On a friend's recommendation (Thanks, Erin!) I just got Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day out of the library. I loved the authors' first book and wrote here about the ease of their no-knead method and the tastiness of the results and we went through a great deal of that fantastic bread.

Of course I have to ignore 85% of the book due to my new diet but the great news is that there are a few gluten free breads using their no-knead, slow rise technique and I can't wait to try them out. There's a Crusty Boule, Not-Rye, and a brioche which might bring cinnamon rolls back into my life.

The doughs are made in large quantities and kept refrigerated with the idea that you always have dough on hand and you just bake up a chunk when you need it. Because of this, the recipes make a lot of dough. I was anxious to try that crusty boule but realized I didn't have nearly enough tapioca starch on hand. Rather than buy another expensive packet from the grocery store I decided to go down to Bob's Red Mill and see hwo the prices compared. It seems that for the gluten free ingredients, their packaged prices were pretty comparable to the grocery store but I was astounded to realize the savings to be had in buying from their bulk bins. Quinoa flour, for example, was $10 for a 22-ounce bag but only cost $2.49/pound in bulk. I'm no math whiz but I believe that makes the packaged version about three items as expensive as the bulk per ounce. I found similar savings on other flours as well as corn and tapioca starch. I don't remember the savings being as dramatic for the regular gluteny items I used to buy but perhaps they are.

I haven't gotten to the bread baking yet--hopefully this weekend--but I wanted to take a minute to share my discovery. Those of you who live in or near Portland and follow a gluten free diet have probably already realized the dramatic savings to be had by schlepping out to Milwaukee and loading up from the bulk bins but it was news to me so I thought I'd share.