Aside from wheat, barley, rye, semolina, spelt, and oats there are many other foods that contain gluten. The most obvious are breads, pastas, cakes, pizza, pretzels, crackers, cereal, and cookies. Don’t worry! They come in gluten free versions. There is even gluten free beer! Yes, there is gluten in beer. Your life is complete again!
Bread is by far the hardest thing to create gluten free. You get so excited when you find a gluten free product that your judgement flies out the window. “Sure it feels like a brick, but I’m sure it’s light and airy…… it’s $6.99 for like 8-10 slices, but that’s 4-5 sandwiches… it looks the slices are really tiny, but it’s probably just the packaging.” Oh the lies and rationalizations we tell to ourselves, because we so desperately want a piece of toast with breakfast or the convenience of packing a sandwich for lunch.
The unfortunate part is, that everyone’s taste is different. I will never forget the excitement I felt when I found gluten free, dairy free pound cake. I felt like I had just hand picked a winning lottery ticket as I carried the cake to the counter. My inner suppressed fat girl started to crawl out of my skin as I barely loaded my groceries into the car. My hands might have actually been shaking. With pure enthusiasm I opened the cake right there in the parking lot and took a bite……and then another. “Well, that’s not what pound cake taste like!” was my first thought. It was like a knife through my heart, a pit in my stomach, and then there was a weird oily film in my mouth from the cake. I was so disappointed that the cake I was so excited about tasted like $&!%! On the drive home I became increasingly angry. What a crime that a manufacturer would try to pass this $&!% off as edible, let alone pound cake! The worst part is, I can’t even count how many times I had similar experiences before I started reinventing all of my baking recipes.
I can’t promise that we will have the same taste, but if I save you from one bad pound cake experience and/or waste of bread money, then I can sleep better at night. Check out “Things I Love” for references and download my Ebook, “What Do You Eat?” for a simple recipe guide.
