Since starting their own gluten-free bakery June 30, Donna and Burkhard Kurfiss have been discovering just how many families are struggling with food allergies in their homes.
For those with Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance, even good old fashioned breaking bread with friends and neighbours can be a daunting notion. The Canadian Celiac Association estimates that one in 133 Canadians are affected by gluten intolerance, and that means a large sector of our population is reluctant to accept invitations for meal get-togethers. Even providing balanced meals in the home, without causing gluten reactions can be a challenge when one or more family members is intolerant.
Donna knows about those challenges. All of her three young children and herself are gluten intolerant and have allergies to dairy products as well.
“At first it was very difficult,” recalls Donna. “But as time went on, we adapted our recipes and our technique. Now we know our flours well.”
  They learned about gluten-free flours and starches and began experimenting with rice flour from white rice, brown rice and sweet rice. They tried tapioca and various starches. Fortunately, the couple have always enjoyed baking, as part of living fairly independently on their 1873 country homestead on Turtle Lake Road. After two years of practising and a few “gluten-free whatamacallits” that were fed to the chickens, the Kurfisses came up with their secret recipe and began to turn their family’s gluten intolerance dilemma into a business. Now at Donna’s Homestead Bakery, gluten free breads, cookies, tarts and muffins emanate from the large commercial oven, helping them cope with having four gluten intolerant family members. At the same time, they’re able to help others who must avoid this dietary staple themselves or are looking for “safe” alternatives for someone in the family.
Often Donna and Burkhard will see parents seeking solutions for feeding a child, newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance.
Finding a gluten-free bread that has a nice texture and doesn’t taste like cardboard, Donna says, is the first step. Once a child finds a gluten-free bread they like, she says, meal choices increase exponentially. Easy-to-make favourites like simple sandwiches, garlic bread, or kid-pleasers like eggs ‘n soldiers or egg-in-a-basket are now options.
A favourite breakfast treat in the Kurfiss home is a French toast recipe that is both gluten and lactose-free.

Ingredients:
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 cup rice milk
1/2 teaspoon GF vanilla extract
rather thick slices of gluten-free bread (Donna’s Homestead loaves are available in a variety of flavours)

Method:
- beat eggs, rice milk and vanilla together until well blended
- dip sliced bread into egg mixture, let soak
- fry in medium hot frying pan, with a little sunflower or other oil, until golden brown on both sides
(Flip over carefully to fry other side. Gluten free bread is more fragile than wheat bread.)

Topping options recommended by Donna and Burkhard
1. sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar (preferably demerara sugar)
2. organic choke cherry syrup (speak to Donna’s Homestead Bakery)
3. organic dandelion syrup (also speak to Donna’s Homestead Bakery)
4. ok, ok, maple syrup
5. no, table syrup is not an option

Burkhard also recommends a gluten-free version of the poultry dressing his mother would make for special Sunday dinners, typically in the fall, with her family in the Black Forest region of Germany.
Before adding commercial spices during meal preparation, Donna suggests it’s always wise to check labels or even better, to contact the manufacturer, to ensure the seasoning product does not contain any gluten.

Ingredients:
1 loaf of Donna’s Homestead Bread
2-3 eggs
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. sunflower oil
1 tsp. xantham gum
dash sea salt
nutmeg to taste
some cold water

Method:
- fry onions in sunflower oil until glossy
- dice bread into fair size cubes, about 5/8 inch, put in large mixing bowl
- add eggs, chopped parsley, salt, nutmeg and xantham gum to bowl
- mix thoroughly, adding a little water at a time, to make a “dough” thick enough to shape dumplings, a bit larger than a golf ball.
- if it doesn’t stick together, you might want to add some gluten-free bread crumbs
(- if it still doesn’t stick together, call it Poultry Dressing)
- add dumplings into a large pot of simmering, but not boiling, salted water
- the dumplings are done when they rise up from the bottom of the pot
- serve dumplings with lots of gluten-free gravy

Too many dumplings?
Dumplings, sliced up 1/4 inch thick, fried, with a little beaten egg and some more parsley, served with a mixed salad, makes for a nice lunch or supper the next day.