For the most part, I’m completely enamored with this cookbook for those eating gluten & dairy free. First of all, it’s extremely accessible. I’m not a good gluten-free cook, and tend to just avoid bread or baked items altogether unless I can buy them somewhere. Preferably already made, or in a box with packets that say, “just add water.” I understand that cooks everywhere are groaning and shaking their heads at me, but what can I say? Cooking is a mysterious science to some of us.
There have been some gluten-free books that I’ve read that have recipes where there are too many ingredients and too many directions, and are just not any fun. This book isn’t like that. Bake Deliciously! Is an easy to follow book that I believe experts as well as novices will enjoy.
Each page is cleverly laid out with black and white pictures of the product. Each ingredient is laid out on the left, and simple instructions are added to the right. As far as I’ve been able to find, none of the recipes mention a ‘double-boiler,’ or anything else that goes right over this cooking novices head. Nutrition information per serving is laid out on each page under the recipe. Everything in this book is easy to understand and follow, and another bonus is that it has enough weight to not close when you’re attempting to cook something from it.
The only flaw for me, is that I want to know if instead of ‘organic cane sugar’ I can use regular sugar or instead of ‘agave nectar’ if I can use honey or orange juice or something else easily and inexpensively found in the grocery store. I realize however that this is not a problem for many other people eating gluten and dairy free and is just my personal preference.
Finally, I do highly recommend this cookbook. If I can read and use it without going into an information overload daze like I do with other cookbooks, then anyone can. The recipes that include everything from crackers to sticky buns and the informational pages which include well thought out information about cross contamination and safe food handling, make this an excellent choice for an everyday gluten and dairy free cookbook. Recommended.
