Welcome to the second post in a series on IBS & special diets (for first post, click Diagnosis - IBS).

As well as being diagnosed with IBS, I also have an intolerance to gluten. So, in my quest to try new foods which don’t trigger the IBS, I thought gluten-free and gluten substitutes were a good place to start.

There are a variety of alternative flours, that do not contain gluten, which can be used in bread-making, baking, sauce-making, soup-making and sweet-making.

White Rice flour

• An excellent flour for gluten-free baking which is fairly bland, so it doesn’t impart any flavours to the mixture. Can be used in pizza dough.

Brown Rice Flour

• Same as white rice flour, except it has more ‘food value’ because it contains bran. Can be used in breads, muffins and cookies.

Buckwheat Flour

• A sweet and speckled flour which is not really suitable bread-making but gives a pleasnat flavour to baked goods and can be used in pancakes (popular in Northern France) and noodle making.

Maize/Corn Flour

• Excelent for waffles and pancakes, and can be combined with cornmeal to make cornbread and muffins.

Corn Starch

• Used as a thickening agent for sauces and puddings, and can be combined with other flours in baking.

Corn Meal

• This can be combined with other flours in baking and gives a strong corn flavour.

Tapioca Flour

• This is a very light, smooth flour which gives a chewy taste to baked goods, ideal for chocolate brownies. It would also work well in breads such as white bread or French bread.

Potato Starch Flour

• A thickening agent which can be used in sauces & soups.

Gram Flour

• Often used in spicy batter for pakoras in indian cookery, it can also be used in sauces & custards.

Soy Flour

• Has a nutty flavour and is best used in combination with other flours. Great in brownies and other baked goods containing nuts and fruits.

Carob Flour

• This looks like cocoa but has a starchy beanlike flavour; in cake batters it performs just like other flours. It can be combined with sweetners to make a cocoa-like powder, or can be made into candy that looks like and has the same rich mouth feel as milk chocolate but tastes more like honey.

For baking and bread-making, gluten-free flours do have a draw back, in that gluten gives elasticity to doughs, making them flexible and able to rise. Gluten-free doughs can be heavy and rather crumbly. There are gluten substitutes which add the elasticity back in and make the dough lighter and less crumbly.

Xanthan Gum

• Xanthan is a natural gum produced by the fermentation of sugar with friendly bacteria. The bacterium used is Xanthomonas campestris, hence the name xanthan gum. Because bacteria produce the gum xanthan is known as a biogum. This works well as a gluten substitution in yeast breads along with other baked goods

Guar Gum

• This thickener is very popular among people with gluten allergies, xanthan gum is more expensive, but interchangeable with guar gum.

I’ve been trying a few gluten-free foods including rice and corn based pasta, with which I have not been very impressed. I was given a pasta machine for Christmas and as yet haven’t got around to using it. So, I’ve been looking for a gluten-free recipe for homemade pasta and here’s what I found…

Homemade Gluten-Free Pasta

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Tapioca Flour
1/3 cup Cornstarch
2 Tb Potato Starch
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 Tb Xanthan Gum
2 large Eggs
1 Tb Vegetable Oil

Combine flours, salt, and xanthan gum. Beat eggs lightly and add oil. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir. This will feel much like pastry dough. Work together into a firm ball. Knead a minute or two.

Place ball of dough on your bread board and roll as thin as possible. One pasta book suggest you should be able to see the board through the dough. The dough is tough and, although almost transparent, will still handle well. Slice the noodles into very thin strips or, if using for lasagne, into 1-1/2” x 4” rectangles. The pasta is now ready to cook, or to freeze uncooked for later use.

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water to which 1 tablespoon of oil has been added for 10 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness and the size of your pieces. You will have to test for doneness.

Makes 3 servings as noodles alone, 5 to 6 servings in a mixed casserole.

Spaghetti: Use the spaghetti cutter on your pasta machine. If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll the dough very thin and cut your spaghetti as narrow as possible. This may turn out a bit uneven, but no one will notice when it is hidden under spaghetti sauce. Cook for 10 minutes in boiling salted water to which a tablespoon of oil has been added.

Chow Mein Noodles: Make the pasta and cut as if for spaghetti. Then cut these strips into 1- to 1-1/2” pieces. Drop uncooked into hot oil and cook for a few seconds (they will probably take less than 1 minute). Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Then use immediately or freeze.

Makes about 5 to 6 cups chow mein noodles.

I think I’ll try out the spaghetti during the week with a bolognese. Let me know if you try the recipe and how you get on.

Finally, I have added a link to the Coeliac Society UK website, where you can find out lots more about gluten-free food options and how to control a gluten-free diet. Go to the Sensitive Diet Links on the links page.

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