This is a proactive approach to dealing with the gluten found in flours such as wheat, rye, and spelt. When these become off-limits due to celiac disease, there are steps that you can take to keep baked goods in your diet. Especially if you enjoy making these items yourself.
Common Gluten-free Flours
Whole Grain
- Brown rice flour: whole grain, very nutritional, has more oil
- Buckwheat flour: not wheat, whole grain, strong taste, has more oil
- Sorghum flour: whole grain, very nutritional, good flavor
White
- Arrowroot flour: white, works a lot like cornstarch
- Tapioca flour: white and light, smooth, gives chewy texture, use small amounts
- White rice flour: white, not as nutritional as brown rice flour, better texture
Other
- Garbonzo bean (chickpea) flour: yellow, high in protein
- Potato flour: very heavy, only a little is needed
- Soy flour: yellow, high in protein and fat, nutty flavor
When baking gluten-free, keep in mind that gluten-free flour usually requires more liquid in recipes, especially if it is whole grain.
Prepare Your Own Gluten-free Flour
You can buy pre-packaged gluten-free flour. However, many of these products contain mainly white starch, which is not very nutritional.
If you are interested in healthier whole grain flour, you can make up your own batch of gluten-free flour that is safe for gluten allergy and store it. Here is one example of a combination of common gluten-free flours:
Whole Grain
- 3 cups brown rice flour
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
White (and starch)
- 2 cups starch (cornstarch or potato starch works well)
- 1 cup tapioca flour (for texture)
- 2 cups white rice flour (for texture)
Other
- 3 cups chickpea flour
Total
- 12 cups total
Mix well in a large bowl and store in an airtight container. The whole grain gluten-free flour does better stored in the refrigerator, or a very cool pantry. More oil content gives it a shorter shelf life. Gluten-free flour can also be frozen.
Over time, you will discover which combinations of gluten-free flours you prefer.
How To Replace The Gluten In Gluten-Free Flour
Because gluten-free flour does not contain gluten, the “stretch” in the dough that helps it to rise is missing. The lack of gluten will keep the dough from sticking together well. You can add xanthan gum or guar gum to get some of the effect of gluten.
With experience, you can decide which gum suits you best. Xanthan gum tends to be more expensive. Guar gum contains a lot of fiber and can act like a laxative.
Either xanthan gum or guar gum is usually included in most pre-packaged gluten-free products. When using your own prepared gluten-free flour, you can add it to your baking yourself.
Generally add:
- ½ tsp per cup of flour for cookies
- 1 tsp per cup of flour for cakes
- 2 tsp per cup of flour for breads or pizza dough
It will depend on how much “stretch” you need in your dough.
Guard Against Contamination of Gluten-free Flour
Whether you get your gluten-free flour from a local store or order it, check with the company to make sure that the gluten-free flour does not come in contact with gluten-containing flour at any time during processing and packaging. Also, when using utensils make sure they have not been touching any gluten-containing foods before you use them.
Allow yourself time to become accustomed to baking gluten-free. After some practice, you will discover which gluten-free flour combinations and methods suit your own tastes.
For two recipes using gluten-free flour see Gluten-free Blueberry Muffin Recipe and Gluten-free Banana Muffin Recipe.
Stella Walsh - Stella Walsh is a Christian writer, student of theology, elementary school teacher, committed church volunteer and photography ...
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