UPDATE 04/08/2020: Great news, coeliacs! Felix has added to his product range which now includes sourdough bread, nougat and caramel cookies, Japanese green tea canelés, cinnamon doughnuts and more. Check out the full gluten-free menu here – and yes, they deliver!
In the future, we will look back on this time and think of it as the Great Isolation Bake-Off. We will talk to future generations and tell them of the great flour shortage, the time we were unable to freely shop for butter, speak of the amazing yeast disappearing act, and of the collective comfort baking (and eating) we all participated in.
That is, unless you are gluten-free. Because no matter how hard you bake, how many changes you make, what flour you use, you always inevitably end up with either a dense mass or en eggy clump. Sucks to be you.
The Hotel Windsor agrees, so after months of testing, it has announced the launch of its gluten-free kitchen. This is a project involving the ex pastry chef of Sunda, Felix Goodwin, and he is turning out brioche, babka and chocolate chip cookies. Granted, $24 for six cookies seems a bit steep (plus delivery fee), but the chocolate babka for $16 has our name all over it. Especially because the idea of turning out a successful enriched, yeasted dough that has been properly plaited and completely devoid of gluten on our own sounds like the kind of perfectionist, mental torture we wouldn't even inflict on our worst enemies.
For the moment, there are only three items being churned out by the gluten-free kitchen, but there is a view to add sourdough, pizza bases, doughnuts, pasta and custom cakes very soon.
Items are available for pick-up and delivery and can be ordered online.