Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Mix

January 3, 2012



Gluten free cooking!  When you discover that you need to adjust your cooking techniques for either yourself, or someone else, this process can seem daunting.   Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!!

In the beginning I began just eliminating foods containing gluten.  That seemed easy enough as I already made much of what we were eating at home, relying on few processed foods. Many processed foods use ingredients containing gluten as thickening agents, preservatives, fillers, etc. It was easy enough to substitute corn starch or a store bought GF all-purpose flour (Bob's Red Mill for example) for flour in gravies and sauces, or for dredging pork chops before browning, but baked goods like cookies, pie crust, bread, that was another story!!!

I purchased different  GF breads and cookies with very mixed reviews and found nothing terribly good.  Some were tolerable, but many were not worth eating, if not yucky!  Dry, crumbly, flavorless. If you covered them with enough butter, jam, etc, you could do it, but enjoy them?  Well, this all started to change when I recently found a recipe for a combination of GF flours that makes a great all-purpose baking mix.

The ingredients you will need in your arsenal are:

brown rice flour
white rice flour
potato starch
tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
sweet rice flour (do not confuse with "white rice" flour)
xanthan gum

No single GF flour makes a good substitution for wheat flours but by combining the above ingredients the characteristics associated with wheat flour baking such as chewiness, sponginess, crispness and flakiness are achievable. , I was totally blown away! 

O.K.  here is the baking mix recipe.

Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Mix
(makes 3 cups)        

1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour (you may find it as tapioca starch - same thing)
1/3 cup potato starch
2 tsp. xanthan gum

Wisk together and keep in an airtight container.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Date Nut Pinwheels

Gluten free baking has been the most difficult area for me to achieve positive results. That is why I have been so excited and just about everyone I know has been hearing about it! This baking mix can be substituted cup for cup in place of wheat flour for any cookie, quick bread, pancake, brownie, etc.   The mix has totally transformed my GF baking and cooking!  Yeast breads are different!   In one of my next posts I will share the yeast bread recipe I have succeeded with.  My husband actually took a sandwich with him today.  It has been years!!!


 A few GF baking tips:
 
How you measure your ingredients is extremely important.  Flours and starches must be spooned into your measuring cup and leveled off with a flat edge,  NEVER scooped with your measuring cup from the container. This is something I could sometimes cheat at with wheat flours, but in GF baking, it will give you very heavy dense results.  To achieve positive results in your GF baking, air pockets play a huge role, therefore, spoon and level, don't scoop!

Another important aspect, where you CAN NOT cheat, unless other wise specified: all of your ingredients should be at room temperature.  You can warm eggs quickly by placing them in a bowl of hot water, not boiled, for 5 minutes.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.  I am looking forward to sharing my adventures and discoveries in the Gluten Free World!  Hope you all have had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and start to this New Year 2013.

Jocelyn