Gluten-free wheaten bread from Northern Irish artisan baker

Northern Irish artisan bakery Amazin' Grazin' has launched the first gluten-free version of the traditional Irish wheaten (brown soda) bread.

Based at Portstewart in county Derry, the company's owner Lynne Gardiner developed the new wheaten in response to requests from customers for a gluten-free version of her successful wheatens. The new loaf uses a special gluten-free flour and retails at £5.

She created the new product from a recipe developed in association with experts at the Foodovation Centre at the North West Regional College in Derry. Foodovation assists smaller companies to come up with original products.

"I've had a number of approaches over the past six months for a gluten-free wheaten loaf, Northern Ireland's most popular artisan breads," she says. "I started working on it a couple of months ago and turned to Foodovation for advice and practical support.

"They helped me to develop two recipes to test myself and with friends and family. I settled on a recipe that worked for me and decided to launch it at the start of October. Feedback from customers has been immensely encouraging," she adds.

The artisan baker has also created a range of flavoured wheaten breads using local ingredients such as Irish whiskey and stout from Lacada Brewery in nearby Portrush, county Antrim, a recent winner of UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards.

She's also baked wheaten breads with apples, dates and treacle. They are all handmade and retail at around £4.