Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours Paperback – September 13, 2016

This is a great gluten free baking book. The recipes stand on their own - meaning they aren't adapting other recipes to make a "gluten free" version of something that typically contains gluten. These recipes are outright delicious on their own, showcasing the flavors and textures of the various flours used and creating treats that you wouldn't be able to reproduce if you *were* using flour. Highly recommended if you're gluten free or if you simply want more variety in your baked goods.

Alanna has produced an utterly gorgeous (no surprise) cookbook on baking with alternative (gluten-free) flours. I follow the Bojon Gourmet, so I was expecting jaw-dropping photographs, meticulously crafted recipes, easy-to-follow instructions, and tasty results. That's exactly what I got.In a slight departure from what feels like normal, the discussion of each individual gluten-free flour, where to find it, what brand Alanna tested her recipes with, how to store it, how to use it, and it's nutritional impact is at the back of the book. The cookbook jumps quickly into recipes after a brief intro and a how-to-use-this-book list of the "easy", "intermediate", and "advanced" gluten-free flours and associated recipes.Each recipe is accompanied by a photo of the finished product and a cute little header about where the recipe stems from. I've found several recipes that I'm extra excited to try because Alanna references them as being inspired by some of my favorite places in SF: Plow in Potrero Hill (Millet Skillet Cornbread with Cherries and Honey), Josey Baker Bread (Nut and Seed Loaf), and Tartine (Buckwheat Pear Galettes). Aside from an astonishing array of various gluten-free flours, Alanna's desserts rely on (delicious) ingredients like butter, creme fraiche or sour cream, cream, buttermilk, yogurt, maple syrup, and brown sugar. There are some (4) vegan recipes and one recipe I noticed labelled lactose-free. Many of these recipes could be adapted to specific dietary needs as necessary, but it may take a fair amount of trial and error for perfectly-created recipes like the pie and tart doughs.The section on pies/tarts spans what feels like a third of the book, so if you aren't a huge fan of pies and/or making your own pie crust, that may not be an ideal proportion. However, I would strongly encourage everyone to give it a try. There's a very detailed two-page photo spread on making the perfect gluten-free pie crust, and the variety of pies is outstanding. I've already learned something new just from my quick read of Alternative Baker - maybe if I position my pies lower in the oven I'll have less trouble with soggy crusts. That seems like a "duh" idea now, but I'd never considered it.These recipes range considerably in amount of time and energy required to prepare them. Plenty can be accomplished in under and hour, and some, like pies with fresh pie crust, will take more planning ahead. While I can do the math in my head, I do wish there was some indication at the top of each recipe for expected prep time.In buying this cookbook, you are purchasing about 6 repeat recipes that are available on her blog (maybe more as time goes on). It's all upfront as celebratory posts gearing up or after release of this cookbook. In her blog posts she says they are from the book or slightly adapted from the cookbook. At first I thought I noticed even more and was a little disappointed, but spot-checking seems to indicate I was mistaken.So far I've made only the blondies (with white chocolate, coconut flour (to avoid the weird texture of the flakes - hurray!), and cashews). They are fantastic, and any one, gluten-free or not, will love them. I'm looking forward to testing a lot of other recipes - I'm excited about at least 2/3 of the 140 recipes included in this cookbook.

I wasn’t sure at first about this book, but i am pleased i got it. The ideas sound very interesting, and am still trying to decide in what order to try them all

I am super excited about this book. It has great reviews and everything looks amazing. However, I don't think it was a new copy, it looks like it was driven over several times and has a torn page. It came wrapped in plastic inside the mailing package but was dirty and scratched up. I think it might have been a return that was not checked.

I have been a fan of Alanna's blog, The Bojon Gourmet, for a number of years, so I was excited to see that she had written a cookbook!I was raised in a family of bakers and bakery-owners. I owned my own bakery for a few years as well. Baking is a passion of mine, and when I recently started an elimination diet that required me to be gluten-free, I was, well, devastated. Alternative Baker made it possible for me to both bake AND enjoy my treats! The day I got this book I had picked up some rhubarb at the farmer's market so the first recipe I tried was the Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler. It was, in a word, incredible. My family of 3 polished it off in one evening after dinner. I've made it another time since, in individual dishes, and it was an equally big hit with my co-workers.I bring a lot of baked goods into work, and so far I've brought Blueberry Lemon Verbena Bundt Cake, Pluot Poppyseed Muffins, Blueberry Corn Muffins, and the afore-mentioned Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler to share with my co-workers and every time they've been shocked to find out that they were gluten-free. I can't even tell you how amazing this is. I've even deviated from the recipes (substituting millet for amaranth flour, etc.) and they still turn out delicious and absolute lovely-looking.There are a couple of flours used in the book (chestnut and mesquite) that I'm leery of trying myself due to food allergies, but that still leaves about 90% of the recipes to make! I'm looking forward to baking some pies in the coming months as the berries get ripe and apricots appear at the fruit stands. The Teff Oatmeal Cookies with Whiskey Currants are being added to my holiday baking list. And Meyer Lemon Bars with Vanilla-Almond Crust are on the agenda for next week.If you're at all interested in using various gluten-free grains and ingredients in your baked goods rather than just a generic commercial GF blend, buy this book. Even if you don't eat gluten-free, buy this book. It's chock-full of delicious treats and you won't be sorry. Yes, you may have to spend a little more on specialty flours but it's worth it. I promise you, if you love to bake, you will love this cookbook.