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Cathleen's Discoveries
The best Gluten Free substitutes
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The best Gluten Free substitutes

  • Best GF Flours
  • Best GF Multipurpose Flour
  • Best GF Bread Flour
  • Best GF Breads
  • Best GF Bread for Toast
  • Best GF Bread for…open faced German sandwiches
  • Best GF Waffles
  • Best GF Bagels
  • Best GF Pasta
  • Best GF Crackers and Cookies
  • Best GF Saltines
  • Best GF Ritz Crackers
  • Best Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers
  • Best light and crispy GF crackers
  • Best Multigrain GF Crackers
  • Best GF Graham Crackers
  • Best GF Frozen Pizza
  • General Grain Advice:

Best GF Flours

Best GF Multipurpose Flour

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Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour is a game-changer. You really can just bake your regular recipes and just substitute this in.

https://amzn.to/3lM5Kfr e.g. 🄧Mini pecan pie bites (gf)

Best GF Bread Flour

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The bread texture is way better using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix (vs. the 1-to-1), but the flavor is lacking. Still working on this — maybe sourdough is the answer? or more salt or MSG than the recipe calls for?

https://amzn.to/3vu7Be6

So for now I’ve given up making it at home :/

Best GF Breads

Best GF Bread for Toast

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I get my toast fix from TJ’s gf sandwich bread loaves. There’s a white one and also a multi-grain one (both with checkered packaging); I’m pretty sure it’s basically the same but browner, and yet we always get the green one šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļøĀ Conveniently, though slightly creepily, they keep indefinitely if refrigerated. I only eat them toasted (I let butter melt into them and add salt and jam or nutritional yeast, and you could trick me into believing it was regular toast) or for gluten free grilled cheese sandwiches.

(Note: the pink checkered one is both kinda gross and molds over time, even in the fridge.)

When we’re in Asia or Europe we do eat some regular wheat products, and our bodies seem to tolerate it pretty well. My sister always feeds us delicious open faced sandwiches: butter, salami, cheese, tomato, cucumber, mustard, etc on half a German roll (brƶtchen), and we’ve been enjoying them as part of our breakfast rotation with imported German rye bread that is surprisingly easy to come by. There are four types made by a couple different companies, but we’ve settled on messermacher’s ā€œpumpernickelā€ — it magically has a shelf life of over a year if unopened, it’s pre-sliced, and delicious both raw and toasted with butter and jam.

Best GF Bread for…open faced German sandwiches

Due to the šŸ±Perfect Health Diet, I tend to avoid grains (see 🚫The best Gluten Free substitutes - General Grain Advice: below). Mestemacher breads make the cut because they’re actually imported from Germany (and have an amazing shelf-life), in addition to not having wheat. I personally think that Pumpernickel is the best flavor, of the three that are available in my local supermarket.

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Note: It also looks like Pumpernickel is also the most…exciting?
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Best GF Waffles

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Van’s makes the best gluten free frozen waffles. (I always get the blueberry ones)

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Pamela’s gf pancake/baking mix makes better pancakes than any regular mix — so light and with a crisp outside. I add frozen (thawed) berries to the batter for added moisture. I especially like the tang of raspberries.

https://amzn.to/3fk7oTi šŸ„žPancakes with Pamela's gf flour & pecans or frozen (thawed) berries

Best GF Bagels

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O’Dough’s gluten free bagel thins are surprisingly thin (maybe half the thickness of a regular bagel), but delicious!

Pro tip: If you don’t find them with the baked goods, try the freezer section.

Best GF Pasta

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Jovial makes the best widely available gluten free pasta (brown rice flour + water). I get it though Thrive which has the best selection and the best prices. If you end up deciding to subscribe, this referral link should get you 40% off your first order.

For gluten free ramen or chicken noodle soup, I use the rice noodles from Lotus Foods. (I find that you will generally want to cook the noodles longer than the instructions say.)

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(The ramen flavoring is fine, but I augment it with organic chicken better than bouillon that I always have a jar of in the fridge.) And I also buy the 4-packs of just noodle bricks with no flavoring. They carry them at Amazon, but Thrive generally has better prices.

I’m about to try their ā€œwideā€ noodle version:

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(Wirecutter did an article on ramen and the rice ramen they recommend is ā€œOh! Ricey Instant Rice Noodles Pho (Beef Flavor)ā€ which is on my list to try.)

Update: I’ve been turned onto Ancient Harvest. Penne was recommended, but I’ve only tried the rotini, and I think someone would be hard pressed to distinguish it from regular pasta.

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Best GF Crackers and Cookies

Best GF Saltines

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Generally I think the best gluten free crackers and cookies are made by a company called Schar.

They have more items listed on their website than I’ve been able to find in stores, so I can only vouch for a few products, but given their track record, I expect the others (e.g. muffins, soft cookies, breads, etc.) are at least worth trying. Update: the TJ’s bread I recommended for toast is significantly better than the Schar option, but their chocolate dipped digestives (British cookie things) are amazing.

Schar gf table crackers (gluten free saltine replacement, but more buttery)

(I eat these ones with tinned smoked oysters)

Best GF Ritz Crackers

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Schar gf entertainment crackers (ritz replacements and busted up a bit—which might be their natural state depending on how you source them šŸ˜…, a great gluten free oyster cracker replacement in soup)

Best Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers

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Schar gf chocolate honeygrams (a little grainy, but in a good way if you like British digestives)

Best light and crispy GF crackers

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We used to have a lot of Milton’s crispy gluten free crackers, because you can really just eat them solo like chips, but we’ve steered away as we’ve tried to avoid corn. But they’re so good! šŸ˜…

There are two other gluten free crackers I get that are more suited for cheese plates (both available in bulk from Costco):

Best Multigrain GF Crackers

Crunchmaster multi-grain baked crackers (very sturdy)

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Simple Mills almond flour crackers (a little softer and a little more flavorful)

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Best GF Graham Crackers

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For making a gluten free graham cracker crust, we pick up a box of Pamela’s honey grahams at Thrive.

(we haven’t yet tried other brands or pre-made crusts because we’ve only needed it once a year at Christmas (and it was a risky nudge to initially offer a box to the patriarch in charge of the annual cheesecake), so we’ll probably just keep this new tradition šŸ˜…)

Best GF Frozen Pizza

The best gluten free frozen pizza is Milton’s

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MILTONS CRAFT BAKERS Cauliflower Crust Roasted Vegetables Pizza, 11 OZ

Amazon.com: MILTONS CRAFT BAKERS Cauliflower Crust Roasted Vegetables Pizza, 11 OZ : Grocery & Gourmet Food

amzn.to

MILTONS CRAFT BAKERS Cauliflower Crust Roasted Vegetables Pizza, 11 OZ

General Grain Advice:

As I say on my šŸ¤”Advice: Eat fermented foods page:

(another note: in general, it’s good to soak foods and it’s good to ferment foods, for both toxicity and digestion, so if you can’t give up wheat or other grains as per the šŸ±Perfect Health Diet, a (soaked) sprouted (fermented) sourdough bread is probably better than the default.

And all wheat is not made equal: US wheat seems notably worse than Asian or European wheat, at least for digestion. A friend tested this out recently on a trip to Europe where they basically didn’t have gut issues despite eating bread, but unfortunately they did have eczema itching :/ )

Possibly related: if you are going to consume grains that are blacklisted by the šŸ±Perfect Health Diet, I highly recommend going out of your way to ensure they’re organic.

Also: You’ll find a lot of these products and notes at the bottom of the šŸ›’Shopping List of Things I Recommend by Vendor page where I have my lists of things that are squarely part of my routines but that may not be exceptional enough to have their own solo pages.

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