Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Quickly: The good - a few basic recipes to experiment with, a sponge cake recipe for every flour presented, good overview of each flour at chapter start, nice photos and appealing recipes, thorough guidance in introduction and within each recipe, doesn't require all-purpose flour mix The bad - larger emphasis than some might prefer on nuts and cream cheese, not all oat brands are gluten-free, no index in kindle version, does not give details on problem-solving performed by author for specific flours, weight measurements are only for (most) dry ingredients Longer: I have a few friends who are gluten-free, so I am always looking for new recipes to try that everyone can enjoy instead of having to bake them something "special" that doesn't turn out as well as the wheat-full item I make. All these recipes are gluten-free (assuming you use gluten-free oats), but many are not nut-free. In case that's something you worry about, a rough estimate is that about 60 of these recipes contain nuts, which is roughly half of all the recipes. Also, cream cheese is used as a glue for quite a few recipes, serving a purpose similar to xantham gum, which could be a problem for dairy-free or cream-cheese-disliking people. Alice Medrich's recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cake is my go-to recipe for delicious, gluten-free chocolate dessert, so I figured she would have some good ideas. I absolutely love the fact that her first step in creating these recipes was to bake a génoise with every single flour independently, and observe how each flour behaved differently, and we get the perfected recipes here. I do wish that she had not chosen to leave out the details of testing and problem-solving for each of the flours. I feel like that could have made this book exceptional and the foremost source for baking with a single grain. While it's unfortunate that I will have to muddle through without knowing the details of what she's already tried and failed, I am reasonably happy with what is presented here. I really like not having to make an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix, so I am happy to follow Alice's lead in using just one or two flours in one recipe. It's exciting to learn more about the individual flavor of each grain. This book is laid out by flours, rather than by baked-good type. I am not sure why, but there does not appear to be an index in the kindle version. There should be a general and flour-based index (there is in the print version) that comes after the acknowledgements, but my kindle version just has conversion charts and an about the author. Across all the flours, there are 3 biscuit recipes, 3 cobbler recipes, 4 brownie recipes, ~51 cake recipes (in part because there is a génoise recipe for each flour), 11 frosting/glaze recipes, 39 cookie recipes, 11 tart recipes, 7 pudding recipes, 3 cracker recipes, a "general guideline" recipe for pancakes, waffles and crepes, as well as some other miscellaneous recipes (scones, soufflé, beignets). There is no recipe list at the beginning of each chapter, so it might be a bit hard to find what you are looking for in the kindle version. At the beginning of each chapter, Alice tells us what the flavor affinities are for each flour, how to obtain it, and gives a brief history and description - plus a photo. One thing that I've noticed in reading through these recipes is that a substantial proportion of these recipes (especially the cookies, scones, tarts, and biscuits) require either a longish (but unattended) wait time, either prior to baking or after baking but before eating. There is roughly one photo to go along with every two or three recipes. Each recipe gives the volume measurements; only the flours, sugar, butter, and nuts/dry fruit also have a weight measurement. This is a bit odd since such an emphasis is placed on having exactly the perfect level of hydration in the batter, yet all liquid ingredients and also spices, yeast, salt, and fruit are left to be measured out with potentially lower precision than the flour. The reason I still like this book, despite my misgivings, is that there are some really standout recipes with beautiful photos and there do not appear to be any obvious problems with recipe editing or measurements (none that I've caught anyways). I'm excited to try the lemon tart (corn flour), butterscotch pudding (rice flour), poppy seed pound cake (oat/rice flour), and sorghum layer cake with walnut praline buttercream (sorghum/rice). Alice writes her recipes and guidance very carefully here and I've never made a flop from any of her cookbooks, so I expect the trend will continue, now with gluten-free deliciousness.