I Need Help!

[Turtle]

Okay...this may REALLY confirm my dumbness for all of you but I need help!

Bette Hagman calls for 1 part this, 1 part that in some of her gluten-free flour recipes...

What on earth is a part???

[AndreaB]

Need more info please.

If there are four flours in the blend there would be 4 parts. If the recipe calls for 1 cup flour blend you would add 1/4 cup for each part. Does that make sense?

[Turtle]

This is what I look like right now so no, I still don't get it. HAHA!

For example:

Bette Hagman's Basic gluten-free Flour Mix says:

2 parts rice flour

1 part potato starch

1 part tapioca flour

Her Bean Flour mix:

1 part garfava bean flour

1 part sourghum flour

1 part cornstarch

1 part tapioca flour

Thanks Andrea for trying to tutor me on this...

[mouse]

Lets say that you want to make up a large amount of her flour to freeze so that you have some on hand at all times. The flour that says 2 parts would be 2 cups flour. The one parts would be 1 cup each. For a combined value of 4 cups. Each part is one cup. You can reduce the parts to what you are needing. I hope I did not confuse you more .

[lpellegr]

"part" means an equal portion. So if you decide "part" equals "1 cup", then 1 part = 1 cup, 3 parts = 3 cups, 1/3 part = 1/3 cup. If you have a big bowl and you want to make a lot, then 1 part might = 3 cups, in which case 1/3 part = 1 cup. She did this to give you options on what size. I guess if you're into weighing things out, a part could be an ounce or a pound and it would still come out in the right proportions. Heck, you could measure by handfuls or shoefuls or bucketfuls and as long as you had the right number of each, it would come out the same.

[Turtle]

Ohhhhh, now it makes sense!

So my next question is:

Have any of you made up these gluten-free flour mixes to keep "on hand"?

More importantly:

Do you have to keep it in the fridge or freezer or is a really good airtight container okay??

You guys are wonderful, thanks again for all your help. Otherwise no telling what disaster would occur in my kitchen.

[Lisa]

I don't do alot of baking and therefore don't have but little on hand. As I have one pkg of all purpose gluten-free flour, I pks of gluten-free breadcrumbs, and true cornmeal. I put those in zips and keep them in the pantry or in the freezer when it's not full of summer creamed corn or just made brunswick stew.

I just use the flours for graveys and thickening, when I don't use corn starch. gluten-free breadcrumbs are for hamburgers and such and cornmeal is for frying fish and cornbread. My sorry expansion. But, it is what it is.

Hope this helps Turtle. (how, ya doing)

Lisa

[lonewolf]

Ohhhhh, now it makes sense!

So my next question is:

Have any of you made up these gluten-free flour mixes to keep "on hand"?

More importantly:

Do you have to keep it in the fridge or freezer or is a really good airtight container okay??

You guys are wonderful, thanks again for all your help. Otherwise no telling what disaster would occur in my kitchen.

I make up a modification of Bette Hagman's basic flour mix. I use 3 C Brown Rice flour, 1 C Potato Starch, 1/2 C Tapioca starch and 2-1/2 tsp xanthan gum, sifted 3 times. I store it in the refrigerator, since br. rice flour gets rancid more easily than white rice flour. I store my big container of br. rice flour in the freezer.

[AndreaB]

I keep my big bags in the freezer. For the mix that Annalise Roberts uses I keep it out unless I'm not going to use it within a few weeks. I used to freeze everything but sometimes I would forget to take it out and then I had to wait while it warmed up to room temperature.

[Guhlia]

I keep all my flours in a drawer in my refrigerator. I bake all the time, so it's nice to have them all together in the fridge. That way I'm sure they aren't going to go bad on me.

When I make up the flour mixes, I generally make huge portions at a time. We go through a lot of flour though now that my daughter and husband are gluten free. I make him pizzas and breads and all the things that he would miss terribly if he didn't have it.

[Turtle]

Okay! Thanks for all the good suggestions. I usually just do what you do Momma Goose (Lisa) in keeping a bag of Bob's Red Mill here, Rice Flour there. But.....i'm learning more gluten-free recipes and it would make more economical sense to mix up a big batch of gluten-free flour to keep on hand.

Thanks again for helping me out and THANK YOU for explaining what a "part" is. That was driving me crazy not understanding what that was.

Lisa: I'm doing good. Thanks so much for asking. But I miss NC sooooo bad!

SC is okay, but it's just NOT home (NC). Hopefully the job angels will shine down on me and bring me home SOON......Hope you're doing wonderful!!

[lpellegr]

Just for another opinion thrown in, I make big batches of Bette Hagman's original blend and her 4 flour mix and store them both at room temperature and I haven't noticed any problem with them. I wish I had room in my fridge or freezer, but they're too full. I use white rice flour from the Asian market which has a nicer texture so they're not at all gritty.

[GFBetsy]

Soy flour, Brown Rice flour and nut flours (like almond flour, etc) need to be refrigerated because of the higher fat content. I also keep my potato flour cold. But the rest of them are okay at room temp. I make 12 - 15 cups of flour mix at a time and keep them in my pantry. They've not gone bad on me yet

[Turtle]

Great!!!

Thanks!!! My fridge is not huge so i'm glad to know that the pantry is okay for most!

Gotta go check on my cookies.... Thanks again!