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Hi Folks,

I recently got my first shipment of a sampler of various kinds of
gluten-free biscotti and gluten-free all-purpose flour mix from Ultimate
Baking in Eugene, Oregon so I thought I would give you my evaluation of
these products.

I have been addicted to biscotti for many years and it was really tough when
I figured out I had celiac disease and had to deprive myself of this special
food.

Having the chance to eat biscotti again is wonderful.

The Ultimate Baking gluten-free sampler contains six each of
Chocolate-dipped Hazelnut, Crystalized Ginger, Almond Anise, Chocolate Nut
Crunch and White Satin Gingerbread.  All of these flavors are so good and so
different from each other that I will probably just order the sampler in the
future and get the 10% discount.  If you buy the sampler you end up getting
30 biscotti for $28.  Anyone that eats biscotti knows that this is an
excellent price for large biscotti.

The texture of this biscotti is perfect and I wasn't able to tell that it
was gluten-free.  It seemed like other biscotti I had eaten over the years
that was made from wheat flour.  On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being best, I
would have to give these a solid 10.

I tried the gluten-free all-purpose baking mix on one of my favorite banana
bread recipes and was absolutely amazed at the result.  The loaf was nicely
browned and the texture was a little better than I remember when I baked
this recipe many times with wheat flour.  This was the first time I ever
achieved superior results using gluten-free flour in baking.  The price of
this gluten-free flour mix is a real bargain at 2 pounds for $3.50
considering that it contains xanthan gum.

Here is the my banana bread recipe in case you'd like to try it:

JOE'S BANANA BREAD

Be sure all ingredients are at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups ULTIMATE BAKING gluten-free flour mix
2 1/4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1/3 cup butter
  2/3 cup white sugar
      The grated rind of one large orange
2     beaten large, extra-large or jumbo eggs
1 1/4 cups very ripe banana pulp
  1/2 cup coarsely broken raw pecans
  1/4 cup very finely chopped dried apricots

Method:

Blend until creamy at high mixer speed the butter, sugar and orange zest.

Beat in the eggs and banana pulp.

Sift the flour mix, baking powder and salt together and mix thoroughly
while dry.  Add these ingredients in three parts at slow mixer speed to the
creamed mixture.

Fold in the nutmeats and dried apricots.

Place the batter in a bread or loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes.

Start checking for doneness at about 30 minutes to avoid over-baking.  The
loaf is done when a toothpick comes out clean

NOTE:  My loaf split on the top and I filled it with Smucker's Apricot
Preserves.  UM!

I own a large block of stock in ULTIMATE BAKING.  (Just kidding!)


Joe Clemens, Port Angeles, Washington, USA     [log in to unmask]