg like for like switch of almond flour with coconut flour which is just not viable and shows little knowledge of how the flours actually work.

Bought this after reading rave reviews from fellow Coeliac sufferers. loads of down to earth easy to follow recipes for everyone to enjoy. There are pages listing the different types of flours and where best to use them [this is my favourite section, and is most especially important when first trying to decide which flour to use. As the whole process can be very daunting]. all in all this is a must have for anyone who is living gluten free. Edited: After having this book for a week , i have to say the recipes are great and very simple and easy to follow, ive yet to come across a recipe for which i didnt have most if not all ingredients in my cupboard already. There is an extensive chapter at the beginning of the book full of tips on where best to use different flours,oils and different staches.