King Arthur Bakealong Challenge

It turns out, learning to bake with wheat has a learning curve.

This was my first attempt at pizza dough. It got away from me somewhat.

Learning to bake without wheat was enormously frustrating. I'm now a bit intimidated about going back.

Serendipitously, I got an email from King Arthur about their monthly bakealong. I may have been getting these for ages (I have no idea how long they have been running this) but I used to ignore the King Arthur emails because of wheat. This caught my eye.

I would love to have friends join me in my quest to be a better baker. I will admit I love this is a monthly challenge. I barely successfully shower every day; I am bound to fail any daily challenge.

For June, King Arthur is making baguettes. Because I have complete understanding of those with food restrictions, if you are wheat free, here is an amazing  gluten free version from Gluten Free Jules. She even has directions at the bottom for a yeast free version. All of her recipes come with adaptions to be free of the top 8 allergens.

Let me know if you decide to bakealong!

Wheat Challenge Success!

Note: More than a week passed in between me starting this post and finishing. Any timing is a little out of date, but the basic information is accurate. I will add that it is pretty clear that James has no wheat intolerance, which was the concern going into the challenge - that he would pass and prove to be intolerant. Relief!

We are all, in the happiest possible way, completely overwhelmed by this one. My grocery bill this weekend will be extra large as we buy all the wheat products (that are safe :-) ).

The challenge went much the same way as the soy. It was a one on one challenge with the nurse instead of with the allergist. He was monitored (by machines) more closely. With the allergist, they did blood pressure and a pulse oximeter reading at the beginning. With the nurse, they add a spirometery test and re-tested his blood pressure at the middle and end.

He had eight doses of wheat crackers, a total of six crackers. This didn't seem like a lot to me. Never fear, he's had plenty of wheat already to test the results.

A couple of interesting tidbits I picked up this time while waiting:

Hazelnut

For the hazelnut challenge, which James is on the wait list for, they mix hazelnuts into Nutella, to increase the protein level.

Bee Venom

There is a bee venom shortage for immunotherapy. Thankfully, this doesn't affect us. My understanding is that bee venom immunotherapy is painful and this will extend the length of the treatment for those involved. Basically, it stinks. The nurse mentioned that it had to do with colony collapse, but the reports I have found said the manufacturer failed a FDA inspection.