Gluten-free, taste-full

Imagine not being able to eat anything that contains gluten. Anything. That includes not only baked goods, but pasta, soy sauce, many soups, some candies and other foods that make up a huge part of the American diet. That’s what faces people with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that impacts the intestines and interferes with proper nutrient absorption. After being diagnosed with celiac disease, Linda Daniels, an avid baker and pastry-lover, felt lost. But she found opportunity in her diagnosis and launched Free Range Cookies, offering breads, cookies and candies that are gluten-free, often vegan and thoroughly delicious. What is it about cookies? I just think it’s kind of like a little microcosm of the whole world. It all kinda comes together and it can be just a little bit savory and hearty and a little bit sweet and sometimes slightly bitter. So it’s kind of like, life comes together in a cookie. Is that odd? No. It shows that you have passion. If nothing else, I like to eat, but I really like to create. What is your creative process? I start with whatever it is I am trying to make. I go to the library all the time and just browse and see what’s seasonal, what’s fun, what’s new, what people are using. It’s not that I try to copy everything, but in a certain sense I do. Anything that’s out there that has wheat – that’s in the gluten world – I’ll make adjustments to the recipe. And you can. You can convert any recipe. How do you convert these recipes from standard to gluten-free? For cookies and things like cakes, quick breads and muffins, they’re really easy. They’re low on the gluten chain. The success of those kinds of recipes doesn’t rely on the gluten formation or the gluten network. The higher up the gluten chain that you go, and you get into breads and pizza crust and bagels, [the baked goods] rely more and more on gluten, so it’s more of a challenge, but it can still be done by using the right combination of flours to get the right amount of protein to give it substance. I think it’s important to say that even though you’re making products that are gluten-free, they don’t sacrifice flavor or texture. That really is my goal. To … make it so that people who are eating gluten-free in the household don’t have to feel like they’re eating icky diet stuff. Have you always been a baker? Yes. I’ve always been a huge baker. … When I was diagnosed with celiac disease, first of all, I’d never heard of it before. … I think that I saw something in a magazine that mentioned an allergy to pretzels and bread-type things and I thought, “Oh, that’s terrible! I couldn’t live with a diet like that.” So, as anyone who’s diagnosed will say, at first you feel crushed. Things are very different now. You can go into Schnucks and Dierbergs and they have “whole life” sections and you can get ready-to-eat stuff in the frozen section. But the first time I went shopping after I was diagnosed, I was in Dierbergs and I was walking up and down the aisles and I was close to tears. Our society is so wheat-centric. Things that people eat every day … you just don’t think about it. I would think that it takes a lot of emotional energy to seek out wheat-free products, read all of the labels. Having products like yours gives people a type of freedom. Yeah, I know that this is a bakery, but in a way I don’t think of it like that [because of] exactly what you said. A customer of mine said, “I’m not buying baked goods, I’m buying a little piece of freedom.” My goal is to make things readily available. You already have retail distribution of your products at places like Whole Foods Market, Winslow’s Home and in the Ladue School District, so why open a store? I need the space, and there are a lot of chains that want to offer a gluten-free bun or other type of bread. So this is going to allow you to expand your production. Definitely. I was surprised because I was [wondering if], in these times, restaurants would be looking to add a specialty item that’s more expensive. But the restaurant chains that have added gluten-free options have seen a big increase in their business, ’cause these are customers who wouldn’t have normally even been there. You know what you can order. You don’t have to do the awkward thing of questioning every single ingredient and wanting to go back and look at containers and things like that. Are the big chains in contact with you? Actually, the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness is working big time behind the scenes with their restaurant training program. They approach restaurant chains and offer them training on cross-contamination issues and education on this is wheat, this is not. And they also introduce them to companies that can provide specialty items. What types of ingredients do you use? That’s my stack of flours over there. I’ve got fine rice flour, almond meal, amaranth, gluten-free oats, gluten-free oat flour, mesquite flour, quinoa … And your baked goods not only taste like conventional pastries, they’re so attractive, which is such a part of the appeal of this type of food. Looks do matter. I used to go to regular bakeries before I was diagnosed with C.D. and I would want one of everything and sometimes I would treat myself to that. I just wanted to appreciate what it looked like first, the work that went into it. I guess you’re destined to be a baker. It doesn’t feel like work to me. I almost have a little bit of – it’s not guilt, I shouldn’t say guilt. But last night I left, and I had this sponge [batter] that I mixed up and I thought as I was driving home, I can’t wait to get back and see what it’s doing.