Last night I was trying to make lemon bars. I had made them before where the filling was good but the crust needed help and so I was trying again with an adapted crust recipe. Unfortunately I cannot help but tinker with recipes and so, in search of more lemon flavor I added one tablespoon of additional lemon juice to the recipe. So one extra tablespoon of lemon juice across a 13 x 9 pan.

The entire thing fell apart. I have a nice shortbread crust recipe now, but the filling turned to goo.

I mention my latest culinary failure for three reasons

1) I have never liked cooking show hosts who act like making great Beef Wellington or even cheesecake is somehow super easy. It is not. Adapting to gluten-free is a pain in the butt and I threw out more gelatinous banana breads and inedible vegan brownies than you would believe.

2) I am assuming that you are here and not at Gluten Free Girl and The Chef because baking is now a necessity and not because baking is a passion. Therefore you may not realize just how precise you need to be about measurements in baking. One extra tablespoon of liquid can indeed ruin a recipe. A small tweak can make a big difference, so you have to follow recipes. And if baking gluten-free is your passion you should go to their site. They make things like orange scented cinnamon scones. I make things like chocolate cupcakes…from a mix.

3) There is a reason I specify brands. It is not because I am on their payroll. It is because changing the brand of flour, cookies or cake mix in the world of gluten-free can yield wildly different results. A flour blend that uses a lot of rice flour will need about triple the seasonings compared to one that uses tapioca and potato starch. (Vanilla kosher for passover cake using extra vanilla was a disaster). Bean flours have a distinctive taste that does not always work with lemon or vanilla. Some blends use xanthan gum which has a slight taste to it. Others use guar gum which can set off allergies to beans and seeds. Lots of flour blends use almonds which we never use because I don’t want any of my son’s friends to get sick. You get the idea.

Little things matter in baking. In cooking, not so much. I never even wrote down my meatball recipe until I needed to do so for this blog, because an extra tablespoon of oregano or even an extra egg won’t ruin a meatball. A custard, yes, a meatball, no. This is also why I end up irate at Living Without Magazine a lot of the time. You can’t just use your favorite whatever and think that the recipe will work. Soy cheese is very different from macadamia nut cheese.

In addition, allergens vary by brand. Some brands use cornstarch or corn flour both of which are a problem for us…and half of all celiacs. Other brands use nuts in their flours. There are soy cheeses that contain dairy protein (seriously, do these people not have any idea who their clients are?) and only some brands are certified kosher.

In the world of gluten-free baking…brands matter. If you do not use the recommended brand you may get a wildly different result. I tested my carrot cake recipe with two different brands of mix. Everyone noticed the difference and all the amounts changed (one mix needed more eggs than the other.

I pick the brands based on allergens, GMO-free status, price per result and ease of ordering. I have never been paid by anyone and while I am open to the idea, I will never accept compensation for a brand I do not believe in.

I also blog for TheChicagoMoms. I cannot give them certain recipes because they demand a specific branded ingredient in order to work. I could be getting more exposure, but I really believe that the brand you use in this world matters.

It is OK to demand better from people who provide you with recipes. I test everything three times before I publish it. That may mean that by the time I publish certain recipes I never want to eat them again, but I hope that it means that if you follow my recipe to the letter you won’t end up with a disappointing mess.

Speaking of messes, I have some lemon bars to redo…