Adventures in gluten-free baking

Okay, so I've been doing my fair share of baking lately and I wanted to share my experiences with you. The back story to this is kind of interesting. Last week my hubby went to a nearby town (Bozeman) for work purposes. He came back on Tuesday and so that evening we were talking about being gluten-free and the possible benefits to our whole family as a result of the change. He mentioned that his business partner in Bozeman and his whole family had gone gluten-free and that his wife had a blog about it. I was instantly intrigued. I've found a lot of great gluten-free blogs out there, but nothing local or by anyone I know, so I asked him to find out her address.

Well then I got a notion to just do a google blog search for her and, voila, there she was! Gluten-Free in Montana. I was so excited to see that her blog is mostly about gluten-free products and places she's found in Bozeman and around Montana as well as recipes. That is exactly what I was looking for, and I hungrily read through the archives for hours. The next day I got ingredients and then spent hours in my kitchen baking goodies like chocolate chip cookies, granola bars and "goldfish" type cheese crackers. All three recipes were pretty easy and oh so wonderful, getting rave reviews and thumbs up from both kiddos and hubby. I had made them all in preparation of a weekend trip we had planned, and had to reign in my lil' eaters just to make sure we still had some for our trip!

The cheese crackers, rolled out and cut out.

Crackers after being baked. These turn out nice and crispy and not too cheesy. Way better than the store bought "goldfish" crackers and I love that I have control over what goes into them.

The granola bars are my favorite, I think. I will probably make a batch every week and vary what goes in, changing between m&m's, craisens, raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.

I didn't take any pictures of the chocolate chip cookies, but they turned out pretty good too. I like the recipe but wasn't too hip on the flours I chose to use. Next time I am going to try something different and see if I like it better.

I loved the banana bread recipe I posted last week, but I am still on the lookout for a more everyday-type bread that I can use for toast and sandwiches. I know there are great mixes out there, but I'd love to figure out how to make a good bread from scratch, I think it would be healthier and less expensive in the long run. But in the first week of going gluten-free, I thought I'd try a mix first, and knowing Bob's Red Mill makes a great product, I picked up one of theirs.

It was super easy to make. It didn't exactly smell wonderful as it baked, and I figured that was a result of the bean flours in the mix. I hoped it wouldn't taste horrible once it was done.

It looked good, and came out of the pan easily and even sliced easily. Me and the girls each had some bread with butter that night before bed, and the girls didn't like it, but I didn't find it horrible. It was kind of nutty and reminded me of rye bread. I made the mistake of trying some the next morning with peanut butter and it was awful. This is not good bread for toasting and sandwiches, so I put it in the freezer. I think it would be wonderful with some corned beef and sauerkraut, but its not what I was looking for.

So, the search is on, I guess. Anyone have a relatively easy, every-day gluten-free bread that has some nutritional value?