GF all-purpose flour

MaxandRuby · June 2011

Has anyone used gluten free all-purpose flour? If so, does it change the taste or texture of foods? Lets say you use it to make a cake, does the cake still rise like a regular cake does or would the cake be more dense? If you use GF all-purpose flour, what is your favorite brand? I'm also assuming it would be a 1 to 1 substitution for regular flour - is this correct?

Coleslawcat · June 2011

Some are awful. I have tried many. Eventually I found 2 that are wonderful and do substitute 1:1. They do not significantly modify the taste or texture of baked goods. If you baked a regular batch and gluten free batch at the same time and tasted back to back you could probably tell, but I have fed gluten free goods made with these flours to lots of people who have loved them and couldn't believe they were gluten free.

https://glutenfreeflour.com/

https://betterbatter.org/

I can buy both at a gluten free store in my area and am not sure which I prefer, they are both awesome. I would order them online if I had to to get them. I love baking again. I had become very frustrated prior to finding these, but I love it again.

bluegfluff · June 2011

I have had absolutely fantastic luck using Bob's Red Mill all purpose GF baking mix. And I use it like regular flour. The best thing that I've learned about GF baking is that you should SIFT YOUR FLOUR - In fact, I always sift my dry ingredients together, regardless of what the recipe says, and the flour I sift 2-3 times. This makes the baked goods lighter. You will always have slightly denser baked goods, but the sifting helps. Beating your egg whites would help too, and be sure you don't over mix.

My mom who HATES most GF food has loved and raved about my cakes and breafast breads.

And yup, 1-1 substitution is correct. You can use xanthan gum to help bind your baked goods a bit more, but I have found it to be unecessary.

Coleslawcat · June 2011

I've used the Bob's Red Mill. I hate the taste, it tastes beany to me, but there are people who don't taste the beany flavor. The flours I mentioned actually don't tend to make dense products. They include pectin or gelatin (depending on which blend) which helps a lot in aiding with the binding that gluten does with traditional flour. They also already include the xanthan gum. With the BRM you will need to add that in addition to the all purpose flour. Lots of people use BRM and like it though. It's also cheaper than the blends I mentioned. So you could always give it a try and see if the flavor bothers you or not before trying the more expensive blends I mentioned. I used the BRM for a few months before discovering Tom Sawyer and as soon as I baked my first cake with Tom Sawyer I gave away my 5 lb bag of BRM as fast as I could.

g_belle · June 2011

I make my own. It's much cheaper than buying it at the store. And then you can find a mix that doesn't include bean flour if you don't like the taste (I don't like the really rice-y ones). There are a ton of "recipes" on-line for making your own GF flour. It was trial and error for us to find one that we liked. It does have a bit of a different texture for a lot of baked goods.

novlove11 · June 2011

I love Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour.It seems to work well for my baking. I agree with other posters saying that some are awful!

julandjo · June 2011

Coleslawcat:
I've used the Bob's Red Mill. I hate the taste, it tastes beany to me, but there are people who don't taste the beany flavor. The flours I mentioned actually don't tend to make dense products. They include pectin or gelatin (depending on which blend) which helps a lot in aiding with the binding that gluten does with traditional flour. They also already include the xanthan gum. With the BRM you will need to add that in addition to the all purpose flour. Lots of people use BRM and like it though. It's also cheaper than the blends I mentioned. So you could always give it a try and see if the flavor bothers you or not before trying the more expensive blends I mentioned. I used the BRM for a few months before discovering Tom Sawyer and as soon as I baked my first cake with Tom Sawyer I gave away my 5 lb bag of BRM as fast as I could.

Thanks for this info! My family hates the BRM products - waaayy too beany. I've had a h3ll of a time finding an AP mix that doesn't contain potato (we've got a nightshade problem). I'm ordering some Tom Sawyer right now! THANK YOU!

DandelionMom · June 2011

g_belle:
I make my own. It's much cheaper than buying it at the store. And then you can find a mix that doesn't include bean flour if you don't like the taste (I don't like the really rice-y ones). There are a ton of "recipes" on-line for making your own GF flour. It was trial and error for us to find one that we liked. It does have a bit of a different texture for a lot of baked goods.

Ditto!

EssBe · June 2011

Coleslawcat:
I've used the Bob's Red Mill. I hate the taste, it tastes beany to me, but there are people who don't taste the beany flavor. The flours I mentioned actually don't tend to make dense products. They include pectin or gelatin (depending on which blend) which helps a lot in aiding with the binding that gluten does with traditional flour. They also already include the xanthan gum. With the BRM you will need to add that in addition to the all purpose flour. Lots of people use BRM and like it though. It's also cheaper than the blends I mentioned. So you could always give it a try and see if the flavor bothers you or not before trying the more expensive blends I mentioned. I used the BRM for a few months before discovering Tom Sawyer and as soon as I baked my first cake with Tom Sawyer I gave away my 5 lb bag of BRM as fast as I could.

I will have to try the Tom Sawyer. I use BRM but I can definitely taste the bean flavor unless it's something that has a TON of flavor.

Thanks!

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