For the love of Gluten...
Upcoming market dates:
Sunday 22nd December 2019- Orewa Artisan Market- Orewa Community Centre 8.30am-1pm
Sunday 29th December 2019 - Orewa Artisan Market- Orewa Community Centre 8.30am-1pm
Friday 3rd January- Orewa Summer Twilight Market- Orewa square- 5,30pm-8.30pm
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Hi biscotti lovers, welcome to our brand new blog. We’ve been busy little biscotti makers for the past few weeks, working on getting the business up and running but you might have noticed I’ve been a bit quiet recently and we had to cancel our first planned market stall. I wanted to explain what’s been happening and how it affects our plans going forward.
Basically, a few weeks ago I’d been feeling quite unwell and after heading to the doctor for a routine blood test, I was told I’d tested positive for antibodies for coeliac disease. I then had to undergo a gastroscopy to get a definitive diagnosis as the blood test can sometimes be wrong. It wasn’t. I was officially diagnosed with coeliac disease 2 weeks ago and as a baker and general food obsessive it took me a while to get my head round things.
For those who might not know coeliac disease is an auto-immune condition where you are allergic to gluten for life. While a lot of people are sensitive to gluten in their diets and may try to avoid it, for people who don’t have coeliac disease, no long term damage is usually caused by having the odd bit of gluten in their diets. For coeliacs, even the tiniest bit of gluten or cross contamination with gluten can cause damage to the lower intestines *. As well as causing immediate gastro-intestinal symptoms, it can also cause long term damage to the body from mal-absorption of nutrients and lead to serious conditions like osteoporosis if you carry on eating gluten.
So in short, once diagnosed, if you want to live a healthy life and avoid some serious health complications you have to stop eating gluten… for ever. For someone who lives to cook, bake and eat, this is not an insignificant lifestyle change.
Let me say right here and now that i love gluten (even though it clearly doesn’t love me). I love the properties it provides in food. The chewiness of a fresh ciabatta? That’s the gluten. The ability for strong layers of dough to be laminated by butter and puff up into the perfect croissant? Again- gluten makes that possible. It provides the structure, texture and flavor for so many things i previously took for granted.
Now i know you can buy and make many gluten free products. As my doctor quite rightly said, if this were 20 years ago we would have to write you a script for gluten free flour and that would be all you could have. I’m incredibly lucky that there is now such a variety of gluten free products available. BUT I have to be honest, I am still in mourning for my relationship with gluten. I will miss the feel of bread dough in my hands, kneaded to perfection. I will miss the way a good pasta soaks up every last drop of sauce. I will miss the crumb of muffins and the unmistakable chew of crumpets sodden with melted butter.
Gluten free baking is incredibly exciting, and it is something i am already on my journey of learning about but it isn’t the same as baking with wheat flour and that is something i will always miss.
The most pressing issue of course, is the fact that i had just set up a business baking with wheat flour. My immediate thought was that i can’t give up on my business no matter what but the more i learn about my condition, the more i realize that the risk of cross contamination if i continue to bake with gluten in my home kitchen is just too high.
So over the last few weeks, I’ve been plotting and planning and have made some big decisions about how to take my business forward while looking after my health at the same time.
It is with much excitement that I’m letting you know that we have decided to take Fudge & James completely gluten free!
It will be a huge challenge as baking with GF flours is relatively new to me but I’m already working hard developing recipes and creating cookies and treats that don’t just taste good ‘for a gluten free treat’. They taste delicious and that everyone can enjoy. I’m also excited to start creating products that the coeliac community in New Zealand can enjoy and indulge in without worrying about cross contamination.
So bare with us!
We are not there yet and we still have a heap of stock made with regular wheat flour to sell. We’ll be selling this off at discounted rates at markets over the next few weeks (see dates below) while we prepare to go completely Gluten Free as soon as we are ready. If you can eat gluten- don’t miss a chance to grab a bargain while stocks last but don’t worry. I’m determined that once Fudge & James is a fully gluten free bakery you’ll still love our biscotti and other treats.
If you are sensitive to gluten or have coeliac disease please watch this space. We’ll keep you posted and will be on the lookout for taste testers as we perfect our gluten free creations.
Join me on my new adventure as a gluten free baker. I’ll be blogging about my journey and would love your feedback.
Ciao for now!
Clare
Upcoming market dates:
Sunday 22nd December 2019- Orewa Artisan Market- Orewa Community Centre 8.30am-1pm
Sunday 29th December 2019 - Orewa Artisan Market- Orewa Community Centre 8.30am-1pm
Friday 3rd January- Orewa Summer Twilight Market- Orewa square- 5,30pm-8.30pm
*I am not a doctor and the information here is my understanding of my condition which is still very new to me so if this is less than accurate i apologize.