Notes about Recipes in this book

• Prosciutto mini quiches

  • FJT on August 31, 2016

    Nice enough but mine didn't look anywhere near as good as in the photo! I didn't line my muffin tins with parchment paper, but used silicon cupcake liners instead. Even though the recipe says not to worry if there are gaps in the prosciutto used to line each muffin hollow, the egg mixture did exactly as I thought and seeped through, so these weren't neat crustless quiches in a prosciutto case. I also used just 3 eggs instead of 4 - maybe my eggs are larger than the ones she used, but 3 eggs filled 6 muffin hollows nicely. The prosciutto was too salty for the small amount of filling and I think I'll just go back to my normal crustless quiche recipe.

• Yeasty muffins

  • FJT on August 31, 2016

    I'm rethinking what's for breakfast this morning ... good job I only test these gluten-free baking recipes when my husband is out of town. I think I've successfully made hockey pucks and that's about all that I can say about this one. It's rare that I throw ingredients away, but I'm sure this one isn't salvageable!

• Brown rice sourdough starter

  • FJT on August 08, 2016

    The starter was easy to make and I managed to get one relatively good loaf of bread made with it. I then put it in the fridge for just over a week and tried to reactivate as per the instructions ... without success. It ended up being thrown out. As I live in a small apartment and the five days making the starter and living with the smell was a bit much to take, I probably won't be trying this one again!

• Lighter sourdough loaf

  • FJT on August 08, 2016

    This was the one loaf I managed to make with my sourdough starter. It came together easily and rose well. Nice taste.

• Baguettes

  • FJT on August 20, 2016

    Another excellent recipe from this book. I haven't actually eaten a baguette since I went gluten-free 11 years ago, so I was keen to try it. The dough came together really easily and baked up a treat. I ignored the advice to wait for the bread to cool before eating it! The bread was a nice consistency but not as airy as I remember baguettes being. However it was excellent still warm from the oven and slathered in butter (swiftly followed by more bread slathered in Boursin!). I will definitely be making this again.

• Brioche

  • FJT on November 18, 2016

    This takes a long time to make - the first prove is 2 hours, then 12-20 hours for the second prove and a further 3 hours for the final prove, so plan ahead if you wish to make it. I haven't tasted normal brioche for more than 10 years, so it's difficult to make comparisons but this isn't as sweet as I remember brioche being (not surprising given the small amount of sugar added). The consistency was very good and it tasted suitably buttery, so all-in-all this was a success and I would make it again.

• Shortcrust pastry

  • FJT on June 04, 2016

    This is one of the best gluten free pastry recipes I've tried in the last ten years. I used brown rice flour which might explain why I had to add so much water (more than 10 tbsp!), but I kept on until I got the right consistency when I rolled it out. The recipe states that it makes enough pastry to line 2 x 24cm tins, but I found that only using half the dough for my quiche tin resulted in pastry that was way too thin to get into the tin without disintegrating. I eventually settled on using 3/4 of the dough for my quiche. It still didn't make it into the tin in one piece, but I patched it up and baked it blind and it looked like proper pastry! The family ate it without any complaints (often they'll leave gluten free pastry on their plates) - it had good texture and taste.

• Margherita pizza

  • FJT on August 08, 2016

    The pizza crust recipe gets 5 stars. I didn't make the toppings, preferring to do my own thing. Over ten years of eating gluten-free I've had lots of experience of really inedible gluten-free pizzas... often hard and heavy; my husband always cringes when I say I'm going to try another new recipe. However this one was different: the dough mix came together easily even though I had to mix it by hand, it was springy and rolled out easily. I rolled the dough onto parchment paper that I then put straight on the baking sheet. The resulting pizza was light and had a good flavour. I'm definitely allowed to make this one again ... in fact we may have a regular pizza night now!

  • Melyinoz on January 12, 2021

    This pizza base was ok but not something I would rush to make again.

• Blueberry cheesecake

  • FJT on July 03, 2017

    I wanted to make just a few individual cheesecakes, so I made half the recipe and split it between 4 ramekins. It's easy to make and tastes good. I must have pressed my cheesecake base down way too hard as it was slightly hard to break into, but I guess this would be a good thing had I made the whole cheesecake and wanted to cut slices that held together well.

• Gingercake muffins

  • FJT on September 05, 2022

    I made these as part of my crusade to use everything up in the pantry before we move in a few months. They were fine, but I'm not sure I'd make them again. Made far more than 12 muffins. I used yoghurt instead of the sourdough starter.

• Vanilla and blackcurrant sponge

  • Mayandbill on February 14, 2021

    Remarkably good gf sponge, like a decent Victoria, though eat ASAP as it stales and dries fast

• Chocolate and chestnut fondants

  • e_ballad on July 16, 2018

    This chocolate fondant certainly sits in the ‘bittersweet’ spectrum of desserts. Ok, but not wowed.

• Mocha muscovado brownies

  • e_ballad on July 30, 2018

    The shortbread-style crust was burnt beyond redemption 20mins into cooking the brownie, rendering the dish inedible. I’m not sure how to rectify the problem as the brownie component was still undercooked by this time & the base would require precooking.

  • nanfilod on November 13, 2019

    I'm not sure why the recipe didn't work for the other reviewer - it's a real shame as it worked absolutely perfectly for me, and the resulting brownies were up there with my all-time favourites (in fact they possibly are my all-time favourites - and I've sampled a few). The flavour is incredibly rich and deep, with the teff and coffee rounding out the chocolate. I was sceptical about the shortbread base, but it adds a delicious contrast in flavour and texture. These are an absolute winner, whether or not you're avoiding gluten.

• Luscious lemon cake

  • emma_clare on May 14, 2020

    This is really wonderful. Very zingy, sweet and sticky. Doesn't taste gluten free at all, and feels like a real treat. Easy to make too - my 5 year old helped.

• Plum buckle

  • Jardimc on July 29, 2022

    Excellent! Great flavour, not overly sweet, and good texture. I took Devlin’s advice and baked the cake an extra ten minutes longer to make sure it was cooked through, as the plums were extra juicy and ripe. It was perfect. Served with crème fraiche. Perfect summertime goodness.

• Leite's Culinaria

  If there’s just one thing...that makes it worthy of a place on your bookshelf, it’s the sourdough starter...makes the first truly viable gluten-free sourdough starter I’ve come across.

  Full review