The most intimidating part of going Gluten Free has been the flours. The first few times I tried to navigate Gluten Free recipes and websites I actually cried because it was so confusing and I had no idea how I was ever going to eat again. All of a sudden a simple pancake or baking powder biscuit recipe had 14 ingredients, most of which I hadn't even heard of before. Sorghum Flour? Amaranth Flour? Quinoa, Teff, Millet? What??
After several months and some experimentation I discovered Gluten Free Cooking School and Mary Frances' amazing All Purpose GF Flour Mix. Since discovering this mix being GF has been so much easier AND cheaper - this is a low cost mix with easy to find flours.
All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix:
3 Parts Brown Rice Flour
3 Parts Corn Starch
2 Parts Soy Flour
1 Part Tapioca Flour
The original recipe calls for Masa Harina flour instead of Tapioca but I wasn't able to find it anywhere so I sub'd Tapioca since I had it on hand and it turned out great. If you don't eat Soy you can sub Sorghum Flour instead.
To make things simple I use cups for parts, so 3 cups Brown Rice Flour, etc. I don't mess around with a bowl, I pour the flour right into a tall tupperwear container and give it a really good shake until the flour is uniform with no streaks. (This is a good way to get out your frustrations about having to be gluten free, shake shake shake, swear swear swear.. damn you flour!) I keep it stored in the fridge.
So far I've made bread, biscuits, pancakes, muffins and flatbread with this mix and it's worked amazingly well every time. I've used it in Gluten Free recipes in place of the crazy list of called for flours, just add up how many cups of flour in total is used in the recipe and use the same amount of this mix instead. If you want to sub it into a nonGF recipe you just need to add 1 tsp of Xanthan or Guar Gum.
I'll include some of my favourite recipes using this mix over the next little while - it really makes the best biscuits I've ever had, with or without gluten! I have a butterscotch brownie recipe I want to try adapting to GF with this mix, my first foray into desserts. It's a mild enough flour that I think it would work equally well for breads and cakes.
If anyone tries this mix I would love to hear about your results and what you made with it.
1 comment:
Och, sorry to hear you've had to make such big adjustments to your everyday... but I hope the difference in how you FEEL is worth it. I'm not allergic to gluten, but I do have other really annoying food allergies — what a drag, hey?
Glad to hear you've found a good substitute for your baking! Keep at it. Soon you'll be making GF fancy schtuffs too!
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