Adaption: Prolific baker turned news of wheat allergy into research, then cookbook

Lindy Clark was thrown for a loop in February 2008. A lab test turned up allergies to wheat, soy, eggs and dairy products.

"I was devastated. I probably didn't sleep for almost two weeks," she said.

It hit her particularly hard because she loves to bake desserts.

And she has a thing for sugar. "I'm addicted to it. That's my vice."

Clark, of High Point, was living in Ohio at the time. She soon got over the devastating news and started looking for ways to enjoy her favorite baked goods without the now-forbidden foods.

In less than two years, she amassed a collection of gluten-free sweets and other foods. In November, she self-published her first cookbook, Lindy's Gluten-Free Goodies and More ($28.95), just before she and her husband, Don, moved to North Carolina to be close to their daughter and son-in-law.

They started a company called DLC Media Group. It combines a music school and a recording studio. But they hope that gluten-free books, cooking classes and related projects will become their main business.

"People have been like, ‘These are the best brownies I've ever tasted. There's hope for us,'" Clark said.

Clark, 52, said that she found out about her allergies almost by accident during a saliva test for hypothyroidism. She was losing weight and didn't know why.

She had no allergy symptoms that she noticed. "However, when I went off eggs, my patience level with my students increased dramatically. I did not realize that food allergies could affect you emotionally, not just physically," she said.

"And when I went off wheat, my hunger hormone kicked backed in. When I was on wheat, I was never hungry," she said, a reaction that at least partly explains why she was losing weight.

Clark said she never ate much soy, so avoiding that wasn't a problem. She no longer eats eggs for breakfast, but she figured out that she can handle small amounts in a typical dessert portion. And she continues to eat dairy products because they don't bother her.

Her book focuses on avoiding wheat. She said she was inspired because gluten-free mixes or store-bought baked goods are so expensive. "A cake mix for a single-layer, 9-inch round can be $4, so that's $8 for a double-layer cake just for the mix," she said.

A real breakthrough in her baking came when she discovered Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, now sold in many supermarkets. At $4 to $5 for a 22-ounce bag, it's still more expensive than wheat flours. But Clark loves how it works in baked goods.

She found that many of her recipes require few changes with the gluten-free flour except for the addition of a little xanthan gum, a powder produced from the fermentation of corn sugar, to provide the structure that gluten, a protein in wheat, normally provides.

Bob's Red Mill is a combination of potato starch and garbanzo-bean, tapioca sweet white sorghum and fava-bean flours.

Clark said that the beans make the flour a little bit bitter compared to wheat flour. Some foods may not taste as sweet. In recipes that don't use much sugar, Clark finds herself adding more chocolate, spices or other flavorings.

Lindy's Gluten-Free is mainly sweets. Recipes include chocolate pecan pie, banana cake with caramel frosting, pumpkin-ginger scones and Mississippi mud brownies.

The book also has some savory dishes, such as nut-crusted baked fish and Parmesan corn chowder.

This month, Clark gave her first gluten-free-baking class in her home. She plans a second class April 17, on gluten-free sandwich breads. By the summer, she hopes to offer two classes a week.

The $97 classes last three hours and include a copy of the book, baking pan, hand-sewn cloth, bread mix, recipes as well as plenty of eating.

Clark is encouraged by the response she has received to both the book and the classes. The best compliment is when people tell her they can't tell the difference between a gluten-free brownie or other baked goods and a regular one.

For more information about Clark's book or classes, visit www.glutenfreebylindy.com or call 336-430-8088. The book can be bought on Clark's Web site, at amazon.com, or at the Barnes & Noble in Oak Hollow Mall in High Point.

mhastings@wsjournal.com


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