Alternatives To Tapioca And Soy Flours?

[gfbrooklyngal]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new member here, but I've been reading for a while and find these boards incredibly helpful. I just discovered that I'm gluten-intolerant a few months ago, and I feel a million times better on the gluten-free diet--except when I eat certain packaged gluten-free foods and bake with certain flour mixes. The culprits seem to be tapioca and soy flours, which give me terrible symptoms pretty much instantly (though they're different symptoms than what happens when I get glutened), and I've read that some people here have the same issues. The Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour and all their yummy bread and brownie mixes are off-limits for me now, so I'm looking for a good all-purpose flour mix that I can make myself without these problematic flours.

Can anyone explain why tapioca shows up in so many baked goods and how I might substitute for it? I know it can be done--there's a great bakery called Babycakes here in NYC that uses a garbanzo-fava-sorghum blend, but I'm not sure in what proportions (they don't have a cookbook or anything). I'm planning to adapt Open Original Shared Link for crisp-chewy chocolate chip cookies this weekend, so I'd also appreciate it if anyone has tips to share on achieving that texture with gluten-free flours.

Thanks!!

[ArtGirl]

I think you can use cornstarch, sweet rice flour (which is the starch) or arrowroot flour (also starch) to sub for tapioca.

I relate to the disappointment in not being able to use the store-bought mixes. I can't have corn, and cornstarch or cornmeal is in so many of them.

[Juliet]

Babycakes was on Martha not too long ago, and so on the website they have a couple of their recipes.

Open Original Shared Link

Mini Brownies

Open Original Shared Link

Cinnamon Toasties

It looks like they use a combination of garfava flour (garbanzo & fava flour), potato starch (in lieu of tapioca), and arrowroot.

I believe in theory you can substitute one starch for another, so in lieu of tapioca starch you can use potato starch and corn starch. Tapioca has a lighter flavor than the other two, so that's why it's often used more. But I find that both potato and corn starch work pretty well if you have other strong flavors in the batter or you don't use large quantities. I also like to use sorghum flour, too, often more than garfava flour. It seems to have a lighter taste.

[jerseyangel]

I have the same problem! So many mixes contain those flours...

I am able to use several of the Gluten Free Pantry mixes. The ones I can use have rice flour, corn and potato starches. There are some that do have tapioca starch, so you have be careful there.

Some of the ones I use regularly:

Brown Rice Pancake Mix

French Bread Mix

Truffle Brownie Mix

Muffin and Scone Mix

Cake and Cookie Mix

[gfbrooklyngal]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! It's good to know that other people are going through the same thing. I'll definitely give those Martha recipes a try--Babycakes' brownies look amazing (haven't tried them yet in the store). And it's great to know that all those Gluten-Free Pantry mixes are "safe!"

A few questions, though: What's the difference between starches and flours? I have seen some recipes that use the terms interchangeably and some that specify one or the other. Also, if soy flour seems to be a problem for me, does that mean that the soy lecithin in most commercial baking chocolate is also a no-no? I've had issues with flourless chocolate desserts before, but I'm not sure whether the problem was with the soy lecithin, maybe cross-contamination, or (God forbid!) with chocolate itself.

[RiceGuy]

Have you tried mixing the suspect flours into your own blend to be sure it isn't CC? I've read many posts about Bob's products being a problem. I suppose you could also try a bit of plain instant tapioca.

If they really are a no-no for you, perhaps your system just isn't yet ready to handle high starch content, or certain kinds of starches. Not all are the same, as you already know. Give it some time and try again in a few months. Same for soy, though allergies to soy are more common of course.

As for the difference between flours and starches, some seem more similar/interchangeable than others from what I can tell. Tapioca starch appears to be the same as the flour, but I recall reading that there's some difference between potato starch and the flour - not certain though.

[gfbrooklyngal]

That's a good suggestion with the tapioca, RiceGuy; that would help me know for sure. I wondered if it was a problem specific to Bob's, but I also noticed that tapioca flour/starch showed up in some granola from Enjoy Life that gave me trouble--that's what led me to the deduction that it was tapioca, since that was the only ingredient that all the foods had in common.

But it definitely could be that my system is not ready for many starches yet. I do seem to do much better (no GI symptoms at all after eating) when I stick to meats and veggies alone; even having rice or quinoa with a meal can sometimes make my tummy rumble a bit. I also have insulin-resistance, so I'm not supposed to eat too many carbs anyway!

[PeggyV]

This is the bread mixture I use:

2 cups garfava or garbanzo-bean flour

1 cup sorghum flour

2

[RiceGuy]

I might suggest a look at a post I made recently regarding starches:

Open Original Shared Link

Still other things might be the true culprit, like sugars for example. Not all those are the same either, as I'm sure you're aware.