Good without gluten
Aneed to make sure her daughter, diagnosed with coeliac disease, did not miss out on the joys of eating and preparing food for family gatherings, led Cherie Lyden to delve into the world of glutenfree cooking and baking.
The Australianbased nutritionist and owner of Wholegreen Bakery grew up in New Zealand with Tongan and Dutch parents, so a love of good food was imprinted on her at an early age.
‘‘My mother’s family always came together over a feast and all my early happy memories revolve around food — the eating of it for sure, but also the preparation.’’
Lyden, who was also diagnosed with latent coeliac disease, did not want her daughter Lucia to miss out on these experiences just because her diet was, necessarily, more limited.
When she began to investigate what glutenfree baking was available she was shocked to find glutenfree products were hard to find and those that did were lacking in taste and deliciousness. Glutenfree recipes were also hitandmiss.
‘‘So I experimented, tested and trialled various options until I had developed food that I was happy with and proud to have cooked.’’
This led to the opening of her bakery and spreading the word around the glutenfree community.
‘‘It has been such a joy to . . . be part of bringing the pleasure of eating back for so many people who thought certain foods — like a good croissant, a decent loaf of bread or a delicious savoury (or sweet) tart — were no longer options for them.’’
In her book Lyden includes a chapter on her kitchen essentials and the flour blends she uses to bake and cook with. She makes up her own mix of brown rice flour, potato starch, cornflour and xanthan gum, which she finds to be more consistent for baking than shopbought blends.
‘‘I like to use brown rice flour here as it’s more wholesome and results in moister baked products than white rice flour.’’
The book is divided into sweet, savoury and bread chapters including everyday favourites like muffins, biscuits and crumbles, tarts, flatbreads and focaccia. There are recipes for favourites like lamingtons and hot cross buns to pies and cheesy garlic pullapart buns.