Nicole Hunn

nonfiction/cooking (gluten free)
Ive used some of Hunn's online recipes (this pound cake and possibly some pancakes or banana bread?) and thought this would be a good staple cookbook to have on hand (it contains basic recipes for making whatever scones/muffins/cakes/pancakes I might want to make), but I'm not sure that I've actually used it yet, since I don't usually keep a lot of dairy (milk, sour cream, yogurt, etc) on hand, and the great majority of the recipes included here use some form of dairy [if you are dairy-free, I recommend Colette Martin's instead]. However, I bought this book used and the previous owner had marked off a number of recipes that they tried as follows:

p. 38 - German pancake = "good" (underlined)

p. 40 - chocolate breakfast muffins = "good"

p. 120 - one-pot baked sole and soppressata dinner = "good" with Italian dry salami substituted for the soppressata, potatoes increased to 2 lbs instead of 1, fillet of sole halved (3/4 pounds instead of 1-1/2), and cooked on stovetop rather than baked.

p. 136 - skillet chicken and tomatoes = "good"

p. 33 - pumpkin granola breakfast cookies (made but not commented on)… (more)

expert-level GF baking. While I'm not likely to put quite that much effort into my flour mixes, it does appear that the author has spent a LOT of time experimenting to get her recipes to turn out EXACTLY how she wants them, and it appears that yes, you can make bagels and braided breads and other stretchy doughy things with the careful additions that she's come up with (xantham gum AND sometimes pectin AND whey protein isolate--about 5 Tbs per 11-1/2 Tbs gf flour--AND modified tapioca starch?). It's very specific, and not something I'd likely get right even if I wanted to go professional. BUT as I mentioned, she knows her stuff and there are some good tips and background here:
**Recommended first-proofing : 12 hours-up to 5 days in the fridge (if using a starter, this would need to be proofed also, 30 minutes or until doubled).
**Second proofing: your normal 1-1/2 hour rising in a warm, draft-free location.
*wonky oven temperatures can mislay your best efforts (get a reliable thermometer)
**don't forget to add the salt.
*large, flattened chunks of butter work better than pea-sized chunks for pastry flakiness.
**warm up your ingredients to room temp when required.… (more)