Roux help

My wife's doctor read the "wheat belly" book. At first she dove into glutton free. Then I convinced her to add stuff back into her diet. She does seem to have problems with wheat flour i.e. flour made for hard red spring and had red winter wheat. Durum is okay so she can eat most pastas.
My biggest problem is what can I substitute fot my old fashioned roux? I have not tried durum flour yet but all the other alternatives give all my sauces different flavors, textures and mostly a god awful shinny artificial look. If there is a good substitute what is the fat to flour ratio for a roux?

I spoke with doctor and tried to have a little chat concerning what he had gleaned from the book. As an ex grain inspector who worked at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange I think I know a bit more about grains and what qualities are wanted from each grain than a cardiologist. Making a general statement concerning all "wheat" is not a good idea. It is like discovering something about oranges and then doing a blanket application to lemons, limes, grapefruit...you get the picture. Since a medical doctor wrote it he still would not believe the factual explanation as to differences vis-a-vis what the market wants for each. This determines the purpose and how each has been historically and continues to be developed.

George said:

differences vis-a-vis what the market wants for each. This determines the purpose and how each has been historically and continues to be developed.

George, could you please elaborate? I'm curious how different the development for the American market was from what the Green Revolution did for the Third World, and how far back the research diverged. Also curious whether they blend, or if my bag of Wondra is made at different times from grain that you recognize as quite distinct from one another?

[Jenise]

George, I posted your question on my Facebook and got strong reccomendations for arrowroot and sweet rice flour (sweet rice, as you probably know, being different from plain rice flour). Have you tried those, or were they the culprits in the artificially shiny description? Also, did you try Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour? It's mostly chick pea....

[Robin Garr]

arrowroot

That's a good suggestion! In my experience, you use it more like cornstarch - make a slurry and stir it in - rather than the roux technique, but it makes a very attractive thickener that's not glistening like cornstarch, and any separate flavor that it imparts is unintrusive. I might want to think about how to get back a little butter flavor if I didn't use it as a roux, but that should be easy enough to work out.

[Jenise]

arrowroot

That's a good suggestion! In my experience, you use it more like cornstarch - make a slurry and stir it in - rather than the roux technique, but it makes a very attractive thickener that's not glistening like cornstarch, and any separate flavor that it imparts is unintrusive. I might want to think about how to get back a little butter flavor if I didn't use it as a roux, but that should be easy enough to work out.

That's the only way I've used arrowroot too. But someone says they've used it, and my short question was specific about "roux", not thickener, so maybe it's worth trying.

Sweet rice (assuming you mean the sticky rice used in Chinese and Northern Thai cookery) is also known as glutinous rice, so I'd watch out. But this will be rice gluten, not wheat gluten, and so perhaps there won't be an allergy problem with it.

-Paul W.

My wife's doctor read the "wheat belly" book. At first she dove into glutton free

Your Freudian slip is showing.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

George, would be interested in knowing what you tried that didn't work.