Gluten-Free flour or flour mixture is made of anything other than wheat, barley, rye or oats (unless certified gluten-free oats are used). Luckily for you and me, gluten free flour has come a long way in recent years. There are many brands out there made with a whole host of different ingredients besides grains that contains gluten. There are rice flours, potato, sorghum, tapioca, garbanzo & fava beans, nut flours like almond, pistachio, walnut, coconut and I’m sure a few more that I don’t even know about! The best thing to do is to have a tried and true recipe and go with the flour recommended.
I have tried many gluten-free flour mixes (from brand names you would all know) and I like some for certain things and some for others things. Bob’s Red Mill, is a very reputable company in the gluten-free world. It is the first gluten-free flour I bought and used (pictured below). This particular blend is made of flours from potatoes, sorghum, tapioca, garbanzo and fava beans. Although some people don’t like this flour blend taste (due to the beans), I do not find it objectionable. I have really liked how it adds good structure to my muffins. More recently I have been using the Bob’s Red Mill “1 to 1 Baking Flour” blend. This blend is a combination of sweet white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, and xantham gum. It too has given my baked goods favorable structure and already includes the gum which is one less item to buy.
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flours are Wheat-free. Gluten-free. Dairy-free. They are specially designed for those sensitive to wheat and gluten. These flours can be used to make delicious homemade cakes, cookies, bread, muffins, pancakes, and waffles. Bob’s Red Mill products are labeled gluten free and are batch tested for quality control with ELISA gluten assay test to determine if a product is gluten free to less than 20 ppm.
GLUTINO
Glutino is another well known Gluten-Free food company based in Canada. Since 1983, Glutino has been solely dedicated to providing great-tasting, all-natural foods for people following a gluten-free lifestyle. All of their products are free from artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Since my first bag of GF Flour, I have tried many other brands and types of flours. Again, it depends on what you will be using the flour for as to which one would work best. The product below is wheat-free, gluten-free from white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, pea hull fiber, acacia gum, and rice protein.
Of course, I’ve also read many an article and cookbook where the baker likes to put together there own GF flour mix. A few key things to keep in mind if you are interested in making your own blend:
- Be sure to use potato starch, not potato flour.
- Tapioca starch is also sold as tapioca flour; they are interchangeable.
- Be sure to weigh your ingredients versus measuring in cups.
- Whisk all ingredients in large bowl until well combined, or better yet blend thoroughly through a GF flour sifter.
- Transfer to airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 months.
Whichever gluten-free flour you decide to try, know that we live in a great time to have these many available options!
