Gluten-free Baking...a work in progress

The whole gluten-free baking 'trend' is just that...a trend. While approximately 1% of the population suffer horribly from celiac disease, and another larger group of folks have some degree of wheat sensitivity, the majority of us can go on enjoying wheat based cereals and baked goods. A lot of people are thinking that gluten-free is healthier and in fact for most of us, it is not. Someone was just mentioning the Globe recently ran an article about just this... Having said all of that and knowing that the trend will fade away as by definition they do, I have decided to experiment with gluten-free flours, revising some of my favourite recipes so that I can taste for myself, be comfortable baking for friends who have this concern and chatting with others.

This banana bread recipe is from the Vegan cookbook (Veganomicon), so it has no eggs. It did however have 1/2 cup sugar and regular all-purpose flour. What follows is my version.....**foodie and baking enthusiasts beware** read note at the bottom before you use this version :)

3 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/4 cup canola oil (I used omega oil which is a combo of flaxseed, grape and olive oil)
1/4 cup agave syrup
2 Tbsp molasses
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sweet rice flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease the pans(s) -I made 3 small loaves; can use a 9 X 5 loaf or muffins

In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas really well and add the applesauce, molasses, oil, agave whisk briskly and well.
Mix together the dry ingredients and then fold them into the wet bowl. (chocolate chips and walnuts would have been a great addition at this time, just fold them in)
Put it into your prepared pans, pop in the oven and time, depending on the pan size (about 20 minutes for small pans, 40-50 minutes for one large pan).

The loaf was good, **note that it actually did taste pretty good the first day, but when I had a piece of what came from the freezer a couple of days later, I have to say that in my opinion it was in fact pretty HORRIBLE...the rice flour made it taste a bit 'chalky' and very dry....stay tuned for hopefully better success with gluten-free baking...I will try a version with eggs and perhaps change only the flour....hmmm