Tag: gluten intolerant

The Language of Gluten

(Or, what Do those Words Mean?)

Gluten Free

This is meant to mean absolutely no gluten. It’s been made in a gluten free environment, and tests have proven that there is no detectable gluten in the product. However, a lot of places don’t understand that. You’re generally safe with packaged goods – factories have to pass rigorous tests to be allowed to print it on their packaging – but I’d view that unwrapped pastry in a case with gluten pastries in that cafe with a suspicious eye.

Low Gluten

We’ve done our best, but we can’t guarantee it’s gluten free. We have a kitchen and equipment that is used for both gluten and non gluten products. Also, it may contain a low gluten wheat variant like spelt, which may be fine for the fad dieter, but for the person with a diagnosed allergy or intolerance, is very bad. Ask a lot of questions about the processes involved, and if the people behind the counter seem vague, uninformed or confused about gluten or their handling procedures, avoid.

Gluten Friendly

We’ve produced a product that has no actual gluten ingredients (maybe), but we’re not sure traces of other things haven’t crept in. This is a wishy washy label that’s becoming more common. It’s good for people avoiding grains for diet or fad, but very ambiguous for those looking out for allergens. Because it’s a wishy washy term, uneducated staff may even think it’s gluten free becaue it contains no wheat flour, but might be unsure about ancient or different variants of wheat like spelt or cous cous. May not know about the problems with Oats, Rye and Barley, or with condiments that contain gluten (such as soy sauce or malt vinegar) at all. If they can’t satisfy your questioning, avoid.

May Contain Traces of Gluten

We have a shared facility or kitchen. We wash and/or sterilise it between batches of things, but we can’t 100% guarantee there’s nothing there. We do probably spot test our product and regularly return nil detected results, but we want you to know it’s a possibility. A lot of Coeliacs take a risk and eat ‘May Contain Traces’ food. It’s a gamble, but prepackaged food like crisps are pretty safe because the factory must adhere to food safety guidelines. If they didn’t, then they’d have to recall an entire product rather than just a batch when there was a contamination issue. May contain traces in a restaurant and cafe setting is more of a gamble. Treat it like you’d treat low gluten – ask and decide if it’s worth the risk.

Is there a particular GF bread recipe that you like best or would recommend? *curious* Thanks! :)

The recipe I’ve made most is found in Gluten Free Makeovers and is Beth and Jen’s High Fiber Bread, though I substitute three of the flours because some are hard to come by. Millet and Montina I sub for buckwheat and quinoa, and lupin flour for the teff. (Lupin is a bean flour, but be careful – it can cause a reaction in people with a peanut allergy.) I don’t know if the recipe’s on Beth’s blog or if it’s a book-only recipe. I’ve attempted a fair few of the bread recipes in the book, and they’ve turned out pretty well, even with substitutions. That recipe is the one I go back to, though. I often fill it full of seeds, too – poppy, sesame, linseed and sunflower are favourite additions. I often brush the top with sesame oil, too, because I love the flavour and it gives a great crust.

If you’re interested in getting into baking, I’ll tell you this – with most GF bread doughs, you cannot knead them. You need a good stand mixer with a dough hook. If you try to knead by hand, you’ll just get it everywhere and end up with no bread. Use the machine. Also, I don’t know how most bread baking machines go with GF dough. The one bread machine I tried to use kept erroring out, even though we were using the GF recipe from its own manual. Use the oven.