Gluten-Free Baking: Recipes from the Famed Chambelland Bakers of Paris

In bread making, rice flour is usually considered less than preferable, especially when it comes to volume and texture. Supposedly only wheat flours allow bakers to get the crust thickness and crumb softness just right. However, a free-thinking duo has defied this rule by inventing new techniques for making a delicious range of alternative flour-based breads and baked goods.

Nathaniel Doboin and Thomas Teffri-Chambelland showcase these techniques at Chambelland, a Paris-based gluten-free bakery. There, square loaves and flat breads triumph over the classic French baguette. Chambelland offers an exclusive menu featuring a range of breads, biscuits, and pastries—including focaccias, pissaladières, muffins, and chouquettes—all made from rice and other naturally gluten-free flours.

With a preface by Alain Ducasse, Gluten-Free Baking is an ode to this bakery and its innovative way of baking. The book begins with an exploration of the tradition of bread, looking at a universal recipe to the art of slicing. It also peels back the curtain on a major part of the Paris bakery: sourcing. To guarantee an uninterrupted, gluten-free flour supply, Teffri-Chambelland and Doboin built their own mill, nestled in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, whose rice grains are sourced from organic paddy fields in Italy.

Gluten-Free Baking explores the ins and outs of making bread, then shares 40 sweet and savoury recipes—from buckwheat bread and ginger mint cookies to seed crackers and coconut macaroons—which includes five recipes from starred chefs who serve Chambelland bread in their restaurants. Combining an eater and baker's well-being and enjoyment and filled with delicious full-colour photographs, Gluten-Free Baking gives you permission to indulge.