Substitutes For Xantham Gum And Tapioca Flour

[Amina]

I'm planning on moving overseas in the not-too-distant future, so I'm looking for flour mixes (esp. bread recipes) with ingredients I can obtain there. In particular, I know I will not be able to get tapioca flour and xantham gum. And I can't digest potato flour. I'm wondering if I can substitute gelatin, corn starch, or sweet rice flour for these and if so, in what ratios.

Other things I CAN obtain are corn meal, rice flour (by the way, what's the difference is between sweet rice flour and asian rice flour?), garbanzo flour, and buckwheat flour. Or rather, I'll be able to obtain those grains and grind them myself.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

[irish daveyboy]

I'm planning on moving overseas in the not-too-distant future, so I'm looking for flour mixes (esp. bread recipes) with ingredients I can obtain there. In particular, I know I will not be able to get tapioca flour and xantham gum. And I can't digest potato flour. I'm wondering if I can substitute gelatin, corn starch, or sweet rice flour for these and if so, in what ratios.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Hi 'Amina',

you didn't say where you're moving to ? your message infers that you bake from scratch ?

.

Potato, Corn and Tapioca (sometimes called cassava) are all starches and inter-changeable,

only slightly altering the flavour.

.

As a substitute for 'Xanthan Gum' try using Guar Gum (India is the main world exporter) and it should

be available everywhere.

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Here's links to my bread recipes.

(but i don't know if the ingredients would be available wherever you're going)

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Open Original Shared Link

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Open Original Shared Link

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Without knowing where in the world you are going, I can't suggest where to get ingredient supplies ?

.

Hope this is of some help.

.

Best Regards,

David

[cruelshoes]

Open Original Shared Link that reccommends subbing milled flax seed for the xanthan in equal amounts. I haven't tried it myself, so I can't say how well it will work.

Open Original Shared Link that recommends subbing unflavored gelatin for xanthan at a double measure. So for 1 T xanthan, one would sub 2 T unflavored gelatin.

Open Original Shared Link that talks about baking without xanthan.

Guar gum also works at a 1:1 ratio, if you will have access to that.

Cornstarch and Tapioca starch can be exchanged for one another.

(by the way, what's the difference is between sweet rice flour and asian rice flour?)

Asian rice flour is simply any variety of rice flour that is found in an asian market. Asian made rice flours tend do be less gritty than those that are made by other countries. Sweet rice flour, also known as glutinous rice flour, is a flour made out of a specific variety of rice. It tends to have more binding qualities than other types or rice flour. It's made of the type of rice that sushi is made from. That rice sticks together a lot more than plain rice.

I hope this information is helpful.

[Amina]

Wow--These are great resources! I'm so glad I asked. I think gelatin and flax seed meal would be good alternatives for me. Flax seeds are also available where I'm going--former Soviet Central Asia. I'll look for guar gum when we get there. I would be surprised if I can find it--though there is an Indian restaurant I could check.

Thanks especially for the artisan bread recipe. I can't wait to try it--I didn't think such a thing would be possible.

Amina