[Captin Cook]

Can cornstarch or tapioca starch, or another, be substituted for Xantham gum (too pricey)?
-Captin Cook

[seashele2]

Captin Cook, on Nov 7 2009, 10:53 PM, said:

Can cornstarch or tapioca starch, or another, be substituted for Xantham gum (too pricey)?
-Captin Cook

Guar gum works better as a substitute for xanthan gum that those other starches do. I buy it because my daughter is corn allergic and xanthan is grown on corn. I find it in my health food store in capsules in the supplement section and then open the capsules to use it. Not sure why someone would take it as a supplement. but that's where I find it.

~Michelle~
Western Washington State

[TrillumHunter]

Xantham serves a very specific purpose it gluten-free baking. It makes the dough have a cohesive quality that is missing without gluten. Guar gum is the next best thing, but it takes more of it and it is pricey as well. I can't tolerate guar gum.

Most recipes call for only a couple of teaspoons of xantham. It lasts a long time for me and I bake almost daily for a family of five. I think you will be disappointed in your results without it.

[purple]

Our co-op has it for about 50 cents cheaper than Walmart. I use it often b/c I love to bake for my girls even though they moved out It only takes a little except for 1 recipe I saw took 1 T. I thought that was a lot.

[Maggie Mermaid]

I've had better luck with guar gum which is less expensive than xanthan gum. DH seems to be sensitive to the xanthan gum