Customer Reviews

The Best Gluten-Free Family Cookbook

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3 star:		(3)
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I can't believe no one has written a review for this excellent cookbook yet. I just finished making the Banana-Pineapple Muffin recipe this morning and couldn't wait to taste them hot out of the oven. I have made several recipes from the authors' previous cookbook ("125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes"), so I know how good the recipes can be. But I was still surprised at how "normal" the muffins looked and tasted. The texture looks like they could have been made with regular flour instead brown rice flour, sorghum, and flaxmeal! I've been baking gluten-free breads and muffins for a year since being diagnosed with Celiac Disease and I have had the most success when using the Washburn & Butt cookbooks. I especially like their bread machine recipes--always tastey. My favorite so far is "Henk's Flax Bread" which tasted like whole wheat bread. I can't recommend this book enough for beginners. And besides the bread recipes, there are loads of recipes for all kinds of meals you can make for the entire family.

I love this book! I needed a bread book. When I decided to omit wheat and gluten, I ordered several cookbooks. My main problem was baking a loaf of bread. I got the packaged mixes, but the taste was all wrong. I tried several recipes on line, but they were written for hand kneading and I have a bread machine lifestyle.

This book lists two recipes for each bread, one for hand kneading and one for bread machine baking! At last! I also liked the clear large print. Nix the "Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread" by Bette Hagman. I listed it to resell on Amazon. The layout and small print makes recipes hard to read and execute, albeit the recipes are good in themselves. "Wheat Free Gluten Free Reduced Calorie Cookbook"'s bread recipes are scattered throughout the book, not chaptered,which was annoying.I liked the soda bread recipes but kept it only because of its easy make, low fat, international gourmet general recipes, not the breads. I also liked a pastry/bread/cake book "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise Roberts, the recipes were elegant but easy with baking tips (which flour brands are more highly sifted to give a lighter cake). I have been adapting recipes, and use freshly ground flax seed meal for bran and egg whites instead of whole eggs for lower cholesterol breads. Instead of premixing flour blends in cannisters as is suggested, I individually measure one batch plastic bags, so all I have to do is add the wet ingredients and yeast.

Overall, the two books, "Gluten-FreeBaking Classics" by Roberts and "The Best Gluten Free Family Cookbook" by Washburn & Butt are the only ones I need.

I have tried several recipes in this book. The ones that are good are really good (the pancakes/waffles are awesome! The pancakes aren't light though - they are a little denser than Pamela's mix, but the taste is very good. I prefer them to traditional pancakes. Also, my husband and I love the apple caramel cake.) The bad news is the recipes that are bad are REALLY bad, which is disappointing because specialty flours are too expensive to waste on bad recipes. The recipe for poultry stuffing requires that you bake the seasonings/spices right into the bread. It's terrible. It smells just like stuffing cubes, but once prepared, the taste and texture of the stuffing are awful. I am sticking with Bette Hagman's Comfort Foods book. The breads are wonderful (fyi, Hagman's Apple Celery Dressing has become my GF Thanksgiving stuffing recipe. I use a combination of the Touch o' Bean and Sourdough Sorghum breads from her Bakes Bread book for the bread cubes, and the stuffing comes out closer to regular stuffing than you ever thought you'd get again!) One other comment about the Best Gluten Free Family Cookbook being reviewed here: some of the flavor combinations are unusual. For example, there is a recipe for blueberry orange muffins (unlike the standard blueberry lemon). And there's poppy seed cheddar, banana cranberry, and rhubarb pistachio, among others.

If you are gluten intolerant or wheat sensitive, this is a "must-have" cookbook. I have tried quite a few of the recipes. In almost all cases, the results were a superior, tasty product. In fact, my family, which is not gluten intolerant, prefers the muffin and waffle recipes over traditional wheat products. As a final bonus, the authors have incorporated higher fibre and nutrient dense grains to guard against nutrional deficiencies.

I am allergic to gluten, dairy, soy and eggs, making my diet very limited. I have longed for some carbs again but the rice bread I can buy is hard for me to choke down. This book has given me back muffins, bread, stuffing,etc. It teaches you how to cook gluten free (it's a little different) and the food takes really close to the real thing. It was a big step for me to try to bake this way, but this book made it doable and the things are so delicious it is worth it!

This cookbook was ok, but seemed to have MANY ingredients to make each thing. If you have a lot of time, then I guess it would be worth it.

I use the recipes in this book when I know that the dishes I will serve must suit all tastes, celiacs and non-celiacs alike. They are dependable, the recipes are easy to follow, and the additional hints in the margins are very helpful.

Since both granchildren have Celiac's Disease, we had to find some gluten-free recipes that didn't make them feel deprived. The great reviews of this book are well-earned. Try the Chocolate Chip Bars. They were greedily gobbled up by both gluten-free and 'regular' eaters to great delight. They also keep very well, so make a double batch. I heartily recommend this book. And, there are some lovely color pictures if you need some inspiration. Gluten-free does not mean 'taste-free', especially with this book for a guide.

This is one of the best gluten-free cookbooks on the market. Lots of stuff to make without always having to keep a special flour mix on hand as most do. Everyone, family, friends, ect. love the resaults of these recepies!

I purchased this book for my mother. She was recently diagnosed with allergies to wheat (gluten). She already tried a couple of recipes and loves this book. It is a must have in her opinion. She has found some of the ingredients difficult to find in her small town, however they travel to a larger metropolitan area about once a month and she picks up what ingredients she needs there at a health food store.