Gluten free baking is not for the faint of heart or the timid of soul. The tried and true baking results that come from the familiar use of wheat flour are substantially difficult to reproduce without our old friends, wheat, rye, and barley. With some experimentation and a little tenacity, you can find a good gluten free flour mix, and still have some of the same baked treats you once enjoyed before you relinquished all gluten related items.
In my three years of learning to cook and bake gluten free, I’ve tried numerous combinations of flours and prepackaged mixes. Some were pretty good, but most spanned the spectrum between OK and outright terrible. I looked for gluten free flours in recipe books, in online searches, and throughout the blogosphere, and finally found the best all purpose flour mix in a cookbook – Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts.
Of the many cookbooks I’ve read over the years, Gluten Free Baking Classics, is one of my favorites. It’s simple and straightforward, and has recipes that I frequently utilize. After locating a gluten free flour mix that made a good loaf of bread, I put it through it’s paces and made everything from cornbread to coffee cake, and it held up better than any of the other mixes I tried.
The gluten free flour recipe is:
- 2 cups brown rice flour (extra finely ground)
- 2/3 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour
I usually mix up triple the recipe above (it comes out easily to 6 cups brown rice flour, 2 cups potato starch, and 1 cup tapioca flour) and store it in a large glass container. The flours have various textures, and since the brown rice is a bit grittier it settles a bit on the bottom of the jar, so the container must be shaken well before every use.
You can read more about gluten free living in Celiac Disease – The Ultimate Gluten Free Experience and Gluten Free Alternatives to Traditional Pasta.
Photo Credit: Elana’s Pantry on Flickr via a Creative Commons License.
Have you tried Jules Gluten Free flour? I swear by it–no gritty or crumbly texture at all! I have tried a lot of flours too, and this is by far my favorite, especially for cookies and bread.
Have you tried JK Gourmet Almond Flour? (www.jkgourmet.com) It is very finely-ground and ideal for baking and cooking. Also tons of delicious recipes in Grain-Free Gourmet cookbooks.
Problem with this mix is that there is no nutritional value here. There are a lot of better-for-you flour mixes out there.
What’s not nutritious about brown rice?