[Markw]

Well looks like I got some bad news today, I have to go on a gluten free diet,, what will I do ? I love my sourdough bread, pies , crumble, beer, cakes and all things nice that have gluten in them. it's like learning to cook all over again, I cant  think where I can start for ideas. any pointers would be most welcome.

[Plot74]

I have a friend who has to be glutton  free . But he does eat a lot of curries check with the supermarkets some do a glutton free section.
Hope this helps
John

[allotmenteer]

www.coeliac.co.uk   Coeliac uk offer diet suggestions, lists of jars/packet foods that do not contain gluten, and I believe some member suggested restaurants. It has a shop, news letter, gluten free food producers sites.  There is a recipe for crumble, cakes, and scones on the site.

This is worth you reading and having a look around the site.

Basically, as you may allready know, your foods such as; fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, rice, potatoes and lentils are gluten free. 

When you get in to prepared foods, for example, like sausages/burgers the butcher may have added bulking  ingredients made from wheat so you will have gluten, make your own as patties with just meat onions and maybe egg to bind, watch out for the breadcrumbs or adding oats, as for gluten.

Watch out for wheat, rye, barley, oats.

You can buy gluten free cakes, and gluten free bread, the supermarket has a section just ask where ever you shop, but always check labels as it may come under another word for gluten.

Phil Vickery (chef) has had sections about cooking gluten free on tv 'this morning', view their website for past cooking broadcasts. He has 'seriously gluten free cooking' cook book different recipes in there for you, (check amazon £13.99).

You will see it is possible to make your own cakes, scones, bread and flour based products, you substitute the wheat/spelt flour for the likes of gluten free flour.

Any jar sauces you cook with, may have to be substituted with your own home made sauces so you can check what has gone in it, or look up the list on the coeliac site for factory produced alternatives.

I hope this has helped a little, and I promise you will get your head round the new food ways soon, just do a little bit of reading, get your ingredients and head off in to the kitchen......... and enjoy.

[Milly]

I've been gluten free for 18 years due to coeliac disease and things are so much easier than they used to be. Food labelling has improved, the range of gluten free prodcts is enromous and to me it's just a way of life now. You can buy all sorts of biscuits and cakes etc but I rarely bother, if you look at the fat/sugar content you'll see why.

Have you been diagnosed Coeliac? If so you'll be pointed to Coeliac UK and should be offerred a dietitian appointment. As allotmenteer said they give good advice and its based on evidence. If you are coeliac there are other issues such as bone density scans and immunisations you'll need.

Someone bought me the Phil Vickery book but I gave it away, most of the recipes had hard to source ingredients and were 'faffy', any recipe I find I can easlilly adapt to gluten free. I do make my own bread at times but I also have a pre payment card and get some on prescription for convieniance, you'll see it's very expensive in the shops and I couldn't afford to buy it all the time. The bread has improved lots over the years. I went 10 years without eating bread at all because all the gluten free bread was horrible, a few years ago 'fresh gluten free' bread came out and thats ok, I'm used to it now.
I make my own pastry, pies, pasties, fish cakes etc and although the pastry is hard to handle at first you get used to it.
Good luck experimenting, you'll be fine.

[Markw]

Thanks
John ,Allotmenteer and Milly. and many thanks for your replies

I am waiting to see if it is Coeliac, but it looks like it is as my daughter has been diagnosed Coeliac,  The disorder is genetic and can be passed down.

Please don't even talk to me about the NHS, ( IBS Ha Ha ).I have lost over three stone in little over a year, and just get told IBS.

Anyway I now have to get on with it and hopefully get my health back again. As long as I can make some good bread, crumble, an gluten free pastry I will be happy. There are some good things that won't change such as curries I love them especially Thai. And as for Beer I will move to ginger beer I can live with that as I like it.

It is just looking at eating all over again, I simply detest supermarkets and try not to use them and cook everything my self.

I have been looking at many websites trying to find information on the subject and cooking gluten free, All I need to find is a good bread recipe and how to make a good crumble topping, Now I am thinking of dumplings and suit topping can they be gluten free.

[Yorkie]

Sorry to hear about your news 

If you type gluten into the search box when you have the cooking forum index page open, you'll find quite a few previous threads where people have discussed different gluten free recipes.

[Markw]

Thanks Yorkie
Yes I have found some good recipes in the cooking area,and thanks for pointing this out to me. It was quiet funny yesterday as my friend was winding me up about all the foods that I could not eat. fish fingers, spotted dick, scotch eggs. mind you she has a good sense of humor.

[cheshirecheese]

My husband was diagnosed as gluten-intolerant over twenty years ago, and I thoroughly agree with the comments above that things are so much easier these days.  You still get eejits who think you're just being 'faddy', but in the main it's recognised by supermarkets, restaurants, etc. as something to be taken seriously.

By far the nicest gluten free bread is home-made rather than ready-made - my husband gets Juvela flour mix on prescription, and I use it in the bread machine (topped with sesame seeds - yum).  I also make pizza bases with it, and pretty much any cake recipe can be made very successfully with it too - just add baking powder (check it's gluten-free) if the recipe specifies self-raising.  (And although I haven't made spotted dick with it, I don't see why it shouldn't work!)

Things to watch out for are items where you wouldn't necessarily expect to find gluten as an ingredient - Oxo cubes for example (I use Bovril or Knorr cubes instead), or soy sauce (most supermarkets now stock wheat-free tamari sauce - a Japanese equivalent).  I always thicken sauces and gravy with cornflour, but if you buy anything that may have been thickened already, watch out for 'modified starch' in the listed ingredients - unless it specifies modified maize starch, it may be wheat starch.  In fact, scouring lists of ingredients will become second nature when you're out shopping!

As for the list of foods your friend said you couldn't eat, there's always an alternative!!  Scotch eggs are a doddle - there are some really good gluten free sausages out there, such as 'The Black Farmer' or 'Debbie & Andrew's', both of which are good to use for scotch eggs.  And both Sainsbury's and Tesco do some excellent coarser gluten free sausages such as Toulouse and Sicillian. 

Back to the scotch eggs ... having removed the skins, I mix some dried sage or thyme into the sausage meat along with some white pepper and divide it into equal portions.  Wrap it round the hard-boiled eggs, then brush with milk or a little beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs - I just use the bread I've made, whizzed up in the food processor.  Then bake in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 30-40 minutes, turning a couple of times to ensure even browning.  These breadcrumbs can obviously be used for all sorts, including the fish fingers in your friend's list!  But polenta is an alternative to breadcrumbs if you want a change - and it's an ingredient that can be used in a wide array of recipes, including Lemon Almond Polenta Cake. 

As for pastry, due to the lack of gluten it is a bit of a challenge, as it breaks up very easily.  However, you can buy ready made shortcrust in Sainsbury's - it's a brand called DS ('Dietary Supplies').  You also mention crumble ... once again, just use gluten-free flour mix in the same way you would ordinary flour.

In fact, as the BBC Food website states:  'The only limit to making gluten-free recipes with soul is your imagination'!  Very best of luck, Mark - and if you need any further info over the coming months just get back in touch 

[irot]

Thanks Yorkie
Yes I have found some good recipes in the cooking area,and thanks for pointing this out to me. It was quiet funny yesterday as my friend was winding me up about all the foods that I could not eat. fish fingers, spotted dick, scotch eggs. mind you she has a good sense of humor.

There's no reason why you can't have fish fingers, spotted dick and scotch eggs - just make your own gluten free versions! Doves Farm do some excellent gluten free flours

[Markw]

Thanks everyone for all the useful information and tips, it has been most encouraging . I have checked out the Doves Farm website, and also managed to fine a supplier of  some fantastic gluten free sausage mixes, so it looks like the old sausage making machine and stuffer will need a dusting down.

And many thanks for the information on making the scotch eggs they will be one of the first things I am planning on making.The only thing that I think I will miss is a good pastry.

[Chrysalis]

You can buy fish fingers which are GF in most supermarkets.  We love 'em!

It's not as hard as you think to change from wheat products, and if it's necessary to your health, then there's no reason to regret stuff you can't have.  If you really can't have it you just have to walk away from it and find suitable alternatives.   It does work!  My OH and sister both have coeliac disease and it rarely flares up now into real difficulties with digestion.  I have crohns,(to add into the mix) so we are used to being creative with food and we all eat fantastically well....

Just keep thinking how much better you'll be when the villae (sp.?) are up and working again. 

[GrannieAnnie]

Thanks all for the info on being gluten free, My lovely sister-in-law also has just been diagnosed with Coeliac, so I'm always on the look out for nice recipes for her, and she joined here too the other week, but hasn't had much time to get on here yet.

[Annies Sis]

Yes I too have just had to go  Gluten Free, and am finding it  difficult to get used to.
However with help from ' the web ' and lovely people like you all out there with so many hints and tips I am sure that it will get easier.
Bread has been one of the hardest things to get used to, has anybody out there got a foolproof recipe for decent bread from a machine ? my first attempt turned out flat and stodgy !!
I agree that the supermarkets are catching up with more variety, but why does it all have to be so expensive ?
Studying the ingredient list on everything has already become second nature to my other half, who does most of the shopping, and it is amazing how many times we have been surprised to find that the most unlikely foods contain gluten, eg suet,  (flour is used as a dusting to stop it sticking together !) I have heard that grating very cold lard is a good alternative, has anybody tried it ?
Thank you dear sis in law Grannie Annie for  pointing out this thread to me, it has been very informative.

[Markw]

Hi Annies sis and welcome.
I was thinking the same about suet, I sometimes got mine from the butchers and grated it and would keep it frozen in the freezer for when I needed it. I was thinking you could then add the gluten free flour to it. I understand that pastry is the problem. Mind you I could live with a pie with a good scone topping, anyone else good any good ideas regarding making gluten free suet

[GrannieAnnie]

Yes I too have just had to go  Gluten Free, and am finding it  difficult to get used to.
However with help from ' the web ' and lovely people like you all out there with so many hints and tips I am sure that it will get easier.
Bread has been one of the hardest things to get used to, has anybody out there got a foolproof recipe for decent bread from a machine ? my first attempt turned out flat and stodgy !!
I agree that the supermarkets are catching up with more variety, but why does it all have to be so expensive ?
Studying the ingredient list on everything has already become second nature to my other half, who does most of the shopping, and it is amazing how many times we have been surprised to find that the most unlikely foods contain gluten, eg suet,  (flour is used as a dusting to stop it sticking together !) I have heard that grating very cold lard is a good alternative, has anybody tried it ?
Thank you dear sis in law Grannie Annie for  pointing out this thread to me, it has been very informative.

Aww, pleased you got the email this time sweetie!  Hope you all get more 'expert' at being gluten free, and just maybe, doctor's will in time learn that these 'conditions' are more common than is at present realised, and get more done about it!

But I do hate the fact that all these gluten free and other specialist products are so much more expensive, when I bet most of them don't cost anymore to produce!