Help Needed With Flour Substitution In A Recipe

[Dianne W.]

Hello. I am new to this board and this way of life! My infant son has multiple food protein intolerance (MFPI) and I am on the Total Elimination Diet since I am breastfeeding him. I am adding foods slowly since it takes 4-5 days for him to have an adverse reaction to something I have eaten. I have been on TED since Oct. 22 (2-1/2 months now!). I accidently challenged barley a while ago and he failed it miserably. So because I am not sure if he is intolerant of the barley itself or the gluten, but I'm not going to challenge wheat or oats for a while just to be safe. I thought that perhaps your group would be in the best position to help me with this recipe problem as I think it is mainly a problem with determining how to replace the all-purpose flour.

Since I have recently been able to add corn oil and soybean oil to my diet, I can cook with Fleishman's margarine and can try making some bread, muffins, etc. I tried today making Sweet Potato Muffins per the recipe in Wondertime magazine with some substitutions and they turned out completely crumbly! (Still, eating them with a spoon from the muffin tin is a rare pleasure after so many weeks without any bread or baked goods.) However, I am hoping you all can give me some suggestions about how to alter the ingredients so that the muffins can be less crumbly. I haven't challenged too many grains yet (only rice and amaranth) so my choices of flours are rather limited. I would prefer to find out how to adjust this recipe without introducing any other flours, but if another flour (but not soy) is needed then I'll consider challenging it soon.

---------------------

Here's the original recipe (I only made 1/2 a batch):

1 stick butter, softened (I used the corn/soybean oil margarine which shouldn't cause a baking problem)

1/2 c dark brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 large eggs (I haven't challenged eggs yet, so I used the substitute of 1-1/2 T water + 1-1/2 T oil + 1 t baking powder for the one egg in my 1/2 batch)

1/2 c milk (I used rice milk since dairy is a definite no-no)

1/2 t vanilla extract

1-1/3 c mashed baked sweet potato

2 c all-purpose flour (I used 7/8 cup of Arrowhead Mills Organic Brown Rice Flour in my 1/2 batch)

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 t ground ginger

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg (I didn't have any so I omitted it)

1/2 t ground cloves (again omitted since I didn't have any)

Spray oil or butter for greasing muffing cups (I used some of the margarine)

7 T cinnamon sugar (1 T cinnamon mixed with 6 T granulated sugar)

Oven temp: 350 F

Time: 18 mins (14 mins for mini-muffins)

Directions:

Cream the butter, beat in the sugars, beat in the eggs and then the milk, vanilla, and sweet potatoes.

Separately mix the dry ingredients.

Beat together the wet and dry ingredients till just combined.

----------------------

Thank you so much for any advice you can give me!

Dianne

[Jestgar]

There are lots of flour options. What can you eat? There are corn, potato, garbanzo, buckwheat, tapioca.... versions of flours.

If you give us a better idea of what is OK, we may be able to offer some solutions.

[Dianne W.]

There are lots of flour options. What can you eat? There are corn, potato, garbanzo, buckwheat, tapioca.... versions of flours.

If you give us a better idea of what is OK, we may be able to offer some solutions.

At the moment, my entire food list is: turkey, lamb, rice, sweet potato, white potato, squash, zucchini, pears and I have been able to add apples, banana, amaranth, corn oil, soybean oil, and spices. I am assuming that all corn products are OK since his meds have corn syrup in them, his formula has corn in it, and I have corn derivitives in my vitamins, but I have not directly tried corn itself yet (or corn flour). I would like to try making the muffins without adding new flours as that way I can try baking them this weekend. But, since I can only try new foods one at a time on either him or in my diet, I will have to wait until the middle of the week to make the muffins if I have to introduce a new food.

Thanks for your help.

P.S. Why isn't my original message showing up in the forum yet? And what does it mean when messages are Pinned?

[tarnalberry]

A little more oil may help, but I think the main problem is that you've eliminated most of the protein. Protein acts as a binding agent, and there just isn't much with all the substitutions. Adding the egg back will help, but I know that depends on how your son reacts to it. If you can use xantham or guar gum, that may help as well.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

You might want to look up and pm TCA, a mom on this board who went through what you are going through (and possibly more!)--she will have better advice for you than anyone I can think of, she is amazing!

Good luck!

[AmyTopolski]

Hi,

We are eggless bakers and I wanted to share some tips with you. Applesauce is a wonderful binder in egg free cooking along with the egg replacer you used. If you don't want to use a jarred applesauce just cut up an apple and put it in a saucepan with a splash of water and cook then puree. I would add 2-3 tablespoons of applesauce to your recipe. It will hold it together better and make it more moist. Also, in regaurds to the flours. It is better to use a combination of flours when cooking gluten or wheat free. I noticed you can eat potatoes, so potato starch will be ok. I would try a combination of 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup of the amaranth flour. Also I would use the full amount of flour called for in your recipe. I hope I have helped you some. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me. Take care and good luck!

Amy

[Dianne W.]

Hi,

We are eggless bakers and I wanted to share some tips with you. Applesauce is a wonderful binder in egg free cooking along with the egg replacer you used. If you don't want to use a jarred applesauce just cut up an apple and put it in a saucepan with a splash of water and cook then puree. I would add 2-3 tablespoons of applesauce to your recipe. It will hold it together better and make it more moist. Also, in regaurds to the flours. It is better to use a combination of flours when cooking gluten or wheat free. I noticed you can eat potatoes, so potato starch will be ok. I would try a combination of 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch and 1/3 cup of the amaranth flour. Also I would use the full amount of flour called for in your recipe. I hope I have helped you some. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me. Take care and good luck!

Amy

Amy, Thank you for the response. I will try applesauce. Would you recommend using it in place of the water + oil + baking powder or alond with it?

About the flours, I will try your suggestion of rice flour, potato starch and amaranth flour. However, the quantities you mentioned are confusing me and I think my quantities confused you. I only made a 1/2 batch so I was trying to substitute the 1 cup of all-purpose flour that would have been needed in a 1/2 batch. Something I read online said to use 7/8 cups of rice flour for 1 cup of all-purpose flour. That's where my numbers came from. But your quantities (2 c rice flour, 2/3 c potato starch, 1/3 c amaranth flour) create a total of 3 cups (more than the original 2 cups of all-purpose flour that the recipe called for). Is that correct?

Thanks again for your assistance!

Dianne

[larry mac]

Hi Dianne,

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here. Thought I might offer something since Amy's not on here right now. Her quantities (2 c rice flour, 2/3 c potato starch, 1/3 c amaranth flour) are a standard and convenient way to measure flours. Then use however much you need (you will have some left over). In other words, it would be impractible to mix a 7/8 cup volume using 3 kinds of flours and that ratio.

Also, I wouldn't think you would want your batter either too thick, or too thin. Once you've mixed everything together, you may have to make a judgement call to add more flour mix or liquid. I've made gluten-free muffins twice lately, but I had the advantage of using eggs, butter, etc., so I don't know much about baking without regular ingredients. Heck, I'm having a difficult enough time just substituting the gluten-free flour!

Hope that helps, lm

ps, I always use paper muffin cups. No greasing the pan and no sticking. Just tilt the pan and they fall out.

Amy, Thank you for the response. I will try applesauce. Would you recommend using it in place of the water + oil + baking powder or alond with it?

About the flours, I will try your suggestion of rice flour, potato starch and amaranth flour. However, the quantities you mentioned are confusing me and I think my quantities confused you. I only made a 1/2 batch so I was trying to substitute the 1 cup of all-purpose flour that would have been needed in a 1/2 batch. Something I read online said to use 7/8 cups of rice flour for 1 cup of all-purpose flour. That's where my numbers came from. But your quantities (2 c rice flour, 2/3 c potato starch, 1/3 c amaranth flour) create a total of 3 cups (more than the original 2 cups of all-purpose flour that the recipe called for). Is that correct?

Thanks again for your assistance!

Dianne

[Sophiekins]

You need to add a binding agent to your muffins to make them less crumbly. Applesauce will help (use Amy's suggestion in addition to your current egg replacement and cut down a teensy bit on the oil), you could add some guar gum (though it can be a laxative in some people) or xanthan gum as well (about one and a half teaspoons of either per cup of flour). Alternatively you could try adding a little bit of gelatine. . .again about one and a half teaspoons per cup of flour. If you're not brave enough to try adding a binding agent, stick with applesauce, it should work fine.

With regards to flour, you can stick with the plain rice flour in this recipe (I cook with one flour all the time, and while it isn't much for flavour, the sweet potato has such a strong flavour that you won't notice the lack of flour flavour) and up the quantity a bit if your muffins were moist and crumbly (if your muffins were dry and crumbly, I would increase the liquid a bit more instead). Whenever I make muffins, I test the consistency by dipping a finger quickly into the batter - your finger should come away with a soft peak of batter on it (which should taste good) the way cake batter used to before you went gluten-free. . .if it drips instead, use a bit more flour, if it makes a spike you need to add more liquid. . .applesauce is a good choice.

Because these are cake-style muffins in the original recipe, they may work better if you do the instructions in reverse. . .cream the butter and sugar together, add the egg replacement, and then mix this gently into the dry ingredients (use a spoon instead of the beaters to mix. . .you have no eggs and no gluten, so no reason to beat anything but butter and sugar), once the flour and wet are well combined, add the sweet potato and stir until mixed. The texture will be different from the wheat version, but the flavour should be better.

I'd also try baking them a little bit hotter - maybe 375 - just watch them very closely. Unlike with wheat flour, your muffins will be cooked when an inserted knife comes away slightly sticky (if you wait until it comes away clean, your muffins will be overcooked). You may want to stick with one change at a time, though. . .that way you'll know which change made the difference.

ps. those sound yummy. . .let me know how the next batch works. . .I'd love to try them

[kbabe1968]

So far I've just been using White Rice flour in sweet/quick breads. I think the flour mixture makes a HUGE difference in yeast breads.

The key to a muffin mix is to mix until combined but it will still be kind of lumpy - not smooth.

I also agree with previous posters revision on the recipe directions - my only comment is for the true "muffin method" add wet to dry, not dry to wet. (adding dry to wet is a "cake method" and while there are only subtle differences, it can make a huge difference in the final product).

That recipe does sound good, I may just have to try it!

[AmyTopolski]

Sorry for confusing you. I would add the applesauce along with the egg replacer you used. I find that making 3 cups at a time is much easier. Then use the amount you need. I usually substitue cup for cup with a mixture like that. But that is up to you. Just wanted to clarify for you.

Amy

[RiceGuy]

The main problem I see is the lack of either guar or xanthan gum. These are pretty much always required in a recipe that normally uses wheat flour. White rice flour would help make a lighter texture than the brown, and of course tapioca flour does well for lightness. I'm not sure if potato flour would help give the sort of texture you're looking for, but if you can use that then it may be worth including some in your blend of flours, and see how it goes.