Allergic Living » gluten-free cooking

Interview with Cybele Pascal, Cookbook Author

Gwen Smith — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:02:48 +0000

Baking at Its Best

From the Spring 2010 edition of Allergic Living

Allergic Living gives two thumbs way up for Cybele Pascal’s The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook. Pascal had all the right ingredients take on her second cookbook: an accomplished home chef, she earned her stripes in restaurant kitchens, and she lives with multiple allergies in her family. Add two more to the mix: she’s a writer by profession and has boundless passion for baking.

With a team of 20 testers to assist, Pascal mixed, baked, tweaked and rebaked. Everything had to live up to her standards. The result is a truly superb recipe collection and must-have for those with – or without – diet restrictions. Celestial Arts, $29.95.

I recently spoke to Cybele Pascal about baking allergy-free.

GS: Why baking as the focus of the new cookbook?
CP: “With children, you want to be able to provide delicious treats for them that are safe. I really wanted to make sweets for the kids that were safe and that they could bring to school, that were safe for all the kids with food allergies. On a personal level, I wanted to get better at it, and I felt allergen-free vegan baking was a genre that could use some improvement.”

GS: What didn’t you like that was out there?
CP: First, “I thought too many people were relying on bean flours. I know they create a good structure, but I’m not a fan of the beany aftertaste. I wanted something that mimicked all-purpose flour but didn’t have that aftertaste.
I also felt the texture of the baking hadn’t been perfected. It’s easy to bake without gluten if you can use eggs and it’s easy to bake without eggs if you can use gluten, but it’s not easy to bake without both of them. So I was trying to figure out the alchemy of that: how do you do it without all of them? And create something that’s just as delicious if not more so than it’s traditional counterpart.”

GS: Why do without all of the allergens and gluten? Some books are just free of “some” top allergens?
CP: “I wanted to help as many people as possible. So for both of my books, I’ve eliminated the top allergens that are responsible for 90 per cent of food allergies. I didn’t want some people to have to try to make more substitutions.”

GS: Do you ever feel like a ‘mad scientist’ in the kitchen?
CP: Laughs. I feel like a mad scientist in the kitchen all the time! I became obsessed with figuring out to create a rise without eggs, and how to create the structure without the gluten and the eggs. I got so into – ‘if I add a teaspoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of cider vinegar, it’s all of a sudden going to cause this to blow up and create such wonderful rise.’ Baking, whether allergen-free, vegan or not, is all about chemistry.
CP recalls the bad old days of cardboard-like gluten-free products that crumbled, or had no shelf life. But she says, “I think we’re getting to a good place with this now, though.

GS: What was the hardest dessert to get right?
CP: My fudge brownies – gluten-free, allergen-free and vegan – were the most difficult recipe to perfect. That’s also the recipe I’m proudest of.

GS: What made that one difficult?
CP: “In terms of alchemy, I did this one over and over again. I didn’t feel that there was a really true fudgy, allergen-free, gluten-free, vegan brownie in any of the books yet. I wanted that crunchy, glossy brownie crust with the chewy, fudgy interior. I made this over and over and over again, adjusting this or that. Finally I figured out that if I used plum purée, that would replace the egg.”

GS: We’re reprinting your Red Velvet Cake in the Spring 2010 issue of Allergic Living. For those not on a gluten-free diet, can all-purpose flour be substituted?
CP: “You can use an all-purpose flour and then omit the xathan gum. I also find it will bake a little more quickly and might be a slightly denser cake. So yes, you may use regular all-purpose flour. But do not use whole wheat flour.”

Next page: Making baking easier

Cookbook Reviews

Gwen Smith — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:47:08 +0000

Baking at Its Best

Allergic Living gives two thumbs way up for Cybele Pascal’s The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook. Pascal had all the right ingredients take on her second cookbook: an accomplished home chef, she earned her stripes in restaurant kitchens, and she lives with multiple allergies in her family. Add two more to the mix: she’s a writer by profession and has boundless passion for baking.

Enjoy Life’s Cookies For Everyone!

Leslie Hammond and Betsy Laakso; Fair Winds Press; $21.95

Warning: Do not peruse while hungry; you may try to eat the scrumptious pages. This book is a great idea: the manufacturer known for its snacks, bars and breakfasts without top allergens (including gluten) teamed up with Leslie Hammond, a culinary expert with an allergy-friendly focus, and a collection of 150 awesome safe cookie recipes was born.

Young children will be over the moon for: Gimme S’more Bites, the Fantastic Fairy Cookies and Caramel-icious Apple Cookies. And for your own safety, don’t stand between allergic women and the Especially Expresso Brownies and Ludicrously Lemon Bars. – Gwen Smith

Go Dairy Free

Alisa Marie Fleming; Fleming Ink; $19.95

Author Alisa Marie Fleming calls this a “guide and cookbook,” and what particularly impresses is the depth of the former. This is no quick gloss-over: it’s a comprehensive, must-have resource for those avoiding dairy. The author, who’s well-known for her website Godairyfree.org, walks the reader through the dairy allergy basics and offers extensive lists of both hidden dairy sources and ingredients that will inspire.

There are thorough sections on dairy substitutes (homemade margarine, anyone?) and creative recipes, from soups to salads to curries and Make Your Own Pizza (without cheese.) Baking without dairy is usually a challenge, but Fleming rises to the task with the likes of Coconut Fudge Brownies, Orange Chocolate Chunk Cup- cakes, and Pumpkin “Cheesecake”. – Gwen Smith

Potato, Parsnip and Pear Latkes

Simon Clarke — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:51:03 +0000

Serves 4-6

Free of: Gluten and all top allergens

Ingredients

1 large Yukon gold potato, peeled

2 medium parsnips, peeled

1 large pear, peeled

2 eggs or equivalent egg replacer

2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose g-f flour (or wheat flour)

Few pinches salt and pepper

1 ⁄ 2 cup (125 mL) vegetable oil [check for allergy-safe brand]

Method

Coarsely grate potato, parsnips and pear. Transfer to bowl after squeezing out and discarding excess juice.

Add egg (or egg replacer), flour and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

In a sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Using a large soup spoon, place one helping of latke mixture into oil, flattening gently with back of spoon.

Cook 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden and crispy. Remove to paper towel to drain oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Repeat process, making about 12-15 latkes. Serve with apple sauce and vegan (dairy-free) sour cream.

Recipe by Simon Clarke

First published in Allergic Living magazine.
To order an issue or to subscribe, click here.

At Last, Good Gluten-free Baking

Shauna James Ahern — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:58:59 +0000

I learned to bake from my mother. She’d get me to retrieve the heavy bag of white flour and heave it up on the counter. Then I watched her mix that flour with butter and sugar, milk and baking powder, into cookies or pies. As I grew older, I became the baker. The flour flew as I made dozens of cookies at once. I knew the texture of cake batter, pizza dough and bread dough by heart. And then I found I could no longer eat gluten.

At first, I mourned. Months past, and I began to experiment. Sometimes, my baking sessions turned out well. I threw together a faux Fig Newton recipe that was so extraordinary from the first try that it ended up in my book. However, the bagels with teff flour? Those were gross.

Mostly, I felt mystified. Why did some recipes work while, other times, cakes fell or came out of the oven raw in the center? I was following established recipes, substituting gluten-free flour mixes cup for cup. Then this year, a breakthrough. I bought a kitchen scale.

Reading Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio, I discovered what I had been searching for – a formula. I learned that traditional bread always follows the same ratio: five parts flour to three parts water, plus some yeast. I baked a few loaves with gluten-free flours in this ratio, hoping it would work. It didn’t. They were a little too dry and crumbly, with the consistency of cornbread.

I don’t give up easily. I pulled out pen and paper, a calculator, and recipes from my website that really worked. After some time, I understood. Gluten-free bread has to be five parts flour, three parts water, and one part liquid that’s also a protein (for me, that’s one egg, which weighs two ounces. Another suggestion is flaxseed meal mixed with water, sour cream, or yogurt.) Gluten is a binder, but it’s also a protein. We have to replace both parts.

I baked a loaf of bread weighing everything on the scale: 20 ounces of flour, 12 ounces of water, plus two eggs. I threw in xanthan and guar gums for binding, some sugar, the yeast, a good pinch of salt, a bit of honey to counteract the slight bitterness of the gums, and great hope.

Three hours later, I had a good loaf of bread. Not just good gluten-free bread, but good bread.

I’ve much to learn but have started to crack the code. These days, my toddler stands on a chair beside me at our kitchen counter. As I tumble sorghum flour into a bowl, she reaches for the buttons on the scale. Gently, I block her hand. “Wait a second, sweetie. Mama needs four more ounces and then we can make this pie together.”

See Shauna’s recipe for gluten-free pie crust.

Shauna James Ahern’s and Daniel Ahern’s new cookbook is Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, published by John Wiley & Sons. Their blog is Glutenfreegirl.com.