Adjusting A Recipie To gluten-free

[missy'smom]

I found a recipie that I want to try that has a base/crust made from sugar, flour, butter that you press into the pan, pre-bake and then add filling and bake a little more I think. Do you think I can just sub. rice flour or a rice flour and starch mix, no gum and have it come out OK?

[Tash-n-tail]

I found a recipie that I want to try that has a base/crust made from sugar, flour, butter that you press into the pan, pre-bake and then add filling and bake a little more I think. Do you think I can just sub. rice flour or a rice flour and starch mix, no gum and have it come out OK?

I'm still getting up to speed here on adaptations. But as I recall the rice flour is not only finer ground but not having gluten it isn't as flexible as wheat. You'll end up with a shortbread style of baked crust. Which should work for you in a dessert type recipe. (My "old" standby was a similar version and I'd probably do a combo of the rice and buckwheat flour for myself). But yes. Texture and flavour and consistency will change but yes.

Remember the wetter the filling it'll dissolve and make your crust soggy. Good luck

Marcus.

[missy'smom]

In this recipie it is supposed to be a melt in your mouth shortbread style base. In this case, I'll have a cheesecake like filling but I've made similar bases with layers of pudding, whippped cream or light cream cheese(not gluten-free) I'd like to take it to an event and we don't eat enough desserts to make a trial one ahead of time so I'm really hoping I can figure out how to make it work without trying it first. Not asking for much am I?

[Guhlia]

When I'm making something from a glutenous recipe I ALWAYS use the following flour mix: 3 parts white rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca starch. Then, I add 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of xantham gum per cup of flour mix used in the recipe. I have had two recipes fail me using this blend out of hundreds of recipes tried. To be quite honest, I'm not sure if the two recipes that failed were any good with gluten because they were new recipes that I'd never tried before. I use this substitution in everything and it works great. The xantham gum is usually a must or it will be crumbly and fall apart. I'm thinking for a shortbread type crust you will definitely need the gum to hold it together, but I could be wrong. Occasionally I can get unflavored gelatin to work as a "gum-like" ingredient, but not often and it, to me, adds a funky flavor to things. I would stick with the flour blend above with xantham gum if at all possible.

[Tash-n-tail]

In this recipie it is supposed to be a melt in your mouth shortbread style base. In this case, I'll have a cheesecake like filling but I've made similar bases with layers of pudding, whippped cream or light cream cheese(not gluten-free) I'd like to take it to an event and we don't eat enough desserts to make a trial one ahead of time so I'm really hoping I can figure out how to make it work without trying it first. Not asking for much am I?

No pressure huh?

My experiments with all rice flour have not been wildly successful in pancakes etc. It does however make for a divine shortbread! Professional bakers tend to fall back on it for lighter, crisper versions. So I'd say go for it. A traditional American cheesecake filling should be fine. A layer of whipped cream on top of the shortbread will turn it into that soggy dough. If you can make the crust the day before and the filling a few hours before you travel to your event -- if you don't have to refrigerate it, chances are you'll get away with a nice shortbread base.

Good luck and let me know how it works out.

Marcus.

[Tash-n-tail]

When I'm making something from a glutenous recipe I ALWAYS use the following flour mix: 3 parts white rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca starch. Then, I add 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of xantham gum per cup of flour mix used in the recipe. I have had two recipes fail me using this blend out of hundreds of recipes tried. To be quite honest, I'm not sure if the two recipes that failed were any good with gluten because they were new recipes that I'd never tried before. I use this substitution in everything and it works great. The xantham gum is usually a must or it will be crumbly and fall apart. I'm thinking for a shortbread type crust you will definitely need the gum to hold it together, but I could be wrong. Occasionally I can get unflavored gelatin to work as a "gum-like" ingredient, but not often and it, to me, adds a funky flavor to things. I would stick with the flour blend above with xantham gum if at all possible.

I saw the xantham gum for the first time in Wales recently but not today in my local Tesco's and I really must source some for future baking experiments. Have never heard of using gelatin in a baked context before and I can imagine it's funky. Amazing!

Marcus.

[missy'smom]

Thanks for your responses. I'm planning way ahead but will post it if it turns out. I had a thought too that I could make a trial base without the filling and see. I use to make that kind often so might be able to tell if the texture will be right without filling it.

[Tash-n-tail]

Thanks for your responses. I'm planning way ahead but will post it if it turns out. I had a thought too that I could make a trial base without the filling and see. I use to make that kind often so might be able to tell if the texture will be right without filling it.

Ya know I've been brooding here on this. And not knowing what exactly you're making it's not easy. But say you're doing the shortbread crust and bake it the day before -- there is a trick that I've used to "seal" the base and keep it dry. I whip up a glaze with fruit jam/conserve and brush it thinly but evenly over the base. (I'm assuming here that you are only making a shortbread base crust and no pie-sides?) If you glaze the shortbread and do it like you're varnishing the floor, leave it to dry out overnight and then add your filling. This will keep a good bit of the moisture from seeping thru' the base. I've used apricot jam, cherry jam, ginger marmalade etc. The extra "taste" is minimal and very subtle and should not detract from your original concept.

Best of luck now!

Marcus.

[missy'smom]

Good idea Marcus. The recipie calls for a swirl of lemon curd through the cheescake filling so a little jam on the crust would go just fine and provide some insurance. Thanks for the collaboration.

[Juliet]

Here's a pie crust recipe using almond meal as your flour. Although I haven't tried this one yet (but it sounds like it would be delicious for a dessert), my experience so far with almond meal in baking has been great for crumbly (in a good way) cookies and it also seems to help keep things moist when mixed with other flours:

1 cup almond meal

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2tbsp. chilled butter

1 1/2 tbsp. cream

In a food processor, blend all ingredients until doug clumps together. Chill 15 minutes. Roll out dough on wax paper dusted with either cornstarch or tapioca flour. Transfer to a 9