You probably already know Peter Reinhart from his much-loved bread baking books The Bread Baker's Apprentice and Artisan Breads Every Day. Heck, this is the guy who taught many of us how to bake in the first place! So it was a bit of a surprise to discover that his latest book was not another tome on pizza crust or the perfect baguette, but rather a collection of gluten-free and sugar-free recipes. But I figure that if anyone can develop gluten-free breads and treats worthy of a bakery display case, Peter Reinhart can.
Quick Facts
• Who wrote it: Peter Reinhart and Denene Wallace
• Who published it: Ten Speed Press
• Number of recipes: 80 recipes covering breads, pizza, crackers, breakfast treats, cookies, cakes, and pies
• Recipes for right now: Toasting Bread, Simple Cloverleaf Rolls, Tomato Basil Pizza Crust, Cinnamon-Apple Muffins, Chocolate-Coconut Scones, Hazelnut-Vanilla Cookies, Pecan Sandies, Cocoa-Nut Brownies, Carrot Cake, Apple Crumble Pie, Pumpkin Pie
• Other highlights: The recipes are mostly reliant on almond meal as the main flour, and pull in a nice variety of other grains and flours as supporting actors. The recipes were developed to use either Splenda or Stevia Extract as the sweetener, though the authors say that you can substitute regular sugar if you don't need to keep a sugar-free diet. The recipes themselves also cover a terrific range of basic everyday recipes and special occasion treats that sound truly mouthwatering.
But I have to be honest: I'm left feeling a little confused and unsettled by this cookbook. For people who need to keep close watch on their diet for health reasons like diabetes and celiac disease, this cookbook is an absolute gift. No question. But I also feel like there are parts that read like a weight-loss diet book and that just perpetuate the "you can have your cake and eat it too" no-guilt mentality that has ruled our diet industry for decades. Ingredients like margarine, butter-flavored sprinkles, diet soda, and even Splenda itself also give me a confusing health message: these are the kinds of industrialized artificial ingredients that I would typically avoid in recipes (personally speaking), but here they are part of a healthy daily diet?
I really admire Peter Reinhart, and have great faith that the recipes in this book have been thoroughly tested, tasted, and perfected. Even as someone who doesn't need to eat gluten-free or sugar-free, there are actually a great many recipes that appeal to me. (That Apple Crumble Pie with Almond-Pecan Pie Crust is so going to be on my Thanksgiving table.)
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one. Have you taken a look at this cookbook or made any of the recipes yet? What's your impression?
• Who would enjoy this book? Diabetics, people with celiacs, and other people on restricted diets (or people who are cooking and baking for people on restricted diets)
Find the book at your local library, independent bookstore, or Amazon: The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking: 80 Low-Carb Recipes that Offer Solutions for Celiac Disease, Diabetes, and Weight Loss by Peter Reinhart and Denene Wallace
More from Peter Reinhart The Kitchn:
• Peter Reinhart's Best Pizza Dough Ever
• What Makes Bread So Special? Peter Reinhart's Speech from the Taste3 Conference
• Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day
• The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
(Images: Emma Christensen)
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I agree with the concern. I see no benefit to a cookbook that replaces sugar with artificial sweeteners.
I keep a very restricted carb diet and all these artificial ingredients do is train you to crave sweetness.
I would rather eat something that was bad for me than an artificial version of it that is even more addictive.
Agreed. I'm not happy with artificial ingredients, especially in a cookbook where I wholefoods should be emphasized. I'd much prefer to see a baking book using whole grains and natural sweeteners- not that desserts made in this way should be considered an everyday occurrence all the same!
Won't touch it. Sweetener is sweetener not matter the form. As someone with celiac and a sugar sensitivity I don't bother with things like this - my body is going to react the same way to sugar as it does to agave or maple syrup or Splenda. All the GF or sugarfree products out there make someone who has a dietary health issue think they can be normal when they're just masking the problem with junk rather than taking the time to understand their body and its relationship to different foods in order to be healthy.
Go a while without cakes and one day you stop missing them anyway they're made.
This is probably a godsend for a diabetic with celiac disease, but outside of that tiny minority of the population (although they deserve pretty cookbooks too!), it sounds like diet faddism.
If I had celiac or diabetes, I might consider taking a look; otherwise, no thank you.
Artificial sweeteners aren't really my bag either, but the use of them appears to be in line with the intended purpose of the cookbook. It doesn't say anything on the cover about whole foods, but it does mention weight loss, and many people seeking to lose weight use artificial sweeteners. I assume there's a pretty good-sized audience for this kind of book, so I don't hold it against the author for tapping into that market.
I am not sure how the artificial sweeteners relate in terms of their nutritional content to sugar. Stevia is not an artificial ingredient, its derived naturally from the stevia plant. That said, I do believe, that sugar is sugar is sugar, even when it comes from fruit in the form of fructose. I have the same sensitivies as TinaO and I stay away from all things sweet. I have learnt to eat lots of vegetables (lucky for me I never have had a sweet tooth). I use a great book by Terry Walters - Clean Food, that is an AMAZING new way of healthy cooking, and she uses bananas as sweeteners (not my thing as I don't like the banana taste/smell), but I tried some of her baked recipies, and are fantastic... I would like to flip thru this book tho, one never knows what recipes spike my attention...
I have blood sugar issues (hyperinsulinemia) and have to follow a gluten free diet so this book is of interest to me, however I am also concerned by the number of artificial ingredients it uses. While I eat stevia (it is a natural sweetener) I would never touch all that artificial stuff- it just makes you crave sugar even more.
I too have celiac, so the gluten free aspect makes me curious, but I have celiac, which also makes me prone to migraines and I am not allowed ANY artificial sweeteners. I just keep my sugar intake low and natural.
I feel as though this review is disingenuous. I have this cookbook, & while I haven't used all the recipes I wholeheartedly endorse it. The reviewer says "ingredients like margarine, butter-flavored sprinkles, diet soda, and even Splenda itself also give me a confusing health message". I felt that the authors of the cookbook made it very clear that they were not necessarily recommending the use of these products, but including options for people who choose to use margarine or Splenda. They included those options to make the book as user friendly as possible to benefit those who have made up their own minds about which ingredients they are comfortable using or not using. As for the butter flavoured sprinkles, which they do advocate for, I understand if people don't wish to consume foods like that, but once in a while? Occasionally? As far as I am aware, it was in one recipe & I am happy to either use the product or decide not to at my own discretion. This is a book that has been written with great care, love & concern by the authors & I'm finding a lot of these comments very rude towards their great aims, & the great book they have published.
I completely agree with @lintuski. I read this review when it was published, and remember being really put off by the comments about the focus on artificial sweetener.
Then I happened to see the book at the library and brought it home, where I've been poring over it for the last couple of days. To my surprise I found none of that emphasis in the book. In fact, I think every recipe that calls for a sweetener gives specific measurements for both Splenda and stevia, which is a rare thing to come across, and very much appreciated (along with weight measurements for key ingredients - another very helpful bonus).
As someone who consciously tries to eat little in the way of grain but doesn't fully embrace the paleo diet, I really love this book - so many of the gluten-free cookbooks on the market today are full of recipes that are based on rice- and other gluten-free, grain-based flours, most of which have little in the way of real nutritional value. With so many people embracing so many different styles of eating these days, this is a rare book that is easily adaptable to many different diets...kudos to the authors for that!