THERE’S one thing that French baker Stephanie Bineau, has yet to perfect, and that’s a gluten-free croissant. For when it comes to catering for customers at her new Continental-style café in Poole, she won’t compromise on flavour.

But Stephanie says she has nearly cracked it. “All our cakes, bakes and biscuits are gluten-free and taste delicious. I practise the croissants every day and I’m nearly there now,” she laughs.

While most of us are familiar with ‘free from’ ranges in supermarkets, many people with gluten intolerance and coeliac disease are reliant on these options to be able to eat bread, pasta, sauces, or anything at all containing wheat, rye or barley.

Consuming even a small amount of gluten causes an autoimmune response in people with coeliac disease, which can make eating out a real struggle.

She adds: “My love for food comes from the passion of mum and grandma. They are both amazing cooks.”

Since being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, six years ago, Stephanie has become gluten intolerant.

“It changed my life as I realised I could no longer cook normally, being unable to taste my own creations anymore.”

And it was this passion to find out everything she could about coeliac disease that motivated her to open Biscuit last August, a 100 per cent gluten free café on Poole Road, which welcomes anyone with gluten intolerance, coeliac disease or just a taste for good food.

To avoid using gluten, Stephanie bakes with blends of potato starch, rice flour and peanut rice, also offering alternatives to dairy including coconut, almond and soya milk.

She says she aims to make Biscuit fully lactose-free by the end of this year. Also sugar savvy, Stephanie is in the process of phasing out refined, white sugar, for more wholesome alternatives.

Biscuit is already proving to be a big a hit on TripAdvisor, winning the approval of local coeliac customers including one man who said: “Staff in some of the bigger restaurant chains are great, but the beauty of places like Biscuit is that there is no gluten in the building, so mistakes can’t be made. And the food is delicious!”