Gluten Intolerance: What You Need to Know About Hidden Sources and Gluten-Free Baking

When you have gluten intolerance, a condition where the body reacts badly to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Also known as non-celiac gluten sensitivity, it causes bloating, fatigue, and digestive trouble — not from an allergy, but from your gut saying "nope" to certain grains. You don’t need a diagnosis to feel better cutting it out. Millions do it every day, not because it’s trendy, but because their bodies finally stop feeling awful.

But here’s the problem: gluten hides everywhere. It’s not just in bread or pasta. You’ll find it in soy sauce, a common condiment that often uses wheat as a fermenting agent, in flavored yogurt, where thickeners and stabilizers can contain gluten, even in medications and cosmetics. That’s why so many people still feel off — they think they’re eating clean, but they’re missing the hidden sources. And when you try to bake gluten-free, things go wrong. Cakes crumble. Cookies turn gummy. That’s not your fault. It’s usually because you’re using the wrong flour blend or skipping xanthan gum, a binding agent that replaces gluten’s stretchy structure.

You don’t need to give up cake. You just need to know what to swap. Gluten-free baking isn’t magic — it’s chemistry. It’s about understanding how different flours behave, why moisture matters, and how to fix a dry, dense loaf before it even hits the oven. The posts below show you exactly what to avoid, what to buy, and how to make your desserts taste just as good — if not better — than the original. Whether you’re new to this or you’ve been doing it for years, you’ll find real fixes here. No fluff. Just what works.