I went to the Coeliac UK Food Festival in York at the end of June. It was a great event, with about twenty food stalls/catering outlets, some fun cooking demos and great speakers. There were lots of nibbles on offer, to try and buy some new and some familiar gluten free products.

Notably, one of the speakers was Dr Hugo Penny from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, who did a really interesting talk on what’s happening when you’re still experiencing symptoms despite following a gluten free diet. We were also introduced to the new chief exec of Coeliac UK, Hilary Croft, who did a cooking demo with Masterchef winner, Jane Devonshire.

My star find of the day was an innovative product from a brand new company called The Box Bakery.

The product is a minimal effort bake-at-home gluten free bread. The concept is great – the mix comes in a small box, and you just add water, proove and bake in the box. It’s that simple! There were two flavours of bread – a whole grain and a white, both with seeds, and a chocolate cake mix. The company is accredited with Coeliac UK, and the boxes carry the crossed grain symbol.

I bought a few of these nifty little packages to try at home, and got round to making one last weekend. As I expected, it was incredibly easy. All you have to do is peel away the corner of the box to reveal a stopper, which you take out. Add water and give it a really good shake (with the stopper back in!) Then remove the lid and ensure it’s all mixed together, before prooving in a warm oven for half an hour, then baking for 50 minutes.

Voila! A perfect little loaf. The only downside is it takes about an hour and a half to make from start to finish, and then needs a bit of cooling time. So you need to be a bit prepared. I made mine on Friday evening so we had fresh bread for Saturday morning, which was a real treat.

The loaf is a lovely, seedy bread, which held together well when sliced, with no ridiculous holes in it! I’m looking forward to making another this weekend. You can buy them from the online store at theboxbakery.co.uk – I’m not sure if they’re stocked in any supermarkets yet. But they will have a stall at this weekend’s Allergy and Free From Show in Olympia, London (5-7 July).

Incidentally, whilst we were in York, we tried out the 100% gluten free cafe, 2 Oxford Place, on Gillygate. I had southern fried chicken and it was AMAZING. Out of my range for a review, but it was ace, and definitely worth a visit if you’re in York.

Disclaimer – This isn’t a sponsored post. I came across this product and bought it myself. I’m promoting it because I think it’s great. 🙂