Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread: (Biscuits, Bagels, Buns, and More) Paperback – Illustrated, December 10, 2013

This is from a well known gluten free bloggess, that has put out quality content for years. We use her Brioche recipe when we want bread in the house and can afford to make a Brioche (If you know...you know).She gives a wonderful introduction to Gluten-Free bread making, with things such as how to work with a dough that doesn't have gluten to give it shape, common mistakes with troubleshooting, how to do a sourdough starter, tools, modifications, etc.Then we get into her flour blends. She has a bread flour, high quality AP flour, a more simple AP flour, gum free flour, whole grain flour, and a pastry flour. All are quite do-able for the average person, and most of them use the same base flours, with some additions to modify each one.The recipes refer to her flour blends. The thing that makes this different than many of the Gluten-Free cookbooks is that:1. Her flour blends are listed in the book.2. They aren't overly complex3. There is no "brand" AP flour... like Bob's Red Mill, Cup for Cup, King Arthur, etc.While this may seem an issue for the beginner GF baker, each of those mixes are VASTLY different, and often can cause recipes to fail. This could be for many reasons, such as hydration need of the various flours, the protien content, the weights of the flours, the grind, etc. Having the mixes the author uses right in the book, is more than likely going to have more consistent results, and a higher chance of success.While she does have a few more "exotic " ingredients that you might have to order in for, the recipes that you have to use those ingredients are actually not that many in the overall amount of recipes. You could make tons of bread and never have to stress about them. It is just some of the more specialized stuff.As someone who has done a ton of gluten free baking - who because of allergies cant have things like legume flours, nut flours, coconut flour, and brown rice (white rice is ok) flour - I cannot recommend this cookbook enough.The two flour mixes that have brown rice are the high quality AP, and the pastry flour, whick calls for the high quality AP. I find that usually you can substitute the same amount of white rice flour (on top of any other white rice flour in the mix) and it comes out fine, but we shall see.While there are some lovely photographs in the book, not all recipes have photos. I would rather a book be this way, as it means more recipes, but it may be a downside for some. It spends the photo budget more on showing you the how to's, which to me is a more important use of photos. If I need a picture of a bread so badly, I can Google it.She also includes standard US measurements and weight. I highly suggest if you dont have a scale to get one, as it helps you be more precise (and sometimes that can make or break a recipe). You can still use this book without it though.In summary? Get this book if you want to expand your bread consumption beyond what you can find in the stores, have food allergies and need to bake your own items, or just want to learn more about Gluten-Free cooking.

Updating my review: I have made the white bread, the bagels, the hoagie rolls, the English Muffin bread, and the cinnamon bread recipes from the book. About the bagels, they are real honest to goodness yummy gluten free bagels that are amazing - that you would not know are gluten free! They taste like the gluten bagels I know and love from NY/NJ area! The English Muffin bread is a new favorite of mine! In my humble opinion, the bagel recipe, and the English Muffin bread recipe, alone are worth the price of the book! My gluten eating family have no issues whatsoever eating anything made with Nicole Hunn's recipes!I had rise issues being in AZ, but figured that out...proofing in the cold oven in a covered container and then a moist tea towel on top of the covered container, along with some water in a separate bowl to the side. Nicole has also stated on her blog not to be afraid to go over the suggested rising time if needed to get the rise. I have to say though, when the white bread did not rise properly, it still tasted awesome - better than anything I purchased in the store.I need to get pizza stone and peel so I can also do pizza crust. Have yet to try to do the starter for the "no rye rye." I will be venturing into that shortly!It saddens me that some people cannot source the ingredients called for in the book. Nicole does her best to accommodate everyone's needs, so go to her resources page on her blog glutenfreeonashoestring.com to see if she has found a way for you to get them. If you cannot find Expandex, you can use Ultratex3. Again, go to the resource page on her blog because there is a change to the recipe if using Ultratex3.For those who cannot afford the ingredients, I understand. The initial outlay is a bit of a shock. I had to do it in steps. However, if you do the math, it is still cheaper to get the ingredients and bake these recipes than it is to buy pre-made gluten free food that is subpar. And these recipes (at least the ones I have tried) are amazing. Not just good for gluten free, but good for all!By the way, I use Better Batter flour along with the Expandex and Whey Protein Isolate to make my bread flour. I do not have enough space for all the different flours.If I could I'd give it 100 stars!Initial review: I have yet to bake anything from the book. I am still studying it and gathering ingredients/equipment needed. I have never baked bread before, besides banana bread or ginger bread, never mind gluten free bread. It seems to me that Nicole wrote this book with me in mind--the petrified novice, because she clearly addresses most every issue/question I could think of. She did her best to test some different proteins for the dairy free people and even tells them how to adjust other ingredients. Nicole truly cares about her readers and it shows in this marvelous book! Nicole is also very available to answer questions from you on her blog glutenfreeonashoestring.com, and even did a live Q&A on Facebook and is willing to do more. My family, who is not gluten free but loves what I have made from her prior books, has asked for plain bagels (with different seeds), so that is what I am going to start with as soon as I have the necessary supplies.