Flower Wagon... I Am Driving It Around For The Last Time... Flour Recipies.

[zachsmom]

Okay I know I have driven the flour wagon around now for a week. .... I am parking it today...

BUT ... I tried bobs I hate it.. just hate it. last night I made sugar cookies and even the little bit of dough was so bad a stiff wiskey probably wouldnt have taken away this odd after tase the flour left... in my mouth... only a handful of M&Ms took away the foul taste...

( LOL )

ANy way... everyone here has been great on guiding me in the right direction...

BUt .. here is what I need help on.

Okay kinninck flours... are they sweet? what is the difference with all the flour mixtures. Bobs seems to use beans.

Is the commercial flours worse in taste... or is it better to formulate your own... what is the standard gluten-free flour recipie... and if you make your own ... why are you combining differnt flours... ( taste flavoring texture I know)

But like everyone says... the baby has not idea what the cookies are supposed to taste like... so he is not going to be emril grading me on taste.

and with the differnt forulations with say more tapioca flour as to potato to rice .. how does this affect the amount of xanthum gum.

does the sourghum take the place of xanthum gum.

So no matter what ,,, you have to buy xanthum gum ... does any one else make it. besides bob? are some of the flours you buy ... have this all ready added?

Help ... ( thanks gluiah i will try your flour recipie.. ) lol if I dont get any luck I am coming and taking your goodies... ( LOL ) christmas gets pushy.... ( wouldnt it be nice... to live in a wallgreens commercial .. where what is it the land of perfect... )

[wolfie]

What I usually use is the Gourment Gluten Free Mix by Ener-G:

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It is just Rice flour, Potato starch flour & tapioca flour. I am now buying the flours on their own (made by Ener-G) and mixing them myself. The ratio is 2 parts to 2/3 part to 1/3 part (6 cups rice flour, 2 cups potato starch flour, 1 cup tapioca flour). Then use 1 tsp of Xanthan gum per 1 cup of gluten-free flour mix. Xanthan gum is not a flour, but an agent to help with the texture and how the flours act. One very important thing....Potato starch flour and potato flour are different....it is very important to make sure that you get the right one.

Hope this helps!

Editing to add that I use this cup for cup to replace the flour in my old recipes. So far I have had very good luck and things have turned out really good and much like they tasted with gluten-filled flour in it.

[lonewolf]

I use a similar flour blend, but buy my flours in bulk or from an international market that sells Asian foods. (It's cheaper than ordering from Ener-G). I use brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch, sifted with xanthan gum. It's not perfect, but I make all kinds of cookies, cakes and quickbreads with it with no problems. I have 4 kids that are picky and they all eat gluten-free goodies with no complaint.

3 C Brown Rice flour

1 C Potato starch (NOT flour)

1/2 C Tapioca starch

2-1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum

Sift together 3 times and store in the refrigerator.

Use cup for cup for all-purpose flour in "regular" recipes.

You WILL get the hang of this!

[Juliebove]

I've used Betty Hagman's blend or Authentic Foods. No problems with either one.

[Judyin Philly]

i'M USING 'GOOD EATZ' PRE MADE FLOUR MIX AND LOVE IT..

IN HIS PRE MADE PRODUCTS..HE USES 'SPECTURM' SHORTING THAT'S HEALTHY THEY SAY.

JUDY

[chrissy]

zachsmom---bean flours taste REALLY nasty if you taste the batter or dough before it is cooked------but they bake up really nice. the bitter taste is gone once the batter or dough is cooked. i have recently tried a few things from Roben Ryberg's book " the gluten free kitchen". she uses potato starch and corn starch. they baked up really nice with a nice texture and flavor. most of our baking we use bette hagman's featherlight mix and we have things turn out great. we haven't made a sugar cookie yet that i am crazy about---but i havaen't tried the recipes that people have posted on this site yet, either.

[zachsmom]

zachsmom---bean flours taste REALLY nasty if you taste the batter or dough before it is cooked------but they bake up really nice. the bitter taste is gone once the batter or dough is cooked. i have recently tried a few things from Roben Ryberg's book " the gluten free kitchen". she uses potato starch and corn starch. they baked up really nice with a nice texture and flavor. most of our baking we use bette hagman's featherlight mix and we have things turn out great. we haven't made a sugar cookie yet that i am crazy about---but i havaen't tried the recipes that people have posted on this site yet, either.

OkaY I admit throwing away the dough .. and the cookies .. okay bad mom... I know ( lol) but its nice to know that for everything the bean flavor kinda leaves. .... But I got the recipies off the land o lakes web site they have a gluten free section...

[Lisa]

For Christmas I recieved a home made gluten free french loaf, from a well meaning friend........Well, took one bite and my husband and I decided to put it on the floor at the back door to keep the draft out.

[ViewsAskew]

Okay I know I have driven the flour wagon around now for a week. .... I am parking it today...

BUT ... I tried bobs I hate it.. just hate it.

( and with the differnt forulations with say more tapioca flour as to potato to rice .. how does this affect the amount of xanthum gum.

does the sourghum take the place of xanthum gum.

So no matter what ,,, you have to buy xanthum gum ... does any one else make it. besides bob? are some of the flours you buy ... have this all ready added?

Well, I'll add my two cents to the discussion. IMHO, gluten-free flour mixes are a very personal thing. Truly. Some of us seem to be happy with the first thing we try. Others of us? Not! Bean flour? Very personal - I can't tolerate it at all (tastewise). Also, there is the health perspective. If you use all those starches, where is the nutrition? And the calories are much higher because it's denser.

So, I really believe if you are not happy, that trial and error is the only way to go. I don't buy mixes for several reasons. First, they are so much more expensive than buying individual ingredients (but you have to have the room to store all those other flours). Second, I never found one I really liked that much. Third, I use different mixes in cakes, than cookies, than bread, etc. Fourth, I like to experiment with tweaking mixes - my pancake mix has about 8-10 flours in it, lol.

In terms of gums like xanthan, nothing takes the place of it. Some things are "stickier" or gummier, so you need a little less, but you have to have some gum. You can use guar or xanthan, or methycellulose. Some people like a mix of half xanthan and half quar. To start? You could try guar. It's much cheaper and easy to find. You might find you need a bit more of it, though some people don't think so. I've seen xanthan from at least three manufacturer. If you do a search onlinel, you'll find it from many places.

You need gum in any of your own mixes or store bought mixes that do not have it added. Read the ingredients. If it's already in the mix, you don't have to add it. If it's not in the mix, you do. Usually, if it is simply a flour - like garbanzo, tapioca, brown rice, etc, the xanthan is not added. If it is a baking mix of some kind, it usually is added. Again, you have to read the ingredients.

Amounts to use (general rule) - cookies, try 1/4 to 1/2 tsp per cup of flour. Cakes, try 1/2 tsp per cup of flour. Breads, try 3/4 to 1 tsp per cup of flour.

In terms of the formulations, they don't affect the gums all that much. Tapioca is stickier than potato starch, for example, but it really doesn't mean you need to reduce the gum by a whole not, if any. Sorghum is really mostly like brown rice - it is not sticky at all, so the xanthan is the same.

I think of flours in three camps - grains, starches, and sticky. The grains - like corn flour, amaranth, brown rice/white rice, quinoa, sorghum, bean, buckwheat etc. have little to no stickiness and have more nutrition, protein and fiber than the starches. I like to make sure my recipes are at least 40-50% of this type of flour (often a mix of at least two of them). The starches - corn, potato, arrowroot - have little stickiness or chew, but are bland (so they don't add flavor and can help neutralize strong flavors) and can contribute to lightening the texture and balancing flavors. The sticky - these contribute to chewiness and do help keep things together (but they don't eliminate the need for gum). These include tapioca, sweet rice, mung bean. They can add some crucial chewiness.

Hope that helps some.

[kbabe1968]

Hi....I'm REALLY new at this (day 3) but I bought a copy of Living Without lastnight. There's a guy in sedona that makes an "all purpose" flour blend that you can apparently substitute cup for cup for regular flour. I'm going to order the sample pack after I use up the white rice flour I bought. The website for it is www.glutenfreeflour.com . It looks promising.

I made some brown rice bread the other day and it is just ICKY!!! I'm going to slice it, bake it crisp and use my food processor to make it into bread crumbs...then I'm going to add salt, onion and garlic powder!!! Hope to overwhelm it's ickiness!!!!

I think, somehow that being a child with this, whos just learnign to eat is the best way! You have no understanding of what a cookie or bread is supposed to taste like OR feel like! So...you are right, your son will probably love it and never need to know a difference! GOOD LUCK!!!

[ViewsAskew]

Hi....I'm REALLY new at this (day 3) but I bought a copy of Living Without lastnight. There's a guy in sedona that makes an "all purpose" flour blend that you can apparently substitute cup for cup for regular flour. I'm going to order the sample pack after I use up the white rice flour I bought. The website for it is www.glutenfreeflour.com . It looks promising.

I made some brown rice bread the other day and it is just ICKY!!! I'm going to slice it, bake it crisp and use my food processor to make it into bread crumbs...then I'm going to add salt, onion and garlic powder!!! Hope to overwhelm it's ickiness!!!!

I think, somehow that being a child with this, whos just learnign to eat is the best way! You have no understanding of what a cookie or bread is supposed to taste like OR feel like! So...you are right, your son will probably love it and never need to know a difference! GOOD LUCK!!!

Good idea on the bread crumbs. I make croutons out of my failures.

Per the bread, it really does take awhile to get something you like. But, most of us do. I have several recipes that I really, really love. And I am not the celiac! The mix really is crucial. I don't like any bread that has less than four or five flours in it. My favorite pancakes have about ten. Anything that is based on one grain? Yuk. But, perserverence will pay off. I didn't like much to start, either. So, I bought lots of flours. I kept experimenting, not willing to give up. Boy, it really paid off. Now, we can eat so many things that other people can't even tell aren't full of gluten.

So, keep trying. It's not cheap, though. Sometimes I make a partial loaf - you know, cut the recipe in half, or even in thirds, whatever. Then, I just make it as a small loaf, or even a roll. Then I can see if I like the taste without spending a fortune on croutons, lol.

Oh, yeah, there are some good commercial mixes. All of them are measured the same as gluten flour. Again, though, it's finding the mix that YOU like. They differ tremendously. And, they sure are costly. If you can afford it, mail off for about ten of them and then compare by baking the same thing with them. You'll really get an idea of what you like and don't like, the textures, etc. I haven't bought to many mixes, but when I have, I've looked at the ingredients. When I don't like it and when I do - that helped me figure out what I might like to use to bake with.

Good luck - day 3? It must still seem so overwhelming. I remember how hard it was at first and how awful some of the stuff tasted. You get the hang of it after awhile. And learn how to make better substitutions etc. Truly. You'll like bread again eventually. At least, most of us do.

[Gentleheart]

I'm eating way too much rice. I can't have yeast, soy, almonds, dairy, legumes, corn or eggs. So breadmaking is a big challenge. I've been sticking to the plain brown rice-tapioca recipes. It's not especially good. I can't use any of the prepackaged breads except EnerG's Yeast Free Brown Rice one. No offense, but it's REALLY bad in my opinion. Can most of you tolerate alternative flours like amaranth, quinoa, millet, montina, buckwheat and teff? I've been afraid to try them since I'm so sensitive. I need a reliable bread recipe with more fiber, nutrition and protein. It wouldn't hurt if it actually TASTED good too!

Useful advice, ViewsAskew!

[Jestgar]

I love all those alternative flours. I add them to everything for different flavors. Try tasting them to decide if you'll like that particular flavor in whatever your making just then. Start by adding (substituting) just a little in the flour mix you're using and see if you like the change in taste/texture.

[hockeymom]

Okay I know I have driven the flour wagon around now for a week. .... I am parking it today...

BUT ... I tried bobs I hate it.. just hate it. last night I made sugar cookies and even the little bit of dough was so bad a stiff wiskey probably wouldnt have taken away this odd after tase the flour left... in my mouth... only a handful of M&Ms took away the foul taste...

( LOL )

ANy way... everyone here has been great on guiding me in the right direction...

BUt .. here is what I need help on.

Okay kinninck flours... are they sweet? what is the difference with all the flour mixtures. Bobs seems to use beans.

Is the commercial flours worse in taste... or is it better to formulate your own... what is the standard gluten-free flour recipie... and if you make your own ... why are you combining differnt flours... ( taste flavoring texture I know)

But like everyone says... the baby has not idea what the cookies are supposed to taste like... so he is not going to be emril grading me on taste.

and with the differnt forulations with say more tapioca flour as to potato to rice .. how does this affect the amount of xanthum gum.

does the sourghum take the place of xanthum gum.

So no matter what ,,, you have to buy xanthum gum ... does any one else make it. besides bob? are some of the flours you buy ... have this all ready added?

Help ... ( thanks gluiah i will try your flour recipie.. ) lol if I dont get any luck I am coming and taking your goodies... ( LOL ) christmas gets pushy.... ( wouldnt it be nice... to live in a wallgreens commercial .. where what is it the land of perfect... )

Zach's mom,

I can totally feel your flour pain! I used to love to bake - I was the queen of x-mas cookies that is until my son had to go gluten free. I'm not big on the smell of rice flour, much less the bean stuff. I have litterally thrown away hundred of dollars worth of products that I think will be good and aren't.

I have found that I really like using the recipes from Robyn Ryberg's Cook book. She uses just potato starch and corn starch. We visited a restaurant in Des Moines called beyond the grain which serves nothing but gluten-free and the food was really good. I asked the owner what baking mix she uses and she said she uses Montina Flour Mix. I bought some and found that I can subsitute that in to some of Robyn Ryberg's recipes and I get great texture along with good taste. (the montina adds some protein to the recipes) - but i didn't like using just the montina - it works best when I substitute in about a 1/3 of a cup. I also swear by Kinnick baking mixes. Pricey but worth it. Also , they use a dedicated facility, so my son has never gotten sick. Order on-line directly and they ship anywhere for $10.00. (I do this when I want the hamburger buns fresh baked) If you use the bread and muffin mix or the all purpose baking mix you can substitute cup for cup in your regular recipes and not have to use xanthan gum. I think the all purpose mix and the bread and bun mix may be kind of sweet, but they certainly don't have an offensive smell and I have not had to throw a way anything I have baked with them. I use the all purpose mix for just about everything. I also use their hamburger buns for my son's sandwhiches for lunch. They are thick so I slice them in fourths and toast with cheese and they are the best we have found yet for his lunch. Their pancake mix is also really good, even my teenager who is not celiac likes the pancakes.

Good luck in your quest for a good flour mix. I don't think you will ever be able to park that wagon!

It seems like I will find a combo that I like for a while and then I get tired of it and try other things.

Alex's Mom