Eating gluten free

A gluten free diet is the treatment for celiac disease, an autoimmune condition in which gluten damages the lining of the small intestine. It is also necessary for anyone with a wheat allergy, and for those diagnosed with non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Outside those situations, avoiding gluten has no established health benefit. Claims that a gluten free diet treats conditions unrelated to gluten — autism and candida overgrowth among them — are not supported by evidence, and restrictive diets started on that basis carry real nutritional risk, particularly for children.

One practical point matters more than any other here: testing for celiac disease only works while gluten is still being eaten. The test comes before the diet, not after it. Anyone who suspects a problem should see a doctor first rather than cutting gluten out and losing the chance of a clear answer.

Eating on a gluten free diet

Avoiding gluten means keeping wheat, rye and barley out of the diet, along with everything made from them — bread and cakes, and pasta, which is mainly durum wheat. It also means watching for the places flour hides: as a thickener in gravy, and as a bulking filler in powdered products such as instant coffee and curry powder.

Plenty of foods used as grains contain no gluten at all. Rice and corn are the familiar ones, and millet, sorghum and teff are true cereals that are gluten free as well. Buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth are not cereals at all — botanically they are seeds from quite different plant families — but they are cooked and used in the same way, and they are gluten free too. Between them they make the diet a lot less narrow than it first appears.

Oats are a special case. They do not contain gluten, but they do contain a similar protein called avenin, and they are very often contaminated with wheat, rye or barley during growing and milling. Oats labeled gluten free are grown and milled in dedicated conditions and tested, so they are safe from that contamination. A small proportion of people with celiac disease react to the avenin itself, so the advice is to introduce gluten free oats gradually and watch for symptoms.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Since most baking flour is made from those three grains, it was until fairly recently difficult to find commercially produced flour, cereal or baked goods without it. That has changed completely, and gluten free baking has improved beyond recognition.

Substituting gluten

Gluten is what keeps cookies, cakes and pies soft, moist and held together. It gives baked goods their texture, because air is trapped within the sticky network it forms. When gluten isn't present, something else has to do that job.

Xanthan gum is the most widely used binder in gluten free baking. It is produced by fermenting sugars with a bacterium, Xanthomonas campestris. Guar gum, a powder made from the seed of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, does a similar job and is the more natural of the two. Both are sold in supermarkets and health food stores, and a very small quantity goes a long way.

Gluten free substitutes

Every day someone is coming up with a new way to substitute a common item into recipes that call for gluten. There are ways to substitute combinations of ingredients, cup for cup, where you would use any of the three main gluten-based flours. Let's take a look at some of the less common substitutes for gluten and open up the realm of possibilities.

Potato starch flour

Potato starch flour is a great substitute. The thickening it provides is outstanding and because of the high starch component, the ingredients bind to it like glue. Mix a little with water first to help hydrate the granules and get the glue working, then substitute potato starch flour in your recipe, cutting the amount of flour needed in half to get the right proportions.

Tapioca flour

This light, white, very smooth flour comes from the cassava root. You might be familiar with the chewy little balls found in tapioca pudding, so you can imagine how well it reacts with baked goods. Anything that needs to be chewy, like French bread or white bread, could use this kind of flour.

Soy flour, lentil or chickpea flour

High in protein, soy flour has a nutty taste and a smooth texture due to the high fat content. Soy flour is usually used in combination with other flours, to make baked goods such as brownies, cookies and muffins. Since soy flour can stand up to almost everything, it is also good to combine with nuts or fruit.

Chickpea flour or lentil flour are commonly used in Indian cuisine and gluten free. Adding a few exotic recipes to your repertoire may make a gluten free diet easier.

Brown rice flour

This gluten substitute comes from unpolished brown rice. Because this ingredient contains bran, it has a higher nutritional value than traditional flour. This type of flour is used best in more dense breads.