Bread, like so many flour-based baked goods, is a staple of traditional cuisine. Each region, and sometimes every city, boasts its traditional bread that also includes focaccia, spianate, piadine, sandwiches, filoncini and a thousand other variations. We also use stale bread to make other recipes, to toast it, to soak it and to prepare bruschetta, and if it is still left it is hard to grate it for use in patties, meatballs or to bread meat and vegetables to be fried. But today we will talk about bread alternatives for gluten free diet if you are suffering from gluten intolerance.
Those suffering from gluten intolerance must necessarily reduce the amount of products containing it, including bread. Unfortunately, limiting the diet is not only very difficult, but it is also harmful to the body when whole categories of food are eliminated without criteria, not to mention the psychological aspect for which one is deprived of the most loved and delicious meals to which one is accustomed.
Those who cannot consume too many foods derived from wheat can consider many alternatives without sacrificing taste. It is possible in fact to use many flours that do not contain gluten, the most common are: buckwheat, flour and corn starch, rice flour, amaranth, flour of legumes such as chickpeas, beans, peas and lentils, chestnut flour, starch of potatoes, sesame, linseed, soy, sorghum, tapioca. We can find these flours in many products for sale such as bread, crackers, breadsticks, rusks, buns and all bread substitutes, and they are also present in biscuits and other desserts.
Given the recent increase in people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance, there are many manufacturers that in recent years have dedicated a production line to gluten-free products. For example, traditional brands such as Mulino Bianco and Buitoni, soon studied suitable foodstuffs, while other specific brands, once sold only in pharmacies, are now also found on supermarket shelves. Unfortunately, many of these foods are anything but cheap, while celiacs may be entitled to a refund established by the Ministry of Health, intolerants are not understood because they do not suffer from chronic illness.
In addition to buying packaged products, of course we can use gluten-free flours to prepare bread and other foods at home. Let’s see in detail the characteristics of the most common flours that we can find use as bread alternatives …
Corn flour: Widespread in many variations, it is traditionally used to prepare polenta. It is also excellent for preparing bread and desserts.
Rice flour: Rice is widely cultivated, we know many recipes, but not everyone knows that rice flour is gluten-free and is excellent for preparing baked products, especially associated with corn flour to obtain the right consistency of the dough.
Flour chickpeas: Already widely used to prepare Ligurian porridge and panelle from Palermo, it is excellent for preparing delicious sandwiches and focaccias.
Quinoa flour: Appearing in tables only in recent years, mainly to cope with the vegan diet, quinoa flour is gluten-free and is excellent for preparing bread, especially when mixed with rice flour.
With all these bread alternatives, it is not necessary to give up bread, but it is possible to consume a different bread, to buy or prepare at home. Using these gluten-free flours, we will also add new flavors to the table and new nutrients to our body.
Gluten intolerance causes symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain and swelling, usually within a few hours of ingesting the foods that contain it. With Test Your Intolerance, you can check if you are sensitive to gluten or intolerant to other foods, in order to balance your daily diet with the right food products.
