The mouthwatering aroma of freshly-baked bread, cupcakes and crisping croissants is tempting and heavenly—unless all of these delicious baked goods are off limits.
Whether you were diagnosed with gluten intolerance or you have chosen to follow a gluten-free diet to stay slim and healthy, you probably know how challenging it is to find gluten-free baked goods in Egypt.
Suffering from gluten intolerance herself, and having experienced the struggle to find gluten free bakery or even ingredients in Egypt, Dalia El Shafie decided to bake and sell homemade bread, pastries, cakes and pizzas for health enthusiasts and gluten-intolerant foodies. Dolly’s Bakery, a Facebook-based business, offers 100 percent gluten-free products, using wheat alternatives such as corn, rice and potato flour.
“There are two kinds of customers who care about gluten free: the yoga people and health enthusiasts who want to have perfectly toned bodies, and those who suffer from severe allergies of gluten or who are gluten intolerant,” explains El Shafie who says she is always experimenting with new and creative versions of traditional recipes to come up with a mixture that tastes like the original—or even better.
El Shafie mixes up her specially made dough, substituting all the off-limit ingredients, to cater to the cravings and needs of her diverse customers. “One of my customers and her kids are allergic to wheat, corn, milk and soya, so I make them special bread and chocolate chip cookies,” El Shafei says.
Using a secret ingredient to hold together the gluten-free dough and maintain its perfect crumb, the innovative baker has come up with recipes for tasty bâton salé, Kaiser rolls and petit pain, scrumptious chocolate chip and butter cookies, and delicious jam sablés, not to mention cute chocolate cake pops for kids.
“The first time I tried the pops was as a treat for a little 4-year-old girl, who saw her friends at the nursery eating cake pops and was very sad not to be able to try them,” El Shafie says. The pops are made without gluten, milk or eggs.
The little girl, suffering from gluten intolerance, was always craving sandwiches like her friends, “I made her gluten-free petit pain; and her mum told me she came home happy and energetic for the first time after finishing her lunch,” El Shafie says.
Dolly’s Bakery also recreates some irresistible Egyptian pastries, for all those foodies out there who have been deprived from our traditional delights, such as Ramadan’s special qatayef and sambousek. Her soft and tender gluten-free pita bread is almost impossible to distinguish from the traditional Egyptian bread that is indispensable in every home. And for fitness enthusiasts, the low-carb toast, made with quinoa, is a must try.
Follow Dolly’s Bakery on Facebook at Dolly’s Bakery (Gluten Free) and on Instagram @Dollys_BakeryGlutenFree. Her products are also available at Sunny Supermarket.
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