I’m Laura, a self-taught home baker specializing in gluten free baking, pastries and bread making.
Baking is something I am passionate about by using ingredients in different ways to create delicious baked goods for everyone to enjoy. I could no longer use the regular flours, and certain ingredients however I needed to pivot. Figuring out how to bake delicious gluten free baked goods that I would enjoy along with my gluten eating husband.
I started off by taking my wheat flour recipes and converting them into gluten free. This gave me a sense of comfort in knowing I can make gluten free delicious with my previous recipes and began recipe testing my gluten free baked goods. My recipe testers were friends, family co-workers, neighbours and all of them were shocked at how delicious gluten-free can be. These supporters were all shocked the baked goods were now gluten free and tasted just as delicious. I knew I had to share my knowledge and recipes with the gluten free community. This begins my journey of developing Laura Bakes Gluten Free, I hope you enjoy!
About me
I am first and foremost I am a wife to my best friend and my favourite recipe tester, Chris. Together we live in Alberta, Canada with our chocolate lab, Lexi. I started baking as a stress reliever which turned into a hobby but has turned into a chance to share my creations with the gluten free community! It gives me a chance to recipe test, photography, content creation and last but not least, digital marketing.
This leads me into my day job… I started out as a graphic designer, which pivoted into a digital marketer (I.E. social media, websites, online advertising, etc) and then led me to focus on strategy for all things marketing for clients around Canada and the United States. My day job focuses on industries such as real estate, land development and new home building. This blog is a great outlet for me to use the skills I have developed in my day job with digital marketing and also be creative with my baked goods!
Favourite thing to bake Gluten free
- Macarons
Macarons are my current favourite thing to make because the challenge of this french pastry makes it frustrating yet rewarding to make especially at every turn there could be something that goes wrong! Over the years I have perfected my macarons with tips and tricks, since then I am now exploring the different fillings, decorations. One filling I have been dying to test is something with miso… I know that sounds odd, however the salty favour combined with a sweet fruit or chocolate might be the perfect marriage. Stay tuned to see if that goes anywhere! My favourite go-to filling has to be salted caramel because there is always some in my fridge at any given moment!
Favourite thing to whip up
Don’t you have those nights where you are craving a sweet treat, but want it right away? Brownies or chocolate souffle are very simple treats to basically throw into one bowl and enjoy in no time! Best of all, you can eat them right from the oven and do not have to wait for them to cool…well maybe let them cool a little so you don’t burn yourself!
Favourite flour to use
Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free flour is my go-to and favourite! I always have a 25 lb bag of the flour in my kitchen at all times. The flour is super easy to use, versatile, and surprisingly very assessable which you can find it at most grocery stores.
- Ardent Mills Gluten Free 1-1 Flour
This is a new favourite and slowly over taking Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Flour as my go-to. It started during Covid when it was getting very hard to find someone who would ship or carry a 25 lb bag of the flour. It did not make sense for me to buy the small bags from the grocery store so I was on an adventure to find something new.
My brother had access to other flour brands through his wholesaler but they were more money than Bob’s. I heard that Costco Business Center was selling a gluten free flour and for the price is was hard not to try. I grabbed a bag for me and for a friend… with the hopes that I was going to like it considering it was 25lbs. Testing of the flour needed to happen, so I started baking my usual favourites such as brownies, cookies, cakes and more. It acted just like Bob’s, just half the price.
favourite baking challenge
I know what you are thinking, your favourite thing to bake is Macarons – that must be the hardest baking challenge. I have to say it isn’t. That recipe will be shared one day, but there are some tips and tricks that I do to have success every time. The hardest baking challenge has to be creating gluten free breads. I spend days baking the exact same thing with slight tweaks to see how I like it better. Then I continue until I am happy with the result. Then I bake that multiple times to ensure I wrote everything down correctly and I am happy with it. Croissants were one of those items. To get it flaky, buttery and not dense was a challenge considering we do not develop stretch or gluten when baking them. You can view the recipe here.
Contact
If you have any questions while you are baking, please DM me on Instagram. I will get back to you quickly. If you have any questions, please reach out, here.
Amazon and Third Party Links
I use Amazon Associates, along with other third party links throughout my website. This generates a small income while allowing me to continue to produce high quality gluten free recipes for you. All products that I talk about are products firstly that I love, and I use regularly. Secondly, I would never recommend a product that I didn’t believe in or use.
Browse through my collection of recipes, and let me know which ones you have fallen in love with!