Tips on Solving the Gluten Flour Mystery Mix
GF FLOUR MIX MYSTERY CLUE #1: A Flour Combo Works Best
A combination of GF flours is important to making a transitional GF Mix for breads and pastries. Rice flour is a cornerstone ingredient for much of GF baking, but if you simply substitute rice flour for wheat flour, you can create a gritty mess that will produce a product resembling that of a brick. For example, brown or white rice flour works well in combination with potato flour and tapioca flour. The fine powdery quality of potato starch flour makes the dough lighter helping to balance and smooth out the “gritty” texture of rice flour while tapioca flour helps prevent crumbling, assists browning and provides a chewy quality to your bread.
GF FLOUR MIX MYSTERY CLUE #2: The Flour Ratio Is Key
When combining GF flours for your mix, the ratios are also important because each flour has a unique texture and quality of absorption. For your GF Flour Mix, rice flour serves as a good base flour to which you add potato flour starch and “polish” with tapioca flour. Not all GF flour blends have to be made with rice flour as the headlining flour, but according to Carol Fenster of Savory Palate, Inc., potato starch usually comprises no more than approximately 33% of the mix while tapioca flour typically accounts for about 20% of your mix. While ratios of these flours can vary depending on your recipes, when you are making a GF Flour Mix in bulk for multi uses these proportions serve as a general guideline.
GF FLOUR MIX MYSTERY CLUE #3: The Flour Stretch Is Critical
Baking with gluten-free flours requires additional tender loving care to make it work. Without gluten, you do not have the key factor of pliability that helps you work the dough and keep the bread together after it is baked. So, you must add extendibility to your dough with xanthan gum, the most widely used “protein” replacement. Guar gum is an alternative to xanthan gum. But, once again, the mystery ensues when you ponder how much xanthan gum to add to your GF Flour Mix. Thankfully, Bette Hagman has already cracked the “stretch factor” case and recommends a specific formula for adding xanthan gum to your GF Flour Mix. According to Hagman: add ¾ teaspoon per cup of flour for breads; ½ teaspoon per cup of flour for cakes; and ¼ to ½ teaspoon per cup of flour for cookies. Because GF flours lack the stretchy protein known as gluten, in addition to xanthan gum you will need to add more leavening or protein to your recipe such as egg whites, gelatin, or dry milk powder. (Source: The Gluten-Free Gourmet Revised Edition by Bette Hagman, page 39).
Gluten-free Flour Formulas
Mix these flour formulas in the proportions given and use them to substitute cup for cup for all-purpose wheat flour.
General Baking Mixes - Simple Substitute
Mary Schluckebier, makes 1 cup
1 cup brown rice flour
General Baking Mix #1
Carol Fenster, cookbook author, makes 2 cups
1 cup rice flour
1/2-3/4 cup potato starch
¼ cup tapioca starch/flour
General Baking Mix #2
Carol Fenster, makes 9 cups
3 cups garfava bean flour
2 cups potato starch
2 cups cornstarch
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup sorghum flour
Original formula
Bette Hagman, cookbook author, makes 3 cups
2 cups rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
Four Flour Bean
Bette Hagman, makes 3 cups
2/3 cup garfava bean flour
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup tapioca starch/flour
Many recipes that call for gluten-free flour mix work just as well or better using a blend of bean flours combined with other gluten-free flours. These blends are higher in fiber, protein and other nutrients, have a great smooth texture and are more filling and satisfying than rice-flour blends. Bean flours work best with flavorful recipes that complement and mellow the nut-like, slightly bitter flavor of ground beans. Bean-flour blends work especially well in cookies (chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, graham crackers), spice cakes (carrot cake, applesauce bars, banana bars) and spice muffins (apple cinnamon muffins, banana muffins, pumpkin muffins). Cover the mix and store in a cool place or the refrigerator.
Featherlight
Bette Hagman, makes 3 cups
1 cup rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup tapioca starch/flour
1 Tbsp. potato flour
Specialty Mixes
Pastry mix
Mary Schluckebier, makes 1 cup
1/8 cup potato flour
7/8 cup Ener-G Foods© rice flour
Cookie mix
Mary Schluckebier, makes 2 cups
¼ cup chickpea flour
1¾ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup sweet rice flour
Bread Mix
Mary Schluckebier , makes 2 cups
1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup potato starch
½ cup sweet rice flour
1 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
Birthday Cake Flour Blend
2 cups white rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup potato starch
Mix together well and place in a dry container.
Gluten Free Flour Mix 2
Contains milk powder.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup milk powder
1 cup tapioca starch
2 cups white rice flour
2 cups potato starch
1 tbsp guar gum
My favorite gluten free cookbook
