Learning From A Pro

While I was in AZ, I was able to sit down with an extremely talented Pastry Chef. Her name is Dolores Fritzsche. She studied at Le Courdon Bleu in London, England.  Her son is one of Colby’s best friends. Dolores works as a Chef/Instructor at Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ & teaches Basic Baking, Advanced Baking, Gluten Free Baking, Pies, Cakes & the Art of Chocolate Work. So if you’re a student down in Tucson, I HIGHLY recommend taking a class from her!  Guess who many of her students are in her Gluten Free Class? Future restaurateurs! She tells those guys that “this is a real thing; they have to learn about gluten; it’s something affecting a big portion of the population.” HOW COOL IS SHE!?

Colby, his grandma (who also is a Celiac), & I sat down with her for a short lecture & discussion.  She is a wealth of knowledge & expertise.  One of the many things we discussed at length, was her knowledge of different flours & flour blends and the characteristics & properties that each type of flour can lend to your recipes. As a pastry student in London, she really got to know the different flours & why it’s so important to use SEVERAL in your own recipes. If you use an all purpose flour, take a look at the ingredients on the back of the bag. Usually it’s a blend of some of these: tapioca, rice, amaranth, brown rice, potato starch, millet, & there are plenty more!

She gave me an awesome breakdown of all the flours used for gluten free recipes. I am only going to go over a few but stay tuned for more down the road!

“Sweet White Rice Flour- Made from starchy, short-grain white-rice. This flour is traditionally used in Asian cooking to thicken sauces or added to desserts. It will add moisture & density- not the best when used alone unless a sticky result is desired.

Tapioca Flour- Made from the root of the tropical cassava plant, this pure starch works as a thickening agent in sauces (freezes well). It can be used successfully with other, more dense, flours in baking, like brown rice, sorghum, millet & buckwheat. It is sometimes easier to find tapioca pearls than tapioca flour & they can simply be ground in your high speed blender/food processor to make tapioca flour.

Brown Rice Flour- Brown rice flour is a great flour to mix with other flours like teff, buckwheat or sorgum.

Buckheat Flour- Native to Asia, this distinctive-tasting flour is commonly used to make things like crepes, soba noodles & pancakes. It adds a wonderful texture to muffins & cake as well, though you will want to acquaint yourself to its flavor before adding too liberally. For best results in gluten free baking, mix your buckwheat flour with starchier flour like cornstarch or tapioca for a good roll-out dough.”

When making your flour, it’s up to you to include Xanthan or Guar gum in the blend. You can include when you make the blend, so you don’t have to add it later, or you can remember to add it to your recipe when baking.

One thing she pointed out, that have I been DYING to share with you all, is that you need at least 3 different types of flour in your flour blend for the best results. 

Dolores gave awesome tips on egg substitutes, tons of recipes, an awesome flour blend, a gluten free dough enhancer recipe, & a bread recipe that I CANNOT wait to try! Thank you oh so much Dolores for sharing your incredible experience &knowledge! I’m so glad I get to share this all with you!

PS- She gave Colby a Strawberry Hazelnut Torte with Chantilly Cream recipe he’s going to make for me on Valentines Day. Can’t wait to share it with you! 

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