An Honest Look at Gluten-Free Flour
Posted by Kirill Storch on 3/16/2011
to
Chestnuts
Baking is a cornerstone of cooking. But if you fall in the category of people who have an allergy, or you simply wish to observe a gluten free diet for one of the many health benefits, you may need a gluten free flour.
The main thing you need to get started, is a good flour mix. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as buying a bag of wheat flour would be. It’s ideal to use multiple gluten free flours to get the best response in a baked good. Getting the right blend will make a substitute for wheat that often tastes better. Of course the exact combination will be up to your own taste preferences.But there are four types of flour that I like best:
Many of them involve chestnut flour, rice flour, tapioca and potato starches. You can also throw in a little xanthum gum. This gives you a rise you would not normally have and creates the oh-so-great chewiness that is usually achieved by the lengthened strands behind gluten. In some ways, it’s even better than gluten.
For folks who make a living doing gluten free baking, your flour combination is a point of pride. Their technique involves creating large batches of flour mix, and putting them into storage to have on hand for all their baking needs. Freezing it is the best as far keeping bacteria away. And it is very simple to warm it up when you need it.
It can be a challenge to find the perfect ratio of chestnut flour to other flours. One good mixer is mill gluten free flour. This can be available at most grocery stores. The chestnut flour can be found on our online store, or from other specialty vendors. You can also make your own after you get good, as this is less expensive over the long run. This can be a great solution since taste preferences vary from person to person.
Another good mixer for chestnut flour is navy bean flour. But my absolute favorite mix is
2 cups of chestnut flour
1 cup of tapioca starch
1.5 cups of potato starch
2 tsp xanthum gum
Hope you enjoy!
