Author develops flour for gluten-free baking

By The Canadian Press
Sat. Jun 12 - 4:53 AM

Wendy Turnbull, who has celiac disease, developed a recipe for a gluten-free flour which she calls GEMS. Turnbull has taken her breakthrough to another level with her book Gems of Gluten-Free Baking.

When a person suffers from celiac disease, the aroma of home-baked bread, cookies, buns and cakes can be difficult to endure.

This is because those with the disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley. When people with this condition eat foods or use products containing gluten their immune system responds by damaging the lining of the small intestine.

Consequently, they often miss out on enjoying delicious baked goods, something that most people take for granted.

But Wendy Turnbull, a Calgary-based celiac sufferer, has developed, through years of testing, a recipe for a gluten-free flour which she calls GEMS.

It’s a carefully selected mix of whole-grain flours which enables celiacs to bake bread that slices without crumbling and baked goodies which stay remarkably fresh and moist.

Turnbull has taken her breakthrough to another level with her book Gems of Gluten-Free Baking (Whitecap, $29.95).

"I have always loved cooking and the challenge of improving gluten-free baking was my goal," the 63-year-old said in an interview.

She began using brown rice flour for all her baking. Then Turnbull got to know other nutrient-rich gluten-free flours such as amaranth, buckwheat, chickpea and soy — in fact, 13 flours in total.

"Baking with the flours individually helped me discover their distinctive characteristics," she writes. "I used this information to create the GEMS flour." Here from the book is the GEMS Flour Formula. It requires four alternative gluten-free flours. The first two must be included; the next two offer a choice based on personal preferance, availability or cost. All will yield a superb loaf of bread.

GEMS Flour Formula

Basic: 675 ml (2 3/4 cups) brown rice flour and 150 ml (2/3 cup) sweet white sorghum flour

Add: 75 ml (1/3 cup) of one of the following flours: amaranth, buckwheat (light), gluten-free oat or teff

Add: 45 ml (3 tbsp) of one of the following flours: chickpea, millet, soy (low-fat or defatted), quinoa or white/red/black bean