Tapioca Flour Substitute And Other Flours

[Twisted Spoon]

I hate the aftertaste of tapioca flour...I have a rather sensitive palate but to me it seems to leave foods with a cardboardy after taste. Is there anything that I can substitute for this flour in recipes that does not have such a strong after taste? I read somewhere on the forum sweet rice flour and arrow root? But the recipes in particular I need to sub in are the vinegar pastry recipe in the glutten free gourmet and the pizza crust recipe which both already contain rice flour. Does the arrow root have a strong flavor like tapioca? I hate to purchase a new flour to experiment with and waste the money on another disaster. Also...has anyone experimented with quinoa flour? I have someone who is allergic to rice and was wondering if it could be used as a substitute? Thank you for your time.

[julirama723]

I have used quinoa flour a few times before, each time with bad results. I don't consider myself to have a very sensitive palate (not a lot of tastes offend me) but man oh man, I made bread that had some quinoa flour in it and it was AWFUL. So awful, I couldn't even eat one tiny piece. It went into the trash can immediately.

I'm not sure if my flour blend was just a bad mix of flours, or if quinoa flour is truly vile. I found it to have an even stronger taste than soy flour. I love quinoa, so I thought I'd enjoy the flour as well. NOPE!

I have not used arrowroot, so can't help you with that!

Some alternative flours:

coconut flour (it's very dry and soaks up liquid, you'll have to increase water or reduce flour amounts)

almond flour (you can use this by itself)

potato starch (not used this, but I think it might replace tapioca starch?)

soy flour (has a strong taste, make sure you're making something hearty/rich with this!)

garbanzo and fava bean flour (not used these)

You can also make coconut meal by grinding coconut flakes in a coffee grinder or food processor, you can make nut meal (from almonds, pecans, etc.) this way as well. It's very fluffy and moist. Don't over-grind or you'll end up with butter!

[Darn210]

I'm just going to add my 2 cents (in red)

  julirama723 said:

Some alternative flours:

coconut flour (it's very dry and soaks up liquid, you'll have to increase water or reduce flour amounts) (I've never tried)

almond flour (you can use this by itself) (you may need to reduce your butter/oil/shortening as the almonds will provide an additional fat source and the recipe may be too oily or cookies will spread . . . )

potato starch (not used this, but I think it might replace tapioca starch?) (I've used this in one of my recipes in place of tapioca and it turned out well but there was no additional potato starch in the recipe)

soy flour (has a strong taste, make sure you're making something hearty/rich with this!) agree

garbanzo and fava bean flour (not used these) (has a definite taste/aftertaste . . . some people like the bean flours and some don't . . . I don't)

I have never tried the quinoa or arrowroot. I have used millet flour and sorghum flour (together) in a bread recipe and I thought that bread actually had the best taste out of all the breads I've tried. I have not tried them in anything else.

I have not had good luck with sweet rice flour . . . it seems to make my items come out kind of gummy/doughy . . . I'm sure other people have been successful though.

[Twisted Spoon]

Thank you for your replys you named a few flours I have been curious about! I have substituted potato startch for corn startch with good results and egg replacer for eggs with very nice fluffy results. I've tried the arrowhead mills gluten-free all purpose mix and the bob's redmills one in drop biscuits with the bob's red mill one making fluffier biscuits that tasted like the ones found in red lobster. I've tried different shortenings, I found meat shortening- like pork fat although gives a good flavor it causes whatever it is to be crumbly and if its a biscuit it is pancaked out instead of rising. I have found vegan shortening I think its called paradis shortening has had the best results. I've finally started branching out from the recipes in the books subbing and such to see what works but I'm very grateful for anyone who has tried it first!