Josh Borenstein was a foodie with celiac disease, starting a new job in Paris, unable to touch\u00a0a bite of all that gorgeous French pastry. Then his wife, Orly Gottesman of Englewood, NJ,\u00a0came to the rescue. She learned how to marry French baking techniques to gluten-free\u00a0ingredients, first as an apprentice in a Parisian pastry shop and later as a student in the\u00a0Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Institute in Sydney, Australia. It was just what the doctor ordered\u00a0for Josh. And the beginning of a new career for her as Orly the Baker.<\/p>\n
Orly\u2019s newest venture is a line of specially developed OU-certified gluten-free, dairy-free,\u00a0and nut-free flours that lets home bakers achieve professional quality and taste. Locally,\u00a0Blends by Orly are now on the shelves of Glatt Express and Cedar Market in Teaneck, NJ.\u00a0They are also available at Seasons, West Side Market, and Food Liberation Health Market in\u00a0Manhattan; Sarah\u2019s Tent in Deal, NJ; Delicious Orchards in Ocean Township, NJ; and online\u00a0at Amazon and www.blendsbyorly.com. And the list keeps growing.<\/p>\n
Orly Gottesman was just out of college, and a new bride, when she and her husband moved to Paris. \u201cI didn\u2019t speak French and I didn\u2019t have a work visa,\u201d Orly recalled. \u201cI started taking baking classes as an artistic outlet.\u201d She met the owner of a patisserie who wanted to learn English and taught her to bake. She was hooked. She applied and was\u00a0accepted to the\u00a0Cordon Bleu in Paris, but the school would not allow her to miss classes for Jewish holidays.\u00a0Shortly thereafter the couple moved to Sydney and she applied to the Cordon Bleu\u00a0Patisserie Program there. They were much more accommodating about her schedule.\u00a0Although unfamiliar with gluten-free baking, the chefs were happy to work with her.<\/p>\n
In her second term at the school, she did an independent study with the Cordon Bleu\u2019s head\u00a0pastry chef on gluten-free pastry. \u201cThey gave me use of their test kitchen and each week I\u00a0would develop a gluten-free version of the recipe we prepared in class,\u201d Orly said. \u201cI taught\u00a0myself about how the flours worked together in different products. You can\u2019t use the same\u00a0flour blend for cream puffs, cakes and Danish pastry. In baked goods with gluten, the gluten\u00a0helps the yeast rise and contributes elasticity and texture. That\u2019s why most gluten-free\u00a0bread is denser than its soft and airy non-gluten-free counterpart. I spent months\u00a0developing the blends, using different flours and combinations, to compensate for the action\u00a0of the gluten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orly compiled a manual on gluten-free baking that was published and added into the\u00a0curriculum. To get feedback on her creations, Orly held tasting parties in Sydney and\u00a0Englewood. \u201cI put notecards next to each product and asked people to let me know what\u00a0they liked and what they didn\u2019t like,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s next move was to Arizona, where Josh grew up and his family owns a chain of\u00a0restaurants called Chompie\u2019s. Orly persuaded the family to let her take over a separate\u00a0section of the bakery to introduce gluten-free baked goods. \u201cI took all their most popular\u00a0breads and pastries and made them gluten-free\u2014challah, black and white cookies,\u00a0ruggelach,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This real-world experience taught her how a commercial kitchen worked. She made dozens and dozens of cookies and ruggelach at a time, and learned how to work with other cooks. Orly knew gluten free, but not the food manufacturing business. She thus turned to SCORE, a resource of the Small Business Administration that puts together retired business people with novices who need advice on how to proceed with a new idea. Edgar Gothold, who has had businesses all over the world, gave her suggestions on how to get started and continues to consult with her today.<\/p>\n
While Orly loves to bake, she didn\u2019t want her own bakery, where she would be tied down and\u00a0unable to travel with her husband. After researching the market, she began creating Blends\u00a0by Orly. The blends are named after the different cities Gottesman has traveled to and\u00a0worked in. Used as a one-to-one replacement for flour, the blends are combinations of\u00a0gluten-free grains, including sorghum, millet, quinoa, coconut, and brown rice, in different\u00a0proportions, plus xanthan gum to promote elasticity.<\/p>\n
Each blend is formulated according to the type of product it will be used for: London Blend\u00a0for cookies, scones, and biscuits; Tuscany Blend for pizza crusts, artisan white breads, and\u00a0breadsticks; Sydney Blend for brownies, muffins, and pies; Manhattan Blend for challah,\u00a0bagels, and pastries; and Paris Blend for cakes and cupcakes. The Paris blend, for example,\u00a0has coconut flour to give cakes a sweet, rich taste.<\/p>\n
The gluten-free market is growing. Mintel, a market research company, estimates that\u00a0during 2013, the gluten-free market totaled $10.5 billion dollars and will reach more than $15\u00a0billion in annual sales in 2016. Mintel reports that 24 percent of Americans say that someone\u00a0in their household currently eats gluten-free versions of traditional baked goods.\u00a0\u201cPeople who have been diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that results\u00a0in damage to the small intestine when gluten is consumed, make up only one percent of the\u00a0market for gluten-free goods,\u201d said Orly. A growing number of people feel healthier on a\u00a0gluten-free diet, like tennis champ Novak Djokovic who credits a gluten-free diet for\u00a0improving his performance on the court. Gluten-free is becoming more available as\u00a0manufacturers and retailers respond to the trend.<\/p>\n
Grocers who have ordered Blends by Orly are very enthusiastic about the concept. \u201cWe get\u00a0requests every day for gluten-free, cookies, candies, breads,\u201d said Dani Secemski, head of\u00a0operations at Glatt Express in Teaneck. \u201cThere is no other product on the market like Blends\u00a0by Orly. You can use these gluten-free flours in your own recipes; the others don\u2019t have\u00a0specific blends for specific products.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moshe Mark, general manager and buyer at Cedar Market in Queens, NY and Teaneck, NJ,\u00a0also said gluten-free products are limited and that\u2019s why Blends by Orly is a unique line.\u00a0\u201cThis is a way to make it (gluten-free) taste better, an option to enjoy food the way it\u2019s\u00a0supposed to be enjoyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahuva Mantell, who teaches art at the Frisch Yeshiva High School in New Jersey, and has\u00a0been gluten-free for two years, agreed to try a cupcake. One bite and her eyes lit up. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0delicious. This feels light and fluffy, like a cupcake should. If I were at a birthday party and\u00a0they were giving out these cupcakes, I wouldn\u2019t feel I was different from anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n
L\u2019via Weisinger, a specialist in baking and decorating cakes (among other things), compared\u00a0the cupcake favorably to the traditional products she makes. \u201cIt\u2019s really good; does not taste\u00a0gluten-free. It\u2019s not dense . . . it\u2019s light . . . it\u2019s airy. I wouldn\u2019t know this is gluten-free if you\u00a0didn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orly explained, \u201cMy main objective is to help people who can\u2019t eat gluten feel normal. My\u00a0mom used to bake special brownies for Josh using a mix. He got so sick of those brownies he\u00a0stopped eating dessert after a while.\u201d She hopes bakers will discover that products made\u00a0with Blends by Orly are so good, everyone will love them.<\/p>\n
Blends by Orly is available at kosher and independent health food stores throughout the Greater\u00a0NY area, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Phoenix and Oakland. Blends by Orly is\u00a0also available on Amazon.com. Visit www.blendsbyorly.com to find Blends by Orly near you.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Josh Borenstein was a foodie with celiac disease, starting a new job in Paris, unable to touch\u00a0a bite of all that gorgeous French pastry. Then his wife, Orly Gottesman of Englewood, NJ,\u00a0came to the rescue. She learned how to marry French baking techniques to gluten-free\u00a0ingredients, first as an apprentice in a Parisian pastry shop and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n