I use a variety of gluten-free flours, each with their own special qualities of taste and texture. I have found that they roughly divide into three categories, and that judicious mixes of the categories below make excellent substitutes for wheat flour:
Heavyweight flours: these are protein-rich flours that equate with whole-wheat flour and produce heavier bakes with less rise. They include buckwheat, millet, polenta, quinoa, teff, nut meal, hemp, and bean and legume flours.
Medium-weight flours: these broadly correlate with white (all-purpose) flour, and include sorghum or jowar flour; certified gluten-free oat flour; and coconut, chestnut and brown rice flour.
Lightweight flours: these are the featherweight, starchier flours, such as sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch and arrowroot, and are used in some dishes for their binding properties.
My ideal cake mix consists of 50 per cent heavier flour mixed with 50 per cent comprising several of the medium flours listed above. You can also substitute a tablespoon or two of medium flour with maca, lucuma or baobab powders for added nutrition. You will find a big price difference between flours, so begin by experimenting with the cheaper bulk flours and then add smaller fractions of the exotics to taste. Or, if you prefer, you can use 100 per cent ordinary white (all-purpose), wholegrain, spelt or kamut flour and still enjoy my mouthwatering recipes.
The volumes of gluten-free baking powder I give in my recipes vary depending on whether they are bulked up with rice flour. I have used a middle-of-the-road measurement, so do increase or reduce as you see fit.
I use many different fats and oils at home. For everyday use, I keep a half-and-half, cold-pressed olive oil/sunflower oil mix made up in a large bottle corked with a wine pourer. For dressings, I use omega-rich oils such as flaxseed oil.
The wide-ranging health and ethical debates about hard fats continues apace. Tastes and needs are changing, and I find myself with a foot in both the culinary and sustainable wellbeing camps regarding the use of coconut oil and palm fat. Both lend themselves to pastry, sweet dishes and also to spicy and savoury food, yet I still prefer olive oil in traditional Mediterranean cuisine. I always recommend using GMO-free oils and margarine, sustainably sourced palm fat and raw organic coconut oil.
For sautéeing food over high heat, I used a mixture of butter and olive oil for years. However, in response to customer requests for a healthy, unprocessed saturated fat that produces fewer free radicals, I now often use unrefined raw coconut oil in place of butter or other oils. I also use it in baking, and you will find it in many of my recipes.
Please note that coconut oil is hard until melted; the measurements in the recipes do take this into account. It can be softened enough for perfect cake making by placing the jar in warm water for 20–30 minutes, or by popping the jar in the microwave for 30 seconds on a low power setting.
In this book, ‘lower sugar’ means that cane sugar has been replaced with other sweeteners that are lower than cane sugar on the glycaemic index. These include rice, agave and date syrup, pomegranate molasses, apple concentrate and xylitol (I use one that’s processed from birch sugar, not corn cobs).
Stevia drops or powder can also be used to sweeten fillings, cheesecakes, fruit purées and fruit juices; however, recipes that rely on higher concentrations of sugar, such as cakes and brownies, will suffer textural changes.
Pomegranate molasses can replace maple syrup any day of the week in my larder. Rich, sticky and darkly satisfying without even the slightest suggestion of cloying the palate, it’s my most exciting new condiment! It adds both sweet and sour notes to savoury and sweet dishes alike. I use it in marinades, dressings, fruit salads, cake fillings, tomato sauces and anywhere a sweeter acidity balance is called for. If you can’t find pomegranate molasses, then apple juice concentrate is the next best substitute.
If you are diabetic or following a restricted carbohydrate diet, you will need to decide which recipes in this book are suitable for you.
I use ground psyllium husks to cleverly absorb runaway moisture from cold fillings and toppings. Psyllium is readily available in health food stores, but use it sparingly and wait couple of minutes before adding more or you could end up with a gummy finish!
Vegetarian gelling powders and crystals greatly vary in strength between brands, so please make sure you understand your packet instructions before attempting your recipe.
I buy organic Fairtrade chocolate whenever possible. I prefer 70 per cent organic dark chocolate because the flavour of the higher proportion of cocoa solids has an incomparably more penetrating flavour, and it is also freer from excess sugar.
It is increasingly possible to source no-added-sugar, dairy-free white and dark chocolate. Melting these can be a little tricky depending on your brand; however, I find adding a little sunflower oil works well. I recommend grating the white chocolate in most recipes, but feel free to experiment.
Nut allergies are catered for in many of my recipes. I have listed seed options instead of nuts, so do experiment with anything else that appeals and remember that the fat content ratio is important to note when considering substitutes. Please note that seeds taste rancid after a few months, so it’s better to buy them in smaller quantities.
Coconuts are considered nuts for the purposes of this book; consequently I have included a nut-free option for many recipes containing coconut products.
For me, the essential power tools for your kitchen are a coffee/spice grinder, a food processor and a powerful hand blender.
Other items I wouldn’t be without include a sharp, four-sided grater, a fat balloon whisk with a rubber handle, silicone rubber spatulas (these don’t perish) and silicone baking parchment for lining tins.
The oven temperatures given in this book are for fan-assisted ovens. If you use a conventional oven, just set the temperature at approximately 20°C/70°F higher than indicated in your recipe. Adjust the cooking times to suit, and consult your cooker manual if you are in doubt.
My recipes include metric, imperial and cup measures. Please note that quantities for fruit and vegetables always reflect the prepared weight.