Easy Gluten-Free Baking Spiral-bound – Illustrated, March 16, 2009

I've been buying gluten-free baking books for a while now, ever since I decided to cut back on gluten products, and they tend to be very much "hit or miss." This book, however, is a hit, even if not all of the recipes are perfect as is.The recipes are, as the title implies "easy," especially in relation to how difficult gluten-free baking can sometimes be. I've tried several of the recipes so far and the best were the muffins. As someone who loves muffins, giving up or cutting back on regular ones is a problem. I've tried the recipe now with throwing in frozen cranberries and with blueberries and, next time, might toss in some nuts, as well. While the Coffee Cake Muffins--OMG, they are so easy, easy...and so very good.I've made the Cheddar Dill Bread and it is also easy and tastes more like a biscuit than bread, which the author indicated. But I think I might experiment next time and not the dough all together in a loaf pan as the bread is very crumbly (far too much to even think of toasting it). If you really like dill, I might also add a tad more than what the recipe indicates. I think this recipe can be played with a fair bit as it is a nice basic savory bread recipe, but suffers from some of the complaints of non-gluten bread in regards to not holding together well. I suspect it would do better as biscuits.The book itself has a hard cover and is made so that you can open it to a page and it will lay flat, a problem with some cookbooks that aren't built in a "ring-binder" style so that you end up balancing cans or something on them in order to keep the page open while cooking.There are pictures of some of the baked goods, but this is not primarily a cookbook with lots of color pictures. I would have liked more pictures because that is one reason why I collect cookbooks, but as the recipes are so useful, I'll forgive that one "fault."This isn't truly a "beginner's" baking book, but it might be a good place to start if you are just getting into baking gluten-free. As someone who has years of practice in baking with gluten, this book is simple to deal with and easy to read and even make adjustments to as need be. I have tapioca and potato starch and all that, but I sometimes just use rice flour (white or brown) and the xanthan gum--a huge plus for any gluten-free baking--and it tends to turn out just fine anyway. But, probably for the first time, I'd follow the original recipe and then dabble later. Some things just AREN'T as good without the special flours.EDIT: I've just recently tried the chocolate cake and it was easy easy and turned out great. No one at the party ever would have guessed it was gluten free. I've also found that just using plain old rice flour rather than the sweet rice flour in some of the recipes works out just fine--I have a hard time finding sweet rice sometimes, whereas regular rice flour is much more common.Having tried out a few other gluten free baking books, I have upgraded this review to 5 Stars, as I now have much more of an appreciation for this gluten free baking book! I would snap up another baking cookbook from this author in a second!

Elizabeth's cookbooks are marvelous! She has very easy, doable recipes. She does not depend on lots of expensive GF flours or GF flour blends. She is straight forward about mixing, blending and step by step instructions. I have had success with each of the recipes, so far, on the first try. Her background as a Culinary Institute of America graduate is a bonus. She provides lots of practical advice throughout her cookbooks as a result. For those of us who must eat gluten free, she is a treasure.

Elizabeth Barbone's "Easy Gluten-Free Baking" is absolutely phenomenal. The recipes are super easy to follow, she doesn't use exotic ingredients, and her breakdown of the steps is perfection. Now, what makes this recipe book all the sweeter (no pun intended) is the physical format of the book. The cover is hard pressboard and the pages are wire-bound. I had no idea this existed until I bought my cousin one and she mentioned that she's had some that are also like that. Seriously, though. You know the recipe book stands for your kitchen that you still have to fight to get them to hold your soft-bound book? Yeah, this puppy doesn't have that problem. It lays super flat and is incredibly easy to use. 100/10 Highly Recommend!

I've been using this cookbook for six or eight months now, and though I don't turn to it as often as I probably should (so many cookbooks, so little time!), everything I've made from it has been easy to make and very good. I've gotten rave reviews from family and friends - few of whom are on gluten-free diets. The rye bread recipe is wonderful - I make it again and again.The recipes depend heavily on white rice flour - cheaper and easier to find than most gluten-free flours - and none of the ingredients are that exotic, which I very much appreciate, since I'm living in an area where gluten-free ingredients are hard to find. (Even the Bob's Red Mill organic white rice flour Bob's Red Mill White Rice Flour, Organic, 24-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4) I order from Amazon - much cheaper that way.)Right now I'm baking candy cane holiday cookies after baking gumdrop cookies (another holiday selection - new to me and a big hit at a party) last week, and trying to decide which of a dozen more holiday cookie recipes I'm going to have time to try this year. The cookbook is worth it for this section alone.P.S. The holiday cookies - candy cane cookies, gumdrop cookies, bite-sized pecan tarts, gimme-a-kiss cookies, "Santa's whiskers" (studded with candied cherries and rolled in coconut), "chocolate pixies", Mexican wedding cakes, and some roll-out eggnog cookies cut into fancy shapes and frosted - were a better selection than we ever had when cooking with wheat flours and they were all wonderful. (Not only the first day, but through the week it took us to eat them all up or give them away.) No one who hadn't been told had a clue they weren't made with wheat, and the family is looking forward to having me do it all again next year, maybe adding a few recipes I didn't get to try this year.P.P.S. I do sweeten much of my baking with xylitol and make other substitutions when I'm trying to cut down on sugar and starch. These recipes are as fail-proof as any - anything you normally try to make baked goods healthier should work here.

The recipes are really easy to follow and there is so much variety.

El libro esta bien, explicado de forma sencilla y con recetas sencillas. Para mi la pega principal es que utiliza almidon de maiz en las mezclas, pero esta bien como referencia.

I chose this rating because Elizabeth was right. The recipes work and you don't need 10 different flours to create the gluten free baking. I tried several recipes and they all turned out and taste good. I have recommended it to so many people already, because most of them are tired of trying the ones on the internet that most of the times don't work or need way more ingredients.

Ce livre est vraiment très facile à lire et à consulter. Les recettes sont clairement expliquées et très simples à suivre. The Blueberry Cheesecake Bars are simply awesome!Je recommande fortement ce livre aux personnes qui cherchent des recettes simples et délicieuses pour manger SG! Enfin, un livre de recettes qui démystifie la cuisine SG!

It's the best gluten-free cooking book I've ever found. I've succeeded in making lots of menus with easy & humble ingredients. I don't have to buy the expensive 'Gluten-free premix' any more.I'm happy to get this book.