My search for a easy to mix, easy to use, gluten-free flour recipe began a decade ago when I discovered I had celiac disease. While people choose to avoid gluten for a variety of reasons, anyone with celiac knows wheat, barley or rye will trigger an immediate reaction by your immune system on your digestive tract.
The alternative to feeling miserable and permanently damaging your digestive system is to avoid gluten. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop eating all the things you love.
Simply mix these 5 ingredients in equal amounts and you’re back to baking your favorite treats – gluten-free!
Why mix your own flour?
There are more brands of gluten-free flours available in stores today than ever before. But they are much more expensive than wheat flour and don’t necessarily work as well for baking your favourite recipes. Besides being too expensive, I find the commercial gluten free flour mixes available in stores too grainy – leaving a dry, gritty feeling in your mouth. Many of them use a high proportion of rice flour.
The original recipe I found was okay – but I found it a bit too heavy and still had a grainy mouth feel – but not nearly as grainy as the store brand mixes. That recipe called for double the amounts of the rice flours so I scaled it back and it was perfect. Most pre-made flour mixes have xanthan gum in the blend. I add the xanthan gum when I bake. More about that in a bit.
I buy the ingredients for my gluten free flour at my local Bulk Barn (Canada) bulk food store. I purchase equal quantities of the 5 ingredients.
Ingredients
Use equal measures of these 5 ingredients
- White Rice Flour
- Brown Rice Flour
- Potato Starch (not flour)
- Corn Starch
- Tapioca Flour/Starch (alternate names)
Mixing
I like to keep a batch of my gluten-free flour on hand, ready to use when I need it. Mix equal measures of the five ingredients above and blend it together really well – a Danish dough whisk works great for this. I mix it in the same large container (with a tight sealing lid) that I store it in. Once it’s blended, I put the lid on and shake it well to make sure it’s fully mixed.
Xanthan Gum
As I mentioned earlier, the commercial flour blends often have xanthan gum included. Xanthan gum is a thickening agent that helps bind ingredients and improve mouth feel. In gluten-free baking, it replaces the stickiness associated with gluten-based flours.
Since there’s always a chance that you may have to tweak a recipe when first adapting it to use gluten-free flour, I prefer to add the xanthan gum when I’m baking. I can adjust how much I add to find the right amount for each recipe.
Many of the gluten-free recipes that I’ve come across include one teaspoon of xanthan gum for every one cup of flour. I prefer to use 1/2 teaspoon for every cup of flour.
Enjoy Gluten-Free Baking
Mixing my own gluten-free flour blend is a win for me in every aspect.
- it’s more budget friendly
- less grainy texture than commercial mixes
- everything I make with this blend tastes great
- plus it makes an amazing gravy thickener
Whether you simply want to reduce the amount of gluten you consume, or you have to avoid wheat-based food due to celiac disease, take comfort in the fact that there are gluten-free alternatives. Pull out your grandmother’s recipe book and start recreating those delicious muffins, pancakes, cookies and other treats that you thought you might never be able to eat again.
