Calling All Serious Bakers Out There!

[NewGFMom]

Hi All,

My son has just tested positive with celiac disease. I absolutely LOVE to bake, and I am a little overwhelmed with the volume of gluten-free flours and baking mixes out there.

I have in my pantry, corn flour, sweet rice flour (trader Joe's), tapioca flour, potato startch and xanthan gum.

But they're all really expensive, so I don't want to just start experimenting and end up with a bunch of stuff that I need to throw out.

I have a bunch of questions, and different people may know different answers, so I'll just throw them out there!

What are the combinations of flours that work best for cookies?

What works the best for cakes?

Muffins?

please link to recipes that you've tried and loved. There is a wealth of stuff out there, and I want to start with some tried and true recipes first. I'd love to find a replacement for tollhouse cookies, chocolate and yellow cake.

Are there particular brands of 'flour' that you've had good luck with?

Are there different conversion ratio's that you use when you've converting a recipe depending on whether or not it's a cookie, cake or muffin recipe?

As of right now, we have no troubles with eggs or dairy, so I'd prefer to use recipes that use butter and eggs.

Thanks in advance,

Margaret

[gdobson]

Hi Margaret,

Here is a link to my family's absolute favorite thing. It's Blueberry lemon coffeecake that you would never know was gluten-free. I make it just like the recipe, except I double the topping - my husband likes that part.

Open Original Shared Link

I also recommend going to allrecipes.com and typing in gluten free to the search. A lot of good stuff comes up including a good basic cake recipe.

Gina

[NewGFMom]

Hi Margaret,

Here is a link to my family's absolute favorite thing. It's Blueberry lemon coffeecake that you would never know was gluten-free. I make it just like the recipe, except I double the topping - my husband likes that part.

Open Original Shared Link

I also recommend going to allrecipes.com and typing in gluten free to the search. A lot of good stuff comes up including a good basic cake recipe.

Gina

This is where I'm confused. It calls for gluten free flour mix. Which is the best for this particular cake? Do you make your own?

Some of them use soy flour, which I think is icky. But perhaps when used in combo with others, it might be good. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Thanks!!

[JennyC]

I use this flour mix for pretty much everything: 3 parts white rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca starch/flour, and 1 tsp xanthan gum per 1.5 cup flour unless otherwise noted. I also use amaranth flour and almond meal quite a bit. Sweet rice flour has a higher starch content than regular white rice flour, so you may not want to use it in all dishes. I mainly convert regular recipes to gluten free. I have not tried converting regulat bread recipes, it just doesn't seem like it would work out very well. recipezaar also has gluten free recipes.

Here's a link to the best gluten-free bread on a previous discussion. To me it seems like there is too much liquid in the recipe because my bread keeps falling. Next time I will cut the milk in half.

Open Original Shared Link

Last week I made this chocolate cake recipe and replaced the flour with the mix that I described above. It was very moist, but a bit spongy. Overall it was a great recipe, but I think I might tweak it a bit in the future.

Open Original Shared Link

Here's a link to "Troll House" cookies.

Open Original Shared Link

This is a link to the BEST brownies that I have ever had: (This weekend I used them in a chocolate trifle )

Open Original Shared Link

Here's a recipe for a very popular gluten-free yellow cake:

Open Original Shared Link

Happy Baking!

[JennyC]

This is where I'm confused. It calls for gluten free flour mix. Which is the best for this particular cake? Do you make your own?

Some of them use soy flour, which I think is icky. But perhaps when used in combo with others, it might be good. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Thanks!!

Soy flour is icky! It seems like it is a major component of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free Flour, so you may want to avoid that as well. The flour mix that I just posted works out well in cakes, but I think that I might try experimenting by adding a bit of a heavier flour in the mix sometimes.

[gdobson]

This is where I'm confused. It calls for gluten free flour mix. Which is the best for this particular cake? Do you make your own?

Some of them use soy flour, which I think is icky. But perhaps when used in combo with others, it might be good. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Thanks!!

I'm sorry, I should have noticed that. I use the mix that Bette Hagman suggests in her cookbooks which is:

Bette Hagman

[NewGFMom]

I'm sorry, I should have noticed that. I use the mix that Bette Hagman suggests in her cookbooks which is:

Bette Hagman

[NewGFMom]

I've noticed a lot of these recipes call for brown rice flour. Is that because they're trying to be healthy, or is it because it tastes better in these particular recipes?

[kbabe1968]

www.landolakes.com has a lot of gluten free recipes. They even have a flour mix.

I use the Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour blend.

I also like Brown Rice Flour/Sorghum Flour/Tapioca Starch mixed together. (I use 1 cup of each, then add 3 tsp X Gum and mix it up).

Brown rice is a little healthier than white rice.

I like adding flax seed meal to things too, to bump the fiber a bit.

There are some great recipes on this site.

Good luck to you.

[Emily Elizabeth]

I love to bake too! I was just diagnosed and very depressed at first until I bought a few cook books and realized I could still bake! Here is a link to a gluten-free Cherry Pie recipe I got from one of the books and the name of the book as well. The pie is great. I just made it again for a father's day bbq and no one could believe it was gluten-free!

Open Original Shared Link

This book has recipes for cookies, cakes, etc. It's great!

Good luck!

Emily

[dionnek]

I make the chocolate chip cookies from the landolakes website and use white rice flour (not sweet) in the gluten-free flour mix and they turn out so good - just like my "famous" cookies before gluten-free! Sometimes when baking (usually muffins/quick breads) I use brown rice flour - I think it might be interchangable but haven't yet used the brown rice flour for cookies. I usually use the rice flour/potato starch/tapioca starch flour mix (with xantham gum added when needed).

[happygirl]

I swear by Bob's Red Mill flour blend. My mom made me gluten free choc chip cookies this weekend, that are delicious. She also made me a gluten-free choc cake with their mix....the whole family ate it and loved it. My mom is a wonderful baker, and has luckily found a way to make anything and everything for me, so that I have all the 'comforts' of home.

This is adapted from my mom's recipe for banana bread. It is delicious, and I have to keep it away from my husband----he loves it!

Banana Bread

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 c sugar

1 1/2 mashed bananas (very ripe, 3-4 bananas)

3/4 c veg. oil

2 eggs, beaten with a fork

2 c "flour" of choice

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum *can vary thsi depending on results

1/2 c chopped nuts----optional

In a large bowl, mix eggs, banans, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Stir in dry ingredients. Grease mini loaf pans and fill 2/3. Makes 2-3. (Actually, its probably about 3 and one muffin).

Bake 35-40 min.

Cool in pan only a few minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.

Note: Bananas can be mashed and mesaured into ziplock bags and frozen. Or, freeze whole in peel and thaw in microwave.

Hope you enjoy!

[mamaw]

Hello & Welcome

I usually use my regular recipes (wheat flour ones) & just use the gluten-free flour blend from Annalise Roberts cookbook. I never have a flop with it. By the way her cookbook is wonderful, worth every penny.

There are many recipes in this section & you can spend months looking them up.

I also buy the Betty Hageman four flour blend & never had a flop with .

I cook for 2 adults & 2 kids that are gluten-free. I supply them for all school treats & special occassion stuff. In Annalise' cookbook she even has a recipe for ice cream sandwiches... I haven't made anything from this book we didn't like...

For a great bread mix you might want to try Anna's bread mix....if you have a Whole Foods they have several ready made breads that are good. Also If you are in the New England states there is a company called Against the Grain that I hear has wonderful breads & rolls.You can google them they have a website..

It all takes time to get the gluten-free lifestyle down to a science but it does fall into place....

You may want to get a subscription to Living Without magazine. It has alot of info & vendors,plus recipes. I look forward to receiving my copy....

If you care to feel free to send me a personal e-mail with any ?????.... I mentor a few in my area.....

blessings'

mamaw

[Rosewynde]

I have in my pantry, corn flour, sweet rice flour (trader Joe's), tapioca flour, potato startch and xanthan gum.

But they're all really expensive, so I don't want to just start experimenting and end up with a bunch of stuff that I need to throw out.

I'm in the experimenting stage and trying to avoid the expense too ;D Thought I'd give you some sites my mom found and what I've discovered so far.

1) Open Original Shared Link and Open Original Shared Link both had some great information of flours and substitutions.

2) Sweet (glutinous) rice flour is NOT the same as Rice Flour. If you put that in place of rice flour for most recipes you'll end up with jello like centers ; D Oh and Glutinous just means sticky not that it has the bad sort of glutens in it. Supposedly in small amounts it's a great binder though.

3) Chinese Grocery stores are a great source of cheap rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and tapioca starch. We have an abundance of these stores in the California Bay area. Hopefully you do near you too.

[Darn210]

Don't be scared to try the soy flour - at least in small doses. I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses it and they turn out great. I will say that I LOVED raw cookie dough before cooking gluten free - and now, (I think because of the soy), I hate the way the cookie dough tastes so I won't eat it. I thought the cookies were going to be a flop, but they were great. Good enough to take to a pitch-in with a bunch of gluten eaters and proud enough of them to tell them what they were eating.

Here is the link for the choc chip cookie recipe:

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodi...-25107235708.b5

In case that doesn't work, it's Chocolate Chip Cookie #2 on Celiac.com.

It says 3/4 cup white or brown rice flour and I use ~3/8 of each. I also add 1/2 tsp xanthum gum. Do a couple of test cookies - if they spread a little too much, add a little more rice flour. I have found that after a couple of days, they start to get a little crumbly on the edges - they still taste the same though. If you are not going to eat them fast (which has never happened at our house), you may want to freeze some - I've never tried that though.

[NewGFMom]

I'm in the experimenting stage and trying to avoid the expense too ;D Thought I'd give you some sites my mom found and what I've discovered so far.

1) Open Original Shared Link and Open Original Shared Link both had some great information of flours and substitutions.

2) Sweet (glutinous) rice flour is NOT the same as Rice Flour. If you put that in place of rice flour for most recipes you'll end up with jello like centers ; D Oh and Glutinous just means sticky not that it has the bad sort of glutens in it. Supposedly in small amounts it's a great binder though.

3) Chinese Grocery stores are a great source of cheap rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and tapioca starch. We have an abundance of these stores in the California Bay area. Hopefully you do near you too.

Thanks SO much for explaining that. I was so confused about the rice flours! That's a big help.

-Margaret

[lmvrbaby]

Hi all, I make a banana bread with or without nuts here is the recipe.

1 stick butter

3 large bananas

2 c white rice flour

1 c sugar

1 c nuts (optional)

2 eggs

1 3/4 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1 t vanilla

I use mini loaf pans and I am the only one in the house gluten-free. I have had the kids try this brad and they don't know if it is gluten-free or just regular. I make a double batch and freeze the everything but what I will use for a couple of days. It is nothing to take out mini muffins or loaf and warm up in microwave.

I bought the book by Annalise Roberts - Gluten Free Baking Classics. It has breads, muffins, cookies, pies, just about everything and I have not made something yet that I did not like. She also has in this book a couple of different flour mixes. I use a lot just white rice flour, seems to taste better than brown rice. But everyone has different tastes.

Hope this helps and good luck with your son.

[NewGFMom]

Don't be scared to try the soy flour - at least in small doses. I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses it and they turn out great. I will say that I LOVED raw cookie dough before cooking gluten free - and now, (I think because of the soy), I hate the way the cookie dough tastes so I won't eat it. I thought the cookies were going to be a flop, but they were great. Good enough to take to a pitch-in with a bunch of gluten eaters and proud enough of them to tell them what they were eating.

Here is the link for the choc chip cookie recipe:

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodi...-25107235708.b5

In case that doesn't work, it's Chocolate Chip Cookie #2 on Celiac.com.

It says 3/4 cup white or brown rice flour and I use ~3/8 of each. I also add 1/2 tsp xanthum gum. Do a couple of test cookies - if they spread a little too much, add a little more rice flour. I have found that after a couple of days, they start to get a little crumbly on the edges - they still taste the same though. If you are not going to eat them fast (which has never happened at our house), you may want to freeze some - I've never tried that though.

Hah! That's true about the soy flour. I just made the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Bette Hagman book. The dough was absolutely foul. The cookies are OK though. They are just OK because somehow I -managed to half the recipe, but my brain shut down when it was time to half the salt and baking soda. So, they're a little extra salty... And Baking soda-y. Can't blame the recipe for that one though!

But the texture seems right! So perhaps I'm on to something. I still think I can taste the soy in the finished product. But perhaps it's just because I REALLY don't like most soy products, tofu and its ilk make me nauseous. When my son wakes up from his nap, we'll see if he eats them...

[bbuster]

I'm trying not to duplicate, but here are a couple. My son is all about chocolate!

Bette Hagmans' Toll House Cookies:

1 3/4 c. featherlight mix*

1/2 c. sorghum flour

1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 scant tsp salt

1/2 c. margarine

1/2 c. butter crisco

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

12 oz. bag choc. chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream sugars, margarine and crisco

Add vanilla and eggs

Add dry ingredients. Beat well.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake 9-11 minutes or until done.

roll leftover dough into a log - wrap and freeze

OR - you can make this in a pan like brownies -

just cook about 20 minutes or until lightly brown.

Brownies

1 1/3 cup featherlight flour mix

2 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

1 tsp Xanthan gum

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup melted butter or margarine

bake at 325 F

9 x 13 pan -- 25-27 minutes

toothpick comes out slightly moist

Featherlight Flour Mix

white rice flour 1 cup

tapioca flour 1 cup

corn starch 1 cup

potato flour (not starch) 1 tbsp

Note: flour mix is shelf stable

You can also buy this mix

[dragonmom]

The Gluten Free Kitchen cook book is my favorite for baking. My son who does not like most

gluten-free foods , and does not have to eat it, will eat the cornbread, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls I add a little rice flour for more texture, but she uses corn starch, potato starch and xanthum gum. REally good stuff, family friendly and not too expensive too Good luck.

[dragonmom]

The Gluten Free Kitchen cook book is my favorite for baking. My son who does not like most

gluten-free foods , and does not have to eat it, will eat the cornbread, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls I add a little rice flour for more texture, but she uses corn starch, potato starch and xanthum gum. REally good stuff, family friendly and not too expensive too Good luck.

[tarnalberry]

I greatly dislike the rice/tapioca/potato flours for my baked goods. A good portion is health reasons - those flours are a great way to spike your blood sugar, and get empty calories, and that about it. Don't get me wrong, it's everyone's choice to make that decision, but my hypoglycemia and nutritional needs in a small frame don't really give me those luxuries.

I have a number of baked good recipes (mostly banana-related, 'cause I love that stuff) on my "as promised, a few recipes" thread, which primarily use montina flour (made from a wild rice) and flax meal. sometimes I'll use sorgum, millet, quinoa, and amaranth instead of the montina. everyone I know, except my husband, by the way, *loves* my muffins. I wish they weren't so darn expensive (compared to white (wheat) flour) to make, but they are well rounded when it comes to nutrition, so they go farther and can serve as a meal, rather than a treat.

[celiac-mommy]

Hi

I SWEAR by Pamela's gluten free baking mix. I substitute it for everything containing flour. It's cheapest to buy in bulk (it comes in managable sized bags) from amazon .com and the shipping is free-otherwise you can get it in some grocery stores (fred meyer in the health food area). My non-gluten-free family members can't tell that whatever I bake is gluten-free. It has almond flour in it so it also gives a little xtra protein. (makes the BEST gluten-free pancakes and waffles) Good luck!!

-rachelle

[irish daveyboy]

Hi All,

My son has just tested positive with celiac disease. I absolutely LOVE to bake, and I am a little overwhelmed with the volume of gluten-free flours and baking mixes out there.

I have in my pantry, corn flour, sweet rice flour (trader Joe's), tapioca flour, potato startch and xanthan gum.

But they're all really expensive, so I don't want to just start experimenting and end up with a bunch of stuff that I need to throw out.

I have a bunch of questions, and different people may know different answers, so I'll just throw them out there!

What are the combinations of flours that work best for cookies?

What works the best for cakes?

Muffins?

please link to recipes that you've tried and loved. There is a wealth of stuff out there, and I want to start with some tried and true recipes first. I'd love to find a replacement for tollhouse cookies, chocolate and yellow cake.

Are there particular brands of 'flour' that you've had good luck with?

Are there different conversion ratio's that you use when you've converting a recipe depending on whether or not it's a cookie, cake or muffin recipe?

As of right now, we have no troubles with eggs or dairy, so I'd prefer to use recipes that use butter and eggs.

Thanks in advance,

Margaret

Hi All,

My son has just tested positive with celiac disease. I absolutely LOVE to bake, and I am a little overwhelmed with the volume of gluten-free flours and baking mixes out there.

I have in my pantry, corn flour, sweet rice flour (trader Joe's), tapioca flour, potato startch and xanthan gum.

But they're all really expensive, so I don't want to just start experimenting and end up with a bunch of stuff that I need to throw out.

I have a bunch of questions, and different people may know different answers, so I'll just throw them out there!

What are the combinations of flours that work best for cookies?

What works the best for cakes?

Muffins?

please link to recipes that you've tried and loved. There is a wealth of stuff out there, and I want to start with some tried and true recipes first. I'd love to find a replacement for tollhouse cookies, chocolate and yellow cake.

Are there particular brands of 'flour' that you've had good luck with?

Are there different conversion ratio's that you use when you've converting a recipe depending on whether or not it's a cookie, cake or muffin recipe?

As of right now, we have no troubles with eggs or dairy, so I'd prefer to use recipes that use butter and eggs.

Thanks in advance,

Margaret

Hi Margaret,

.

If you are interested here is a link to the Irish Coeliac Society's Recipe board.

.

Feel free to try any of my recipes (there is even photo's attached to some of them)

.

When I was Dx'd in Nov 2005 I couldn't Cook or Bake !

so I'm self taught, I will not post a recipe unless I'm certain that it tastes absolutely

perfect !

.

Brand name's in brackets can be dis-regarded.

They are required by the Society to show the ingredients are vetted and 100% free

from any possible cross-contamination.

.

Best of luck with your baking.

David

.

Open Original Shared Link

[lcbannon]

I used to own a bakery/catering business so when I first learned I needed to go gluten-free, first thing I made was Choc chip cookies.

1. I use a mix of brown and white rice about 1/2 each in the rice flour/potato/tapioca mix. THis is the basic flour mix I use.

2. I buy the white rice, and both starches at Asian Markets- MUCH CHEAPER.. Just be sure to refridg- I keep a whole shelf in fridge of premixed flours etc.

3. When I bake I make a number of items cause you have to freeze anyway and there are sooo many ingrediants to pull out - might as well do once.

3. I have good luck using a lot of my pre gluten-free receipes and just substituting gluten-free flour and some xantham gum (guar is very exp) Sometimes you just have to add a little more flour.

I have made Chocolate sheet cake and NO ONE knew it was gluten-free.

4. For bread Bette Hagman's book is the best. For desserts Annalise is really good.

5. Experiment and have fun,.

5. I ususally go to our library or local bookstore and look at the reciepes in a book then get online at amazon and order.