Guide to Food Philosopher’s® Gluten-Free Flour Mixes
If you think about how most people bake with wheat, you’ll realize that they usually use two different kinds of flour: an all purpose flour for cakes, pies, muffins, and other pastries, and a bread flour for baking bread. I decided very early on that I wanted my gluten-free baking to mimic wheat baking.
As a result, my recipes are carefully calibrated to use just two flour mixes: the Brown Rice Flour Mix (my all purpose flour) makes cake, pie, muffins and cookies that look, feel and taste like those made with wheat, and the Bread Flour Mix (my bread flour) makes crusty, chewy artisan loaves and tender sandwich breads.
Few people I know have large amounts of time to bake, much less to grab for four or five different flours every time they do; even fewer have room to store multiple flour mixes in their cabinets. Once I became a gluten-free baker, I wanted to have only two big flour containers in my baking pantry, just like I did when I baked with wheat.
Brown Rice Flour Mix
Brown rice flour (extra finely ground) – 2 cups
Potato starch (not potato flour) – 2/3 cup
Tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour) – 1/3 cup
Total = 3 cups
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 and heavy. Authentic Foods in California sells the only powdery-like-wheat brown rice flour I can find on the market (other than in Asian grocery stores). Authentic Foods brown rice flour is stabilized to increase shelf life and sealed in a high quality bag that is light and air resistant. For me, it has proven to be the “hands down” winner in repeated blind taste tests. It may look pricey, but not when compared to the price of buying ready-made gluten-free cakes, muffins and cookies that are often of a lesser quality than those you could make at home. I strongly believe that the high quality rice and very fine grind of Authentic Foods will make a big difference in your finished product.
Authentic Food’s (e-mail and phone below) flour can be ordered online or purchased at select grocery and natural food stores. Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur brown rice flour tie in second place for grind size, and King Arthur is also stabilized. Arrowhead Mills brown rice flour has a big grind and is gritty (although I use their millet flour all the time.).
The potato starch and tapioca starch in the flour mix above can be found in grocery and natural food stores and online. In my opinion, the brands are fairly interchangeable. If you use potato flour in my recipes by mistake, you will be able to make a muffin that you can throw against the wall —and it will stick there for eternity (well, a few days, at least).
Authentic Foods also makes the above Brown Rice Flour Mix already made up under the name GF Classic Blend. Although I do not financially benefit from the sale of GF Classic Blend, it sure is nice to just be able to open a bag of flour and bake.
Some of my recipes occasionally call for “sweet rice flour” which helps give certain baked goods a softer, more delicate texture. Only a small amount is ever used at a time because too much results in a denser, tighter, gummy product. I recommend Authentic Foods sweet rice flour because it is finely ground.
Bread Flour Mix
Millet flour - 2 cups
Sorghum flour – 1 cup
Corn starch – 1 cup
Potato starch (not potato flour) – 1 cup
Tapioca starch (als0 called tapioca flour) – 1 cup
Total = 6 cups
My bread flour mix is made up of whole grain flours and starch flours in a ratio of half to half; a combination of millet, sorghum, corn starch, potato starch and tapioca flour. Millet and sorghum (both whole grain) are used to help vary the taste, improve nutrition and provide structure to the dough and help keep the loaves fresher than gluten-free breads made of all starchy flours. When it comes to bread, a large grind makes a good loaf. I typically use Bob’s Red Mill and Authentic Food’s sorghum and Bob’s Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills millet. The starches help lighten the texture and improve mouth feel. Together they make a sandwich bread that is much like homemade wheat bread in terms of texture and density.
How to Purchase and Store Gluten-Free Flours
Brown rice flour, millet flour, sorghum are whole grain flours and must be stored carefully. The mixes (above) can be stored at room temperature for about four months. If your house is hot and humid, or if you will not be baking for long periods of time, store them in the refrigerator. Store open packages of brown rice flour, millet flour, sorghum, in the refrigerator.
Purchase all these flours from local natural food stores, some grocery stores, online sellers that have a lot of turnover so you can be sure you are getting fresh packages. And do not purchase them too far in advance of when you make the flour mixes (more than four months for millet and sorghum; Authentic Foods is so well packaged that it is shelf stable for longer periods). When you open a new bag, make sure it does not have a strong odor, an indication that it is rancid or old.
These flours should have a pleasant grainy, nutty smell. Millet flour in particular, tends to get rancid if it is old or not stored properly by the distributor, at the store or in your home (just like whole-wheat flour).
Both open and unopened packages of potato starch, tapioca flour, and corn starch should be almost scent free when opened. They can be stored at room temperature for about a year. They can be purchased in advance of when you will be using them to make the flour mixes.
Very infrequently, there have been reports of “sour” tapioca flour being mistakenly packaged in regular tapioca flour packages. Be aware that tapioca flour does not have a sour taste or smell. Also infrequently, there have been reports of off-smelling, stale potato starch. Potato starch is almost tasteless and doesn’t really have a strong smell. If it tastes moldy or sour, take it back to the store.
How to Measure and Mix Gluten-Free Flours
- To measure flour for making flour mix: use a soup spoon to spoon flour from package into the measuring cup, or pour flour or from the package into the measuring cup, then use a knife (or even the handle of the spoon) to level the top. Do not scoop gluten-free flours out of the package with the measuring cup. Empty measured flours into a plastic container large enough to leave four to five inches from top. Shake container vigorously to mix flours. I usually make 12 cups of brown rice flour mix at a time and store and shake it in a 21 cup Rubbermaid container.
- To measure flour for use in recipes: Shake container vigorously to mix and aerate flours. Use soup spoon to spoon flour from container into the measuring cup, then use a knife to level the top. Do not scoop gluten-free flours out of the package with the measuring cup.
Authentic Foods
800-806-4737
http://www.authenticfoods.com
Bob Red Mill
800-349-2173
http://www.bobsredmill.com
King Arthur Flour Company
800.827.6836
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/
What can I use in place of potato starch in your Brown Rice Flour Mix? I have an intolerance for potato.
hi!
Some people simply sub. the potato starch with more tapioca and call it a day. That will give you a light baked good but without that certain something in the way of richer mouth-feel that the potato starch gives. It will also be a little softer, mushier in texture. If it were me, for 1 cup potato starch, I’d try substituting 1/2 cup more tapioca and 1/2 cup corn starch first. Then I’d try 1/2 cup more tapioca, 1/4 corn starch and 1/4 cup sweet rice four and see which I like best.
One enterprising baker on the west coast created his own concoction for his son with my mix: he divides the total amount of potato starch in half and uses 1/2 arrowroot and 1/2 sweet rice flour (Authentic Foods makes this extra fine as well). So when the mix calls for 1 cup potato starch use 1/2 cup arrowroot and 1/2 sweet rice.
But I think that arrowroot is expensive (at least where I live). If you want to try the arrowroot/sweet rice four option, I would probably try 3/4 cup tapioca (which is much like arrowroot) and 1/4 sweet rice and adjust from there – more or less on the sweet rice (it will add that chew back).
So give it some thought, do a few tests on easier recipes – like the rustic flat bread (recipe here on this blog) and a cupcake or muffin (if you don’t have my book, see recipes on my website http://www.foodphilosopher.com). If you need more help or have questions, I’m here to help. You can post here, or email me.
Can you use sweet potato starch? It’s white also and seems very similar to the potato starch that I buy from the asian markets.
hi!
I honestly can’t say for sure. So sorry, but I’ve never used sweet potato starch. I would assume it is slightly sweeter and might have an affect on the taste?? But if it really like potato starch and not potato flour, then it might be worth trying. But I’d only make a small amount of the mix, just in case. Please let me know if you try and what happens.
Very best,
Annalise
I have a couple of your books. Your Gluten-Free Baking Classics has been such a blessing to my family since my daughters diagnosis of celiac in 2009. What we have just realized is that the is also allergic to corn. What would work well as a substitute for cornstarch? I was curious if in the bread flour mix A & B what to use. Also in a general recipe – can just straight potato starch work? Thank you for your time spent developing and publishing the recipes. It has meant so much to our family. Sincerely, Cheryl
What I usually recommend is that you FIRST replace the corn starch with half potato starch and half tapioca starch and see if you like it in an easy recipe (like the rustic flat bread). Then try 1/3 potato starch and 2/3 tapioca and THEN try 2/3 potato and 1/3 tapioca see which version you prefer in terms of texture and taste and stick with that! If you still aren’t happy, let me know and I will work with you until we find somehitng you like. And please let me know how you make out!
I’m not able to get millet or millet flour in my area (even amazon is not delivering these items here). What can I use instead of millet? Or is there any other good flour mix for bread?
hi!
Not sure where you live that Amazon doesn’t deliver, but can you get sorghum flour and gluten-free oat flour? Also, did you try ordering the Millet directly from Bob’s Red Mill? He has a very nice millet flour.
Very best,
Annalise
Hi
I live in Slovakia, so I guess delivering any food from such a distance will be problem
Sorghum flour is not problem but I haven’t seen gluten free oat flour in our shops. Common are rice and brown rice, corn, potato, soy, chickpea, buckwheat, amaranth, pea, bean, hemp, chestnut and coconut flours. It’s a lot of flours to choose from, but since I’m new to gluten free diet I don’t know which ones are the best for breads. I was looking for inspiration on web, and every bread that looked very good and like regular gluten bread was made from mix that contained millet flour… any advice will be very helpful to me. Thanks 
Ah! You living in Slovakia explains the whole no shipping thing! But no worries. We will work this out. Millet does make a wonderful, more wheat-like bread than rice, which is why it has grown in popularity here.
So to make up the bread flour mix, let’s will start with a TOTAL OF 3 CUPS flour in case it doesn’t work as well as you’d like.
Try using
1/2 cup of corn starch
1/2 cup of potato starch (NOT potato flour)
1/2 cup of tapioca. (if you don’t have tapioca- use 1/4 cup more potato starch and 1/4 cup more corn starch to make up for it).
1 cups sorghum flour
1/2 cup of some combination of amaranth and/or buckwheat and/or soy.
Stay away from the rice flour- makes a weird textured bread. Also, I’d stay away from the bean flours because in my opinion, they give a weird taste to bread (and everything else they’re in). I’d also avoid the chestnut flour (very dark, weird color in bread), the coconut flour (bad texture for bread and coconut flavor). Hemp and pea – can’t say anything about these because I haven’t bothered to try them. So many other good choices here.
You might need a little less water/milk because the millet absorbs more liquid than the sorghum. Start with a really easy recipe- like my Rustic Flat Bread which is on this blog
http://mygluten-freetable.com/2011/08/gadgets-pesto-and-gluten-free-panini/
Ok! Let me know how it works please. We can adjust if we need to!
Very best,
annalise
Is there any possibility you could share your original recipes that were changed for gluten free ones? I am asking in hopes I could figure out how to make my recipes for cinnamon rolls and potica (Croatian Nut Roll bread) into gluten free ones.
also, please accept my sincere thanks for your bread book- the recipes are fantastic and have made life so much more enjoyable! God bless you and all of your efforts!
Marlene
Hi!
For the most part, my yeast based recipes were reconfigured from more than one recipe- so it would be impossible for me to give you just one (unlike cakes, cookies). So sorry I don’t have just one original for you. But all you have to do is scale your wheat recipe to my version, and reconfigure from there. It is not a one step process and can take multiple tests to get the right combination. At least it does for me.
I might be able to give you some input if you send the recipe (you can post here or send it to my email). And then after you get some first round results, I might be able to offer further suggestions.
I am glad you are enjoying my recipes.
Very best regards,
Annalise
I have found a really good white rice flour that I’ve used instead of the brown rice flour in the brown rice flour mix. The reason is that for the cost of the Authentic brown rice flour I can get about 10 times as much of the white rice flour. Should I be able to compensate for the lack of flavor in white rice flour by using some millet or sorghum flour in the mix?
Short uncomplicated answer: Yes.
But you won’t necessary get the same kind of “classic” taste and texture that the recipe is capable of producing. You might also have to fiddle with the amount of liquid in each recipe. I’ve worked with people who are actually intolerant to rice and have use sorghum in my recipes- but liquid and baking times have to be adjusted. The baked goods will look a little different and since most sorghums aren’t finely ground (except Authentic Food’s), you’ll be adding grit to you cake, muffins and cookies.
The lack of the extra whole grain will impact the flavor and the shelf life -because now your baked goods will be completely starch instead of just 1/3 starch). I have found millet imparts a stronger “unclassic” kind of flavor to my recipes. Sorghum has a less strong flavor, but unless you find an extra finely ground one, you might have to adjust the liquid in the recipes (the sorghum flours I’ve tested EACH absorb a different amount of liquid for an equal amount of flour). So sorghum over millet for sure. Brown rice over sorghum. And if you give it go, let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to give you input.
Very best regards,
Annalise
Can you further explain why one shouldn’t scoop gluten free flours out of the container? Is it a contamination worry, a volume thing? I can’t figure it out. I scoop GF flour out of the container sometimes, shake it into the scoop other times, and when i need to be precise go by weight. Haven’t noticed much of a difference b/t scooping and shaking (and never even though to try spooning). Also, do you have any suggestions re: brands of Asian rice flours to try? I have access to a huge Asian market and they carry many rice flours, but I never know how one can be reassured that the manufacturer/miller is paying attention to cross-contamination / gluten free issues. Thanks!
hi!
Because everyone measures flour a difference way- some people scoop, some sift, some spoon, some dump it into the cup; but the amount of flour varies depending on the method you use and it can vary a lot – by one (more or less) tablespoon. I want everyone who uses my recipe to have the same chance to be successful. So I try to narrow the variables that can go wrong. By specifying a specific method and describing it to the best of my abilities, I am trying to make sure that your cupcake or muffin comes out as well as mine. If you scoop your flour, you may inadvertently add 1 tablespoon or more flour and make a heavier, denser cupcake. Perhaps you might not notice it unless you test side my side– as I always do. But along with great taste, texture and appearance, my goal is also includes consistency – it should be the best possible cupcake every time you make it.
So it has nothing to do with contamination – just a striving to help people make the best gluten-free baked goods possible.
I am so sorry to say that I cannot recommend good asian flours because I do not have a great asian market near enough me with English speakers so I can ask about contamination issues. I do know that many people who use my recipes on the west coast in the US and Canada are able to find really good, safe ones. Time to go exploring depending on where you live.
Very best regards,
Annalise
Hi there, I haven’t tried your recipes yet, but just browsing through this blog makes me want to buy your book. I am curious though, why you don’t weigh your flours? I dabble with my own gluten free mixes (I made a modified version of the Thomas Keller blend without the gums, and with superfine rice flours). the only way I could fine tune and then duplicate the blends was to go by grams.
So far I’ve made a pie crust for cornish pasties and mexican wedding cookies, both of which everyone absolutely loved. But chocolate ricotta muffins?!? I want that recipe
hi!
Although Europeans and professional bakers have always used recipes that measured flour by weight, the American home baker has only recently started to embrace the technique. In fact, food magazines and newspapers only started offering weight measures, along with volume, in the past year. And most serious baking cookbooks (for example by Dorie Greenspan, Nick Malgleri, Sherry Yard, even Julia Child) use volume. I started developing gluten-free recipes before weighing flour developed the sudden cache that propelled it to become de rigueur among certain bakers. Not sure how old you are or when you started baking, but take a look at the best wheat baking books and you’ll notice that only the very newest books are starting to weigh flour. I tried to accommodate the largest number of people that existed when I wrote my books- and that is the only reason.
BUT my next books will provide both weight and volume measurement. I have already done extensive flour weight tests with my field testers and would very much like to engage you for the next round. Would you be interested?
very best,
annalise
I just purchased your Gluten-Free Bread Machine book to go with my Zoji. I will try substituting the 1/2 potato and 1/2 tapioca for the corn starch, but I am used to weighing flour. Do you know what the combigned weight of your non-corn Bread Flour Mix A ingredients are if I do? I am new to this so if I am not making sense, just let me know!
hi!
The weights for the potato starch, tapicoa starch, millet and sorghum are listed in a detailed post on this blog in August, 2012. In addition, there are several comments here on this page about weights with my answers to them. Please let me know if there is anything else you need and I well get back to as soon as possible so you can start baking. I
f it were me, I’d try the tweaked flour mixture on a simple bread recipe like my rustic flat bread (also on this blog in August, 2011). That way, you can see if you like it before you make a loaf in the machine. If you’re not happy with it, we can tweak it more easily.
very best regards,
Annalise
Annalise, from you cookbook, Gluten-Free Baking Classics I tried twice today to make the Basic Sandwich Bread pg 158. Both dropped so bad after removing from the oven. What’s wrong?? First loaf I thought maybe its overbeat, oven too hot,used SAF yeast. So for the
second loaf I made changes, used Fleshman’s grocery yeast, baked 10 min @375, then 35 @350, didn’t beat on as high a speed. Both looked great cooking and they taste terrific but
they are sunk in deeply in middle. I’m a very confident baker so really don’t think its my
technique, Can you please help. Thanks Trish p.s I ordered from Authentic Foods to follow your bread recipe (A) to a tee, measured as explained etc..
hi!
First, the bread won’t sink from overbeating (a cake will). SAF yeast isn’t good in my recipes. But Fleischmann’s will work, although not as well as Red Star.
Next, some questions:
Which flours did you buy from Authentic Foods (they don’t sell millet)?
What kind of xanthan gum did you use and how old is it?
What kind of pan did you use (was it dark)?
Why did you think your oven was too hot (do you have an oven thermometer)?
What is the temperature of your house and what is your altitude?
What temperature was the milk when you put it into the flour?
Could you have inadvertently spooned in the flour a little too lightly in to the measuring cup?
OK! That’s enough questions for now!
Very best,
Annalise
Just wanted to thank you for your careful recipes and lovely GF baking book. The Multigrain Artisan Bread made me so happy. Actual bread – and delicious. It’s empowering to know that I can make that happen for myself when I need to.
Hi!
You are very welcome!
Hope you get a chance to try them all.
Very best,
Annalise
Hi Annalise,
your babka recipe sounds intriguing, but I can’t find sorghum flour where I live. What would you suggest as a substitute?
hi!
Well, if I were going to try replace sorghum in this particular recipe, I might use gluten-free oat flour because it is will add a nice flavor, won’t add too much color (since it is a light colored bread) and it won’t weigh it down. I think amaranth would be good for the color, but it would add a slightly stronger flavor. Can you find wither of these?
very best,
Annalise
My Hungarian grandmother’s old family recipes listed ingredients grams. Results were hit or miss because I had converted her measurements to cups. After reading about how most European bakers measure by weight, I bought a food scale and revisited my grandmother’s original recipes. Since then, my baking results have always been consistently wonderful. Have you ever considered providing your measurements by weight rather than volume – there is much less margin for error. Another thing I love about using the scale is how easy it is to add ingredients straight from their containers – just tare or “zero” the scale for every new item.
hi!
I have been using volume measurement for my recipes because that is what most people use in this country to date, and I didn’t want to create recipes that would require people to buy a scale, in addition to all the gluten-free flours, when they got started. I wanted my recipes to be consistent and familiar. However, I do provide the weight equivalents for my flour mixes on my website, Foodphilosopher.com in the column Frequently Asked Questions under the Gluten-Free Baking category. I plan to offer weight equivalents for all the flours in my next book. I will also caution readers that I do not agree with a casually tossed around conception found in many gluten-free cookbooks and blogs that 4 ounces or grams of millet can be replaced with 4 ounces of brown rice flour or 4 ounces of oat flour in a recipe. You’ll get totally different results with each flour for the same recipe. But, I do agree that weighing ingredients can make it simple for people!
Very best,
Annalise
Hi,
I bake a lot of breads from your delicious book, and recently bought a scale to try to measure your recipes by weight (to save time). I got measurements for each flour from Bob’s Red Mill, but the total comes to 1 cup = 4.8oz, vs. the 4.25-4.5oz that your book says in each. Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong? I get a slight chalky aftertaste using these measurements, and would really appreciate any ideas you have as to how to fix it.
Bread Flour Mix A (18c)
Millet: 6c = 720g
Sorghum: 3c = 408g
Potato starch: 3c = 576g
Tapioca starch: 3c = 360g
Corn starch: 3c = 384g
Total: 18c = 2448g
so 1c Bread Flour Mix A = 408g which is 4.8oz
Thank you very much!
hi!
Ah yes, you have hit on the great dilemma of weighing ingredients for gluten-free baking. Welcome to my world.
The trouble occurs because all purpose wheat flour is all purpose wheat flour is all purpose wheat flour is all purpose wheat flour. And many GF bakers think they can take the very sound weighing/ratio methodology of wheat baking and apply it to gluten-free baking. I say no, that isn’t going to give you the best results. Bob’s Red Mill millet and sorghum are both different than Arrowhead Mills and Authentic Foods and any of the other brands on the market. They are different in terms of texture and dryness and grind and how they are compressed in the packaging (and they are also not at all like teff or quinoa or Montina or amaranth or brown rice or oatmeal flours in terms of how they perform in a baked good; so the whole just use XX ounces or grams and this specific baking ratio for your gluten-free baking isn’t a good application of this otherwise sound methodology.)
And don’t get me started on potato starch weights; they drive me to distraction. So here is what I did.I realized that weights work best if you using the weights of the baker whose recipes you are using. Many years ago I asked about 15 of my regular testers to weigh the flours the we using to make up my flour mixes. Then I took them all (most were identical, but I dollar averaged when necessary, like on the potato starch- which has to do with the way it is compressed in the packaging) and came up with this:
Millet Flour 1 cup = 4.75 ounces
Sorghum Flour 1 cup = 4.5 ounces
Potato starch 1 cup = 6 ounces
Tapioca Flour 1 cup = 4 ounces
Corn Starch 1 cup = 4.75 ounces
Added together and divided they come out to 4.79 ounces per cup. But you forgot, perhaps that you are supposed to shake the flour before spooning it into the measuring cup to aerate it. If you do that, you should come up with a cup of flour that weighs 4.25 to 4.5 (about 1 tablespoon difference between them).
I do hope this helps. Please let me know. And I’d be interested in your questions and thoughts about it.
very best regards,
Annalise
Hi Annalise,
What can I substitute for sweet rice flour in your recipes? I can’t get hold of any in the UK…
Thanks,
Julie
hi!
I would substitute half plain rice flour and half potato starch. The sweet rice adds a bit of softness to the dough that is hard to duplicate exactly, but a combination of these two flours should work, mostly because I only use a tiny bit of sweet rice flour in recipes that call for it. Please let me know how it works for you!
very best.
Annalise
Thanks – planning to make your challah which calls for it. Tried the babka today and it worked perfectly so well worth stocking up on flours which are tricky to get hold of! English muffins are next once the kids go to bed… I am like a kid in a candy store!
I am so glad you like the babka. The English muffin recipe is really easy and delicious. Hope you enjoy that one, too!
Looking thru old posts to find potato starch replacements. I’ve had a lot of trouble finding it lately and resorted to corn starch when I realized I ran out and didn’t have enough potato for the flour mix I was making. Would you not recommend straight corn starch replacement?
On sweet rice, I had sweet sorghum because I couldn’t find rice and used that. Baked goods have seemed fine for both these changes. But I’m wondering if it’s my imagination or if my more recent baked items (those with corn starch) have seemed somehow “emptier” tasting. Like not dense or too light. The flavor and texture is there but it seems that something isn’t quite right. Nobody else seems to have noticed!
Thoughts?
Thank thank thank you.
hi!
Not sure about using sweet sorghum to substitute for sweet rice flour in GF baked goods because the sweet rice flour typically has a different purpose – it adds a bit of softness (where as the whole grain sorghum adds protein, grain flavor, and structure (and helps with shelf life because of the protein). It’s also hard for me to say what happened because I’m not sure which recipes you’re making and what was in them- because that also matters. But in any case, empty taste wouldn’t necessarily come from the sorghum, in my opinion. Perhaps something else is going on?
And in my opinion, no to the straight corn replacement unless it is necessary. Too firm. I’d mix it up with tapioca as I said in my other posts. Here’s a run down:
Is there a good substitute for potato starch?
Option 1: replace all the potato starch with more tapioca flour. This will give you a light baked good but without that “certain something” in the way of richer mouth-feel that the potato starch gives. It will also be a little softer, and much mushier in texture. Ultimately, it will be less likely to hold as much of it’s rise.
Option 2: replace 1 cup potato starch with 1/2 cup more tapioca flour and 1/2 cup corn starch first in an simple recipe. Then replace that 1 cup of potato starch with 1/2 cup tapioca, 1/4 corn starch and 1/4 cup sweet rice four, make the same recipe and see which version you like best.
Option 3: One enterprising baker on the west coast created his own concoction for his son with my mix: he divides the total amount of potato starch in half and uses 1/2 arrowroot and 1/2 extra finely ground sweet rice flour. So when the mix calls for 1 cup potato starch use 1/2 cup arrowroot and 1/2 sweet rice flour. But arrowroot is expensive (at least where I live). So if you want to try a less expensive version of this arrowroot/sweet rice flour option, replace 1 cup potato starch with 3/4 cup tapioca (which is much like arrowroot) and 1/4 sweet rice and adjust from there (or 1/2 cup tapioca and 1/2 cup sweet rice and see which you like best).
Is it possible for you to use tapioca along with the corn starch?
very best regards,
Annalise
Thank you so much. Yes it is possible for me to use tapioca flour and a corn starch. I had started to make a big batch of flour mix and too late realized I didn’t have enough potato starch. I feel like there must bs a shortage–non of my local stores are getting it in! It seems to be on backorder –even my Amazon order is delayed. So I subbed in the corn starch in a pinch. I have arrowroot also because BabyCakes recipes call for that but I have no idea of the differences. Do you have of/ can you do a post with info on differences? I figured if would be ok because it was a fairly small amount overall—instead of 2c potato maybe it was 1 3/4 and the rest filled out with the corn starch. Now I know about tapioca trick!
On sweet sorghum it was for shortbread cookies, which are divine but did crumble easily. I chalked it up to shortbread style in general.
I will be replying to your most recent post a little later–totally agree on overwhelm. Thx do much for all you do; I know you’ve heard but you truly are a blessing.
hi!
The amount of corn starch you used to fill out the potato shouldn’t matter much at all. And if you use arrowroot in place of tapioca in one of my recipes, it won’t make too much difference. Arrowroot holds moisture a little differently and so you might end up with a slightly damper product after baking– depending on the recipe and what the ingredients are. But it won’t matter too much.
Yes, the sorghum will contribute to the crumbly nature of the shortbread cookies. The sweet rice is in the recipe to balance take away a bit of that. So try the recipe again with the sweet rice flour (if you can swing it, order if from Authentic Foods. They have a great finely ground one that isn’t gritty). Also, cut the shortbread cookies thicker and chill them after you bake them- they’ll firm up a bit.
Hope this helps a bit. And thank you for your very kind words.
Very best,
Annalise
I have an old bread machine from before gluten free. Can I use it? If you think not, is there any other solution,besides buying another new ‘gadget’? Maybe having it cleaned with some sort of air pressure machine?
hi!
I would assume that if your machine was well used that it has a some wheat residue in it. The baking pan can certainly be cleaned no question there. And I guess you could somehow clean the inside of the whole machine so that you won’t make yourself sick, I’m just not 100% sure. Sadly, I think if it were me and I planned on making GF bread machine bread a lot, I’d get a new machine and give this one to my wheat eating friends who bake. If you are in the market and can swing it money wise, I really do think the Zojirushi makes a great GF bread.
Sorry I can’t give you a clean bill of health on using the old one. I try not to take chances with contamination when I can help it because there are so many other times when I just can’t be sure.
Very best,
Annalise
I made this mix of gluten free flour with the Arrowhead mills brown rice flour and my cupcakes came out gritty. I didn’t know there was a difference between the grinds.
So now I have 3 more cups of this mix left. What can I do with it? I don’t want to waste this, but the cupcakes I made didn’t taste very good.
My mix contained 3 cups brown rice flour, 1 cup potato starch and 1/2 cup tapioca flour.
Can I use your mix with white rice flour to this to make it less gritty?
2 cups white rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup tapioca starch
Thanks!
hi!
I would use the leftover mix in my pizza crust recipe. Gritty flour makes a good pizza crust. I even say in my book that I make my pizza crust with Bob’s Red Mill instead of Authentic Foods because it has a bigger grind.
Arrowhead Mills is the grittiest of all the rice flours. And yes, there is a huge difference in the grinds. The Authentic Foods extra finely ground brown rice flour is stabilized and stays fresher longer. It is also wrapped in an airtight foil bag to keep air out. If you can’t get the Authentic Foods, the next best is Bob’s Red MIll. But Authentic Foods is worth the price if you can swing it. It is finely ground like wheat flour and makes great cake, cookies, pie crusts and muffins. (see my post about Thomas Keller’s flour on this blog )
Using white rice won’t make any difference if you use a gritty white rice. It’s not the color, it’s the processing and grinding. Also white rice flour is 100% starch, so you’d be making baked goods that are 100% starch. They tend to have an empty flavor, don’t stay fresh as long and dry out faster than baked goods made with brown rice flour.
Hope this helps!
very best,
Annalise
Hiya Annalise,
I was wondering if I could substitute half of the brown rice flour in your “Brown rice flour mix” with sorghum and have your recipes still turn out. I love sorghum flour! I have done some research on the two flours to see if they are interchangeable. I found some great sites that wonderfully explain the taste and texture of the flours but I didn’t feel like my question was answered. So before I experiment I thought I would ask as experimenting can be so very expensive!
hi!
There is a wide disparity in the grind and moisture content of the certified GF sorghum flours on the market, much like the rice flours. They actually don’t absorb liquid the same way (even the very finely ground sorghum that is shipped in foil bags) and they produce baked goods that differ in taste, texture and appearance- at least if you test them side by side ( like I do). That said, I know of at least a couple of people who use my recipes as guide, but use sorghum flour instead of brown rice flour because of allergies. They have to adjust liquids. Sometimes you may also need to add a bit more xanthan gum to help with the structure (remember it is a very dry flour and absorbs and holds moisture differently than rice flour, which affects the moisture available to help set the gum). So yes, it is possible, but you will probably have to play with the recipe a bit. I never tried adding it along with rice flour in my all purpose blend because I wanted to keep it simple and stick the basic formula. However, I did try to bake some of my easier recipes with just sorghum flour and the starches to see if I liked it better — and I didn’t.
I know that some bakers say you can use any GF flour, as long as you use the same weight, and perhaps the same proportions, but I have never found that to be the case. However, I’m always looking to create baked goods that mimic the best wheat versions and I have had the best success using brown rice to do that. I think that sorghum has a stronger taste than brown rice and it tends to stand out in some of the very delicate baked goods. The baked goods also dry out faster when made with sorghum instead of rice flour. I do love to use sorghum and millet in my bread flour mix ( with no rice flour at all) because it helps cover up the lack of wheat flavor; and together, millet and sorghum makes a fabulous bread.
So anyway, I if you give it try, I’d love to know how you make out.. And if you run into problems, perhaps I will be able to help.
very best, regards,
Annalise
That was really helpful, thanks so much!
May I also ask you one more thing?
Tapioca starch and arrowroot starch, are they interchangeable in baking recipes?
I found out tapioca starch is modified and so it is harder for me to digest. Also, Arrowroot is easier to come by where I live.
Kind of. If you tested side by side in the same exact recipe you’d notice a slight difference in the texture, but nothing major. One of the point- arrowroot is a lot more expensive in most parts of the country.
Hi Annalise,
I just made your Basic Sandwich Bread and my whole family loves it. (It was a little overdone so I’ll cut back the baking time a bit next time.) I’ve been making a bread that contains white and brown rice flour, and it barely seems like a bread. I’m so happy to find your recipe. By the way, I used expeller-pressed coconut oil (Tropical Traditions) instead of canola without a problem. Question……can this recipe be made in the bread machine?
Thanks!
hi!
I’m so glad you like the recipe. I agree that the millet and sorghum make a delicious tasting bread with a better texture than those made with rice flour. The recipe can be made in a bread machine- but it depending on the machine and the size of the pan it needs to be tweaked. I created 40 recipes for the 2 pound Zojirushi bread machine that can be found in my Gluten-Free Baking for the Bread Machine cookbook (20 with egg and dairy and 20 that are without. Although milk substitutes can be used in all of the recipes). For the most part, people with other bread machines had success adjusting the recipes for the ones they have (except the Cusinart). I have developed recipe for the one-pound Zojiruishi but haven’t published them yet. If you have more questions about this, I’d be happy to help you.
very best,
Annalise
I bought a small Zojirushi BB-HAC10 bread machine. I see your recipes are for the 2-lb machine. How do I convert the measurements for the smaller bread machine? and which setting should I use, seeing how it does not have a gluten-free setting? Needless to say, I love the smaller loaf but am really kicking myself for not getting the one that can make gluten-free baking easier. We have gone GF after reading “Wheat Belly” book. I have several of your recipe books, have just made a batch of FLOUR MIX A, and can’t wait to use it! thank you so much.
hi!
I can help you. I will write you tomorrow at your email address. The machine you bought makes great gluten-free bread. No worries. The two pound machine didn’t use to have a gf setting either, and the new one does, but it doesn’t work on all gf recipes.
I’ll be in touch tomorrow!
very best,
Annalise
I’d love that
I only started using weigh measurements in the last year or two, mainly because certain gf baking sites use that (and ratios) where all european recipes use weights. I do find it takes the guesswork out of the scooping/spooning method. For example, C4C’s Ms. Kwak supposes 128 gram per cup of flour in her recipes. I really love creating a gluten free goodie that makes the gluten eaters in the room swoon as well
I’ll be in touch soon. Thanks!
Annalise
Aloha Annalise,
I just came across your blog/site and would like to ask your help. I’m not celiac, but I am trying to help my ‘sugar’ number as diabetes run in our families. I’ve been trying to follow Dr. Peter D’Adamo’s Blood Type Diet for Type ‘O’ and found that my ‘sugar’ number has improved. Accordingly, ‘O’ is to AVOID Corn, Potato, Wheat, Sorghum, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum.
I have been eating Ezekiel’s 4:09 bread which is frozen and really dry, but because I can’t have wheat I’ve been eating it until I can try to grind my own flours to bake a good Sandwich bread. I would love to make a good Multi-grain Sandwich bread as well as a good brown or white one also. I would also like to grind my own flours to make a good pasta flour.
I have tried several times to mix flour/starch combinations but have not been having much success.
He claims that the following Beans are Beneficial for ‘O’: Broad, Fava, Northern bean, Flaxseed, Walnut, Pumpkin.
The following are Neutral and can be eaten frequently: Spelt, Tapioca, Amaranth, Kamut, Quinoa, Teff, Cannellini, Garbanzo, Pea, White Bean, Almond.
The following are Neutral and should be eaten infrequently: Buckwheat, Millet, Oat, Rice [white/brown], Soy.
I have also come across Hemp Hearts which I was wondering if it could substitute for Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum.
I would really appreciate any help or advise that you can provide. I look forward to hearing from you . . . Mahalo, Robbie
hi!
The easy part of my response- I am very familiar with Dr. D’Adamo’s work; his book Eat Right For Your Blood Type sits on my bookshelf and I have read it and like his theory. I am also type O blood, however I am not a strict follower of his “diet” or any diet- except for being gluten-free because I have celiac.
The hard part of my response is to tell you that all my recipes use gums, and that even though you can replace potato and corn starch and sorghum flour, if you remove those flours and the xanthan gum, you would have an entirely different recipe. I have not developed recipes using hemp hearts or other gum substitutes and cannot advice you.
I really don’t like the taste of bean flours and never use then anymore. I tried baking with them early on when I first became gluten-intolerant, but quickly realized that there was little I could do to improve their flavor. My focus is on creating classic baked goods made with gluten-free flours, and my testing led me to rely on the three whole grain flours and three starches in my blends. Many of the other flours you mention can be used in addition to make my multigrain breads, but they do start with my bread flour mix- which has many of the flour you seek to avoid, as well as the gum. The amount of liquid and fat changes when the you start changing the base flours and so it would be difficult to give you exact directions. I can only advise you to find flours combinations that you like in terms of taste and create breads from there.
So sorry not to be of more help.
best,
Annalise
Dear Annalise,
I’m from Malaysia and in this part of the world it’s impossible to get ‘US’ measuring cups which are 8oz… Here we’ve got metric cups which are 250ml per cups and so I bake by weight most of the time. The liquid ingredients are not a problem as I can use a measuring cup and assume the 1 cup is 8oz and multiply by that. But the dry ingredients I can not ‘spoon and level’. My questions is if 1 cup of your flour mix is 4.5oz, then can I weigh out the component flours by parts to make up 4.5oz. Then when your recipe calls for 3 cups I can simply multiply the component parts by 3 and still come up with the correct amount.
Also, is the weight for component flours you gave above..
Millet Flour 1 cup = 4.75 ounces
Sorghum Flour 1 cup = 4.5 ounces
Potato starch 1 cup = 6 ounces
Tapioca Flour 1 cup = 4 ounces
Corn Starch 1 cup = 4.75 ounces
…consistent with the results you get in your ‘kitchen/laboratory’?
BTW… what would 1 cup of Brown Rice weigh in your kitchen?
Hope you understand my questions above and thank you so much for your wonderful explanation about gluten-free baking.
Regards.
Richard
hi Richard!
I will be posting weight amount and explanation for weighing and measuring my flours by Monday on the blog here. If you need more information after that, please let me know and I will do everything I can to make sure you have what you need to bake what you want.
Very best regards,
Annalise
Dear Annalise,
I went ahead and tried your sandwich bread with the above measurements and the assumption that 1 cup of bread flour mix is 4.4oz. Unfortunately I don’t know what went wrong but the bread ‘caved-in’. It rose to a beautiful bump before baking but during the first 10 minutes of baking it flattened out. After the next 50 minutes it somehow caved-in. I don’t know when because the pan was covered by the foil.
Question..
1> How much is the ‘dough’ suppose to rise? Double in volume or more, because to reach almost to the top of 9x5x5 loaf pan it seem to have to rise quite a bit.
3> Is the dough suppose to be ‘wobbly’ after it has risen or did I rose it too much? It seems extremely fragile, like if I were to poke it, it’d deflate or something.
3> Is the first 10 minutes of baking without the foil suppose to set the top crust or brown it slightly and is it supposed to be set enough to ‘hold-up’ the springy dough underneath? What is it suppose to look like after 10 minutes?
Sorry to be such a bother. Again thank you in advance for your help and guidance.
Regards,
Richard
hi!
Did you make the large sandwich loaf from my website (foodphilosopher.com), or the smaller loaf from the book. If you used the small loaf it typically is made in an 8 x 4-inch) pan.
The bread should rise to about an inch below the the top of the pan. It is a bit wobbly- but yours sounds like it seriously over rose, which in my experience with my recipes usually results in a cataclysmic sink.
What kind of dairy did you use?
Did you use a non-stick pan? What color is it and how thick are the sides?
What kind of yeast did you use? What was the temperature of the liquid?
How moist is the air in you home?
Did you make sure to use large eggs?
Is your oven running a little hot?
Ok. Enough questions for now. Let’s start with this and take it from there. But no worries, we will figure it out.
Very best,
Annalise
Dear Annalise,
First off, I used your recipe from foodphilosopher.com
My pan is aluminium and I lined it at the bottom and greased the sides. Then I used UHT full cream milk, zap it in the microwave till it’s the correct temperature.
I think I know what I did wrong… I just did a google search and noticed that most of the loaf pan that’s 9″x5″ are only 3″ tall. So that would mean that the dough should rise till about 2.5″ right? My pan is a pullman’s loaf pan, so it’s 9″x5″ but 5″ tall.. and since I let it rise till 1″ from the top like the recipe, it’s actually over-risen by 1.5″
Will try the recipe again after going through your weighing instructions post. Thanks again.
Regards,
Richard
hi!
Yes, indeed on the pan height. Sounds like it was way over-proofed. Also, I use skim milk (or use very low fat). The more fat in the dairy, the heavier the bread in my recipes. If you can’t get low fat where you live, water it down a lot. And make sure you flour with sides of the pan with plain rice flour.
Can’t wait to hear about the next try!
best,
Annalise
Hi Annalise,
My husband and I have been doing an ‘elimination diet’ prescribed by his naturopathic doctor for the last 3 weeks–I’m doing it to help and support him and for my own good as well
We are restricted from eating gluten, dairy, corn, nightshade veg-potatoes, toms, peppers, refined sugars, etc. As far as we know we aren’t intolerant to any of those things, his doc just wants to see how is body reacts as he re-introduces certain foods back (as well as needing to lose about 50 lbs and completely cut out diet sodas!) I’ve been getting pretty creative with what we eat and been learning a lot (I’m a chef by trade). I have purchased a lot of flours from BRM- Tapioca, amaranth, buckwheat, sorghum, almond meal, millet, GF oats and oat bran. I’ve tried one bread recipe with mostly buckwheat and quinoa flours with millet and it came out horribly bad, like a gray brick with little bugs in it. Then i bought a $7 loaf of white rice flour at our local health food store that totally fell apart. I’m not giving up on trying to make an edible bread best for sandwiches or toasting etc. What would you recommend for a bread flour recipe for us keeping in mind no potato or corn starch? Is it possible to make one with yeast as well or is that just impossible w/o the gluten (and no added leaveners like eggs). Please let me know what you thinks! thanks so much,
Leah Johnson
hi!
I can only imagine the horror of an ugly grey bread made with all whole grain gluten-free flour. But there is hope.
You can try my bread flour mix and leave out the corn and potato starch. Instead make it this way- 2 cups millet, 1 cup sorghum, 1 cup gf oat flour and 2 cups tapioca flour. Try to make the rustic flat bread recipe on this blog. Add one extra tablespoon of liquid to the recipe. Let me know how you make out and we can tweak from there. I will help you.
very best,
Annalise
Hi, Finally checking to see if you had responded
Thanks for the recipe on the changing the mix…I did a search for that flat bread and I can’t find anything. Can you post it here or send me the link? Thanks,
Leah
hi!
Here you go!
http://mygluten-freetable.com/2011/08/gadgets-pesto-and-gluten-free-panini/
Please let me know how you make out.
Very best,
Annalise
I just purchased your Gluten-Free Bread Machine book to go with my Zoji. I will try substituting the 1/2 potato and 1/2 tapioca for the corn starch, but I am used to weighing flour. Do you know what the combigned weight of your non-corn Bread Flour Mix A ingredients are if I do? I am new to this so if I am not making sense, just let me know!
hi!
The weights for the potato starch, tapicoa starch, millet and sorghum are listed in a detailed post on this blog in August, 2012. In addition, there are several comments here on this page about weights with my answers to them. Please let me know if there is anything else you need and I well get back to as soon as possible so you can start baking. I
f it were me, I’d try the tweaked flour mixture on a simple bread recipe like my rustic flat bread (also on this blog in August, 2011). That way, you can see if you like it before you make a loaf in the machine. If you’re not happy with it, we can tweak it more easily.
very best regards,
Annalise
I want to convert a recipe that originally calls for whole wheat flour. What type of flour would you recommend using to replace?
hi!
I only ever use the flour blends here on this page when I convert a recipe. I just answered a similar question under my Resources page. I’ve copied most of it here for you:
My flour blend isn’t exactly a cup for cup substitute for wheat (I honestly don’t believe that exists); but it is very close. I usually start with the same exact amount as the wheat recipe I’m trying to convert. Then I often reduce the sugar and salt a bit if I can, increase the extract or other flavors, switch butter to canola oil for a lighter baked good (I often find I have to reduce the fat a bit; sometimes by just a tablespoon or two). And yes, adjust the xanthan gum based on a similar recipe from my book or website. Sometimes, I have to adjust the flour, but that is a last resort because I often fine it is easier to adjust the other ingredients (except for example in my chocolate chip cookies, where I had to increase the flour by two tablespoons to get a perfect cookie; it was easier than taking out the shortening). I almost always have to increase the baking soda or baking powder (again, sometimes I don’t have to adjust it at all- like my gingerbread). I test a lot!!
Ignore all the above insight for making GF bread. It is a whole other world. Start with a gf recipe you know is good and comes as close to what you’re trying to create as possible. Then start tweaking!
Hope this helps!
very best,
Annalise
I think I can use one of your bread flour mixes. I have a gluten intollorence. I’m working with a different doctor to see if I have Celiac disease.
I have allergies to flax, wheat, rice, soy, oats, and hemp. I use a lot of Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour.
I want to make mini pies for Veteran’s Day. Not sure I will find a recipe on your site. I want to make my own blueberry and raspberry toppings to put on top of the cream cheese. I’m on the fellowship committee for Veteran’s Day. If you have suggestions, please let me know.
Thank you.
Beverly Kendrick
hi!
There is a recipe for pie crust (and for a tart crust) o this blog (and on my website http://www.foodphilosoher.com), but they use rice flour. Since you can’t use that, you could substitute extra finely ground sorghum flour, but you’ll have to adjust the fat content (the sorghum will need more butter to give you a good texture). Not sure how much, depends on what brand of sorghum you use. Some are very large grind and dryer and others. But figure about 1-2 tablespoons more. I never use Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour because it has bean flour in it and I really can’t stand the taste of bean flour in my baked goods. Love beans- but not in my pie.
Very best,
Annalise
Hi Annalise,
I’m fairly new to gluten-free baking since my boyfriend discovered he’s gluten intolerant. His mother has celiac disease, so she’s been incredibly helpful in introducing us to GF foods and, since I’m an avid baker, GF flours. I’ve only ever tried baking with one flour — Meister’s, which she was kind enough to order for us. Finished doughnuts, pancakes, and quick breads have a bit of a gummy texture and the cookies slightly ricey (for lack of a better descriptive — they’re lighter than what I’m used to) but I’m honestly not sure if that’s because of the contents of the mixture or if it’s generally because it’s GF. Have you tried it and/or reviewed it? Any advice you have would be incredibly helpful. I’ve been making some great desserts but they’re just not yet the same!
Thanks so much,
Sarah
hi!
Sorry I can’t help you out on the all purpose flour mix, but I haven’t tested it and undoubtedly never will because it contains soy flour and sorghum in the blend. I only like to use sorghum in my breads and I never ever use soy flour because I don’t like the taste or what it does to the texture of my gf baked goods. Moreover, the blend you mentioned contains xanthan gum and I tend to stay away from flour mixes that use xanthan in the mix because I have found that there is no one size fits all amount of xanthan gum (or guar gum) for really well calibrated recipes (even though I did try Thomas Keller’s blend with xanthan gum and wrote about it on this blog; he confirmed my dislike of including it in an all purpose mix).
And as to your question about whether GF baked goods tend to be gummy due to their inherent nature, my answer is a resounding NO. It is possible to make gluten-free baked goods that are so good that no one would ever know. Not sure how I can best convince you, so other than the reviews of my books on Amazon, I offer up the tidbit that three of my recipes were featured in the print edition of Gourmet magazine in November, 2005, the first recipes to ever appear in a mainstream food magazine (and they never promoted them as gluten-free). They put them all online in 2007.
Gourmet article: http://www.gourmet.com/search/query?keyword=annalise+roberts&
My lemon layer cake won a gold medal on Epicurious.com for one of their top ranked cakes of all time. Click on the Find Out More tab at the top of the page.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Layer-Cake-233013
So I hope you’ll give my a couple of my recipes a try using my flour blend. It might make a big difference in what you are making. And please let me know if I can help you in any way as you bake your way through the holidays.
very best,
Annalise
Hi Annalise,
I wanted to tell you that I made your lemon cream pie and it was delicious. The best pie ever.
For Thanksgiving I made your Gingerbread and everyone raved about it. I was the only one who was GF. I made whipped cream for a topping.
I haven’t made anything yet from your book that I didn’t love. You have made being GF so much easier.
Nancy Landry
hi!
Thank you for taking the time to write and let me know that you are enjoying my recipes. I put a lot of time into trying to make them as good as possible and it is always good to hear that my efforts paid off.
I hope you and your family have a delicious holiday season!
very best,
annalise
Hi Annalise,
I want you to know that EVERYTHING that I’ve made from your recipes has been really good! I have a couple questions though: why does gf stuff get so funky (funny smelling or hard) the day after it is baked? I wrap it well, etc., what am I doing wrong? Also, I store my flour mixes in the frig and am never quite sure if I need to bring my ingredients to room temperature or not. I do – but is it necessary?
hi!
I honestly can’t say because that has never happened to me when I use my flour mixes and store the baked good according to the recipe (I always give precise instructions for every recipe on how to wrap and store). It did happen to me when I used flour mixes that contained bean flour, which is why I no longer use them. What kind of flour are you using and which recipes in particular are you having a problem with?
It is necessary to bring the flour mix to room temperature for best results, especially when baking bread.
very best,
Annalise
I use Authentic Foods Superfine Brown Rice Flour, Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch and Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Starch. I got a cookie press (gift) and used the Butter Cookies recipe on page 110, the next day they were funny tasting and smelling. I also had the same thing happen with the Buttermilk Biscuits (used Saco Buttermilk Powder and BRM Xanthan, Authentic Foods sweet rice flour) on page 193. They both tasted great the first day. If you don’t have the same problem, I must be doing something and will continue to experiment to find out what it is: e.g. I use Kirkland (Costco) unsalted butter – I’ll try a different brand.
hi!
I’m not sure what to think exactly. Even when I leave the butter cookies at room temperature I’ve never noticed a weird smell. I’d have suggested that perhaps you got a bad bag of tapioca flour or potato starch (that has happened to several people who have written me in the past), but you said they tasted fine the first day. The Kirkland unsalted butter shouldn’t be a problem (unless it was old/out of date). So a couple more questions, how many times have you made the recipes (ie does this happen every time? Or did you just start baking with my recipes? Have you had this problem with other bags of flour in the past? Did you store the baked goods in the refrigerator? Do you think you are sensitive to the brown rice flour taste?
very best,
annalise
I’ve been making your recipes for about a year. It happens to me except when things are highly flavored, like brownies, or when I’ve frozen and reheated in the oven. Hmmm…perhaps I do have a sensitivity to the rice! Guess I’ll start making half recipes so we can eat it all right away. I don’ want to stop making your stuff because it tastes better to me than most. Thank you for giving me some things to think about – I appreciate it.
hi!
I’d like to explore this a tiny bit more because I think there might be something I’m missing. Would you mind talking to me on the phone? I’ll email you and you can send me your phone number and give me a good time to call you next week.
very best,
Annalise
I’ve figured out what was causing a foul taste to me! It was the plastic in the Rubbermaid containers I was using to store my baked goods in. Since we talked, I’ve made vanilla cupcakes and also more cookies. I switched to storing them in glass pyrex containers. Now they taste fine the next day.
Have a Merry Christmas,
Nell
hi!
Thank you so much for letting me know! This tidbit of information might help others.
Have a wonderful holiday!
very best,
annalise
hi,
i’m gluten-intolerant and am interested in your recipes, but i’m also unable to consume yeast. is there a formula i can use to make bread? any bread!?
thank you
Hi!
Yes, people have successfully used baking powder to replace yeast in my bread recipes. The bread will not look or taste but same, but you can use about 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of my Bread Flour Mix. Please let me know if you have any other questions and how you make out if you give it a try.
Very best,
Annalise
Since St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, I thought that I’d try making your Irish Soda Bread for the first time. I’m a fairly accomplished baker with things gluten-free, having been on this diet by necessity for three years.
For the life of me, I can’t figure out what went wrong. My mixture came out like pancake batter, when all was said and done. There was no way in hell that it could be shaped into anything; pouring was the only option.
The only change I made to the recipe was omitting the caraway seeds. All the ingredients were at room temperature, and I even changed my flour-measuring method to match yours. I bought new baking powder and baking soda this week, also to give the recipe a precise trial.
My measurements are always spot on–I never guesstimate.
What on earth could’ve gone wrong? The amount of flour seemed low, but I didn’t add any–and I saw photos of the results others got with the same recipe online, and their mixture was stiff enough to form a ball–even when they deviated from your ingredients and amounts.
I’m stumped. Any insight would be appreciated.
hi!
My first guesses would be that you either forgot the xanthan gum, or had old/bad xanthan gum, or you added the 3/4 cup of water and also added real liquid buttermilk instead of buttermilk powder, or something was off with your flour mix (maybe used a weird brand of brown rice flour with a large grind that absorbs liquid differently), or you measured out the 1 3/4 cups of the brown rice flour mix incorrectly without realizing it.
What brands of brown rice flour, tapioca starch and potato starch did you use? What brand of xanthan gum?
And what do you mean by “changed my method of measuring” exactly so I can get a better picture of what happened?
very best,
Annalise
Hi,
I love your website. I am wanting to mail order some Authentic Foods flour blend and I am curious how to choose between their Classic flour blend and their Multi-Blend flour.
Thanks!!
Alonna
hi!
Authentic Foods GF Classic Blend is my brown rice flour mix already made up in a bag (I do not have a financial arrangement with Authentic Foods). It contains extra finely ground brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch in the exact proportions as my mix. For me, it is a wonderful luxury to have the mix already made up.
Authentic Foods Multi Blend is a totally different product that contains brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, potato starch, xanthan gum in different proportions. If you used that instead of my mix, you would get a slightly denser, slightly wetter baked good that rises a little bit less (I know because I’ve tried it on my vanilla cupcake and muffin recipes). You’d have to leave out the xanthan gum- probably- or at least in most recipes and maybe add a bit – depending on the recipe (test by leaving it out first and then adding it if necessary). Also, most of the recipes that use my brown rice flour mix are not calibrated to use sweet rice flour and corn starch. The ones that do have sweet rice flour in the ingredient list, use very little. In the Multi Blend mix, it is the second ingredient.
So bottom line, yes you can use it, but the baked goods won’t turn out as well – in my opinion.
Hope this helps!
very best regards,
Annalise
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Hi Annalise- Your recipes look great but I am extremely sensitive to the solanine in potatoes (I can’t eat any nightshades at all) and am wondering if there is a substitute that you think might work for the potato starch in in the brown rice flour recipe?
I’m willing to experiment- because of the sensitivity I have to be very careful about gluten-free baked goods and usually make my own to avoid the potato starch and potato flours in many gf baked goods.
hi!
Here are the options I suggest to individuals who need or want to avoid potato starch.
Option 1: replace all the potato starch with more tapioca flour. This will give you a light baked good but without that “certain something” in the way of richer mouth-feel that the potato starch gives. It will also be a little softer, and much mushier in texture. Ultimately, it will be less likely to hold as much of its rise.
Option 2: replace 1 cup potato starch with 1/2 cup more tapioca flour and 1/2 cup corn starch first in a simple recipe. Then replace that 1 cup of potato starch with 1/2 cup tapioca starch, 1/4 corn starch and 1/4 cup sweet rice four, make the same recipe and see which version you like best.
Option 3: One enterprising baker on the west coast created his own concoction for his son with my mix: he divides the total amount of potato starch in half and uses 1/2 arrowroot and 1/2 extra finely ground sweet rice flour. So when the mix calls for 1 cup potato starch use 1/2 cup arrowroot and 1/2 sweet rice flour. But arrowroot is expensive (at least where I live). So if you want to try a less expensive version of this arrowroot/sweet rice flour option, replace 1 cup potato starch with 3/4 cup tapioca (which is much like arrowroot) and 1/4 sweet rice and adjust from there (or 1/2 cup tapioca and 1/2 cup sweet rice and see which you like best).
Please let me know if you have questions as you test. And please let me know how you make out!
Very best,
Annalise