Our Favorite Gluten Free Flour Mix

First a word on flour in baking mixes.  Baked goods that are not dependent on gluten are easy to re-create with either a store bought general gluten free flour mix, a gluten free flour mix you make yourself or just plain rice flour.  Therefore, if you have a recipe with a lot of eggs, sugar, oil or some kind of fruit, you can easily substitute almost any kind of gluten free flour  mix for the regular flour called for in the recipe. 

Gluten free breads, however, require very specific gluten free flour substitutions.  For baking these, you will want to stick with a mix such as Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Mix  or a proven bread recipe. 

Annalise Robert's Basic Brown Rice Flour Recipe

We have been using the following recipe for most of our gluten free baking, other than bread as noted above.  It works great for everything from chicken nuggets to chocolate chip cookies.  I will double, or even triple, the recipe and store it in an airtight container in the freezer. 

It is very important that you use an extra finely ground brown rice flour, (and not just any grind) or your baked goods will be gritty, heavy and/or crumbly.   You can purchase a Super Fine Brown Rice flour from Authentic Foods. 

Karen Robertson's Basic Brown Rice Flour Recipe

We have also used the following recipe with excellent results.  It has more white rice which makes it less healthy, but maybe a little less grainy if you are using straight brown rice flour that is not finely ground. 

This is the Multi-Blend Gluten Free Flour.

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 1/4 cup white rice flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch
• 3/4 cup sweet rice flour
• 1/3 cup cornstarch

Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum is the ingredient in gluten free flour mixes that basically replaces the gluten and holds the recipe together.  Note that neither of these blends contain xantham gum so you will want to add some if you are using this flour in a baking recipe as follows:

Bread:   1 teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour mix

Cakes:  1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour mix

Cookies:  1/4 teaspoon per cup of flour mix

In the recipes on my web site, I have already suggested the amount of xanthan gum that you use.

Ready Made Gluten Free Flour:  The following are ready made, one-stop flours that can be used in almost any recipe:

• Jules All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

• King Arthur Flour Multipurpose Flour, Gluten Free, 24-ounces
• Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Gluten Free Flour - 3lb