An Introduction: A Slicin' Time With Gluten-Free Bread

Driving up to the New Grains Gluten Free Bakery, I was surprised to see not a business, nor even a sign, but instead a beautiful house with some bike ramps in the front yard. As I was let into the house by Nicole, I walked through their beautiful living room, past one of her children sitting on the couch watching a movie, and down into the basement where her husband, with flour-covered hands was busy working away in the bakery. I was briefly introduced and told about the bakery equipment, including a slicer and a grinding machine for making their own flour. Tim is the one with Celiac, as are, I was told, five of his seven children. Clearly there was a motive, just in this family alone, for some good gluten-free baking. As we were talking, I was handed a large, beautiful loaf of bread. "Multigrain" the label declared along with the precious-to-any-wheat-free-dieter-phrase: "gluten-free". I instantly compared this beauty to the shrunken, sliced foam I usually bought at Smith's when it was on sale. That definitely wasn't multigrain, and it was probably half the size of this glorious fare. I had a tendency to cradle it like a baby as I walked back up the stairs, and patted their large dog on the way out. When I got home I tasted my first, plain slice - the heel. Delicious. I placed my treasure in the fridge and headed off to my first class for the day, already off to a good start.