Ireceivd a letter from a reader a couple of weeks ago who inspired me to write about coeliac disease this week. She said her daughter had just been diagnosed as coeliac and that she missed bread and toast more than anything but didn't like the supermarket gluten-free breads.

It must come as such a shock for people to be told by their doctors that they have the disease; that no longer can they eat cakes, biscuits, breads, pastas and flour-based sauces. Mind you, after months – or even for some people, years – of symptoms such as chronic fatigue, headaches, vomiting, bloating, mouth ulcers, and more, the news may be met with some relief too.

Coeliac disease is caused by an intolerance to gluten. Once you have it, you always have it, and the only treatment is to cut gluten out of your diet completely.

Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye and oats. Many processed foods contain gluten too, as do things like baking powder, stock cubes, soy sauce and even some cheap brands of ground almonds (which may have flour added to bulk up the weight). So it's important to read the labels on any food you buy.

While it may sound like the end of the world to cut these ingredients out of your diet for good, the positive news is that there are many alternatives. My great friend Rosemary, who wrote the fantastic Healthy Gluten-Free Eating with my mother-in-law Darina, has been a coeliac for many years, and she bakes the most wonderful breads and cakes using ingredients such as rice flour, corn flour and potato flour. She says it takes a while to get to know what you can and what you can't eat.

The trick with gluten-free baking is knowing what alternative ingredients to use to give the right consistency, as it is the gluten in wheat flour that gives bread and cakes its elasticity and sponge-like texture.

The first thing to do if you are diagnosed as coeliac is to take a look at the Coeliac Society of Ireland's website, www.coeliac.ie, and sign up for its regular newsletter. It will provide you with lots of recipe ideas and information and all the latest updates on coeliac disease.

Recipe in a sentence - Glutten free roux

For a gluten-free sauce

thickener melt 100g of butter in a saucepan on the heat,

stir in 50g of cornflour and 50g of rice flour and cook over a low to medium heat for two minutes, then remove from the heat and use straight away or keep in the fridge; whisk a little of this into a boiling sauce (such as gravy) to thicken.

Coeliac Cookery Courses

Healthy gluten-free eating with Rosemary Kearney at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, Co Cork

Two half-day afternoon courses:
Friday 8 May and Friday 9 October;

€115 including lunch.

Email: info@cookingisfun.ie
Tel: 021 4646785