Okay, after the success of my last batch of sugar cookies, I thought I might try my hand at my own flour blend, at least one for my cookies. So here it is:
All purpose flour blend
3 cups sweet rice flour
3 cups brown rice flour or gluten free oat flour
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 tablespoons xanthan gum
Whisk together in a large bowl and store in an airtight container. Use in place of all purpose flour in cookie recipes.
UPDATE 1/8/11: I really love the blend of the sweet rice with the oat, but if you don't like it or don't have these flours on hand, you can sub and experiment. The important part is keeping these ratios. So you could use all brown rice in place of the sweet rice and oat, or use a 50:50 mix of sorghum and millet, or a white rice/brown rice mix, etc. As long as you keep the flour/starch/xanthan gum ratios the same, the possibilities are endless. :)
Where do you get your gluten free oat flour? It sounds delicious! (I'm soy free too so I am so glad I found your site - that pita bread recipe looks amazing!)
ReplyDeleteI grind my own in my Nutrimill using Bob's Red Mill GF Steel Cut Oats. Bob's Red Mill also makes GF Oat Flour, too.
ReplyDeleteYou have a link from the pita bread to this flour blend. Do you use it for cookies and for pita bread? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteI originally used it for a cookie blend, but soon found it worked as a general all purpose gf blend, so yes, I use it in both my pita bread and my cookies, and a lot more recipes, too.
Deletewhat is sweet rice flour? I've never heard of it. only rice flour
ReplyDeleteSweet rice is another name for sticky rice...it has a higher amount of starch and works really well for binding. I either by my own sticky rice and grind it or I buy Bob's Red Mill Sweet Rice Flour: http://www.bobsredmill.com/sweet-white-rice-flour.html?&cat=15
DeleteI buy all my Bobs Red Mill flour at www.swansonvitmins.com so very cheap.
ReplyDeleteCan I substitue the potato starch portion to cornstatch or arrowroot powder? My husband can't eat potatoes. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteYes, you should be able to sub it for cornstarch or arrowroot powder.
DeleteThank you so much!! Have all the other ingredients on hand to grind into flour. You are amazing!
ReplyDeleteI was recently diagnosed with a wheat allergy so I'm very new to all of this! What is the advantage of grinding your own flours? Does this save you money? What grinder would you recommend?
ReplyDeleteI have found that whole grains tend to be a bit less expensive than flours. I use a NutriMill grinder to grind my grains.
DeleteI want to start GF baking and want to know about almond flour and coconut flour. How do they work in baked goods?
ReplyDeleteIn your flour blend that you used in this recipe, did you use the oat flour or the brown rice flour? I've been looking for a good GF cinnamon roll recipe and I want to get it right. Yours look so good!
ReplyDeleteI use brown rice flour, more economical. :)
DeleteIs the amount of xanthan gum enough for all the other ingredients used? IT seem like a small amount.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is the correct amount, and it turns out great!
DeleteI would like to know if there is any substitution for the xantham gum? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou could use guar gum instead
DeleteFor nutritional differences in rice and oat flours, look at my GF flours 101, I have a PDF link that contains a table of all typically used flours in gluten-free baking that you can use to compare the two. I am not an expert at baking with almond and coconut flours, there are other bloggers that would be better to answer that question, I know Brittany from BrittanyAngell.com and Jenni from TheUrbanPoser.com both would be better to answer questions about using those flours.
ReplyDeleteI live on a small island with very little access to speciality foods. I'm excited to have found white rice flour and quinoa flour, but the starches you mention are completely absent from the shops. Somebody above asked if they could used cornstarch, but looking at the ratios that would surely mean 3 cups of cornstarch, which seems a little excessive! Also, what sort of recipes would this sort of flour blend work for? I see so many GF recipes on the internet that just call for a 'bread blend' or 'flour blend' and I'm wondering if the only difference is the addition of raising agents. If I were to use your ratios above with whichever ingredients I have available, would I theoretically be able to use it like I do plain flour in non-GF cooking and add raising agents, sugar, fats etc as needed? You're the first person to try to explain all this that I've found - thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou can try cornstarch and see how it will work. It does seem like a lot of starch, but it is a lot less then some other flour blend recipes. The starch gives it some lightness, that without, makes baked goods seem more like bricks. This flour blend works well in most non-yeast baked goods recipes. For yeast breads, the water to flour ratio does need to be adjusted for it to turn out, so it is best to use a gluten-free recipe for those. I have a few on my blog.
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