Questions About Millet And Oat Flours

[OHgal]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. DD hasn't been diagnosed with celiac, but she definitely has a wheat and soy allergy, so I'm 99% gluten-free by default.

I had some success baking with rice and millet flours, but there is room for improvement.

Can I use millet flour cup for cup for wheat (and add some xanthan)?

What about a blend of millet and oat flours, can I use that cup for cup?

I"m not crazy about working with tapioca or cornstarch (yep, I'm a whiner, LOL). Can I do without?

Any advice will be appreciated!!

[sa1937]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. DD hasn't been diagnosed with celiac, but she definitely has a wheat and soy allergy, so I'm 99% gluten-free by default.

I had some success baking with rice and millet flours, but there is room for improvement.

Can I use millet flour cup for cup for wheat (and add some xanthan)?

What about a blend of millet and oat flours, can I use that cup for cup?

I"m not crazy about working with tapioca or cornstarch (yep, I'm a whiner, LOL). Can I do without?

Any advice will be appreciated!!

Most of the recipes I've come across call for a combination of flours/starches for them to turn out. Even then I've had some failures. Baking with gluten free flours is tricky and I'm not at the point (yet at least) that I would try creating my own gluten free recipes from regular wheat-based recipes although I have occasionally subbed one flour for another. Sometimes starches can be substituted like using either cornstarch, potato starch or tapioa starch for whatever starch the recipe calls for. Or subbing a bean flour for another high protein flour or vice versa.

I'm six months gluten free and have not yet challenged myself with any form of gluten free oats. Some celiacs cannot tolerate oats at all. One of these days I'm going to try gluten free oats to see if it bothers me. I don't know if your daughter would fall into this category.

We have some baking gurus here and perhaps someone else might be able to give you better guidance.

[RiceGuy]

While millet in combination with other flours and xanthan can work for some recipes, it won't work for just any recipe. And, I'm not aware of any blend of gluten-free flours which can work in place of wheat flour in a wheat flour-based recipe, and yield the same results. That's not to say you can't adapt a wheat bread recipe to use gluten-free flours, but more than the flour will likely need to be changed to really make it work well.

Unless you are going to use certified gluten-free oat flour, there will almost certainly be contamination. And even if it is truly gluten-free, not all celiacs can tolerate oats.

I find that it is not necessary to use starches in baking gluten-free breads. However, I've also worked out a binder which works far better for me than using xanthan. So my breads are formulated very differently than most you'll see suggested. See this thread for more details.

For some information on what to expect from various gluten-free flours, see this thread.

[tarnalberry]

While many celiacs do not tolerate oats, oat flour is a fairly close substitute for wheat flour. (I used to use it all the time before I was gluten free.)

[Rowena]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. DD hasn't been diagnosed with celiac, but she definitely has a wheat and soy allergy, so I'm 99% gluten-free by default.

I had some success baking with rice and millet flours, but there is room for improvement.

Can I use millet flour cup for cup for wheat (and add some xanthan)?

What about a blend of millet and oat flours, can I use that cup for cup?

I"m not crazy about working with tapioca or cornstarch (yep, I'm a whiner, LOL). Can I do without?

Any advice will be appreciated!!

I am not a fan of tapioca neither so I dont use it. But as for the cornstarch, if you dont wanna use that I highly recommend arrowroot instead. Its a wonderful replacement. (Used it last night in my stir-fry... made my sauce a hundred times better)

Like others said, I dont really trust oats, even the gluten free stuff. So I cannot inform you on that.

I aint tried millet flour, but you can use pamelas bakin and pancake mix for almost everything and have it turn out. (I use that as my "all purpose flour") And you can use it cup for cup as well.

[MelindaLee]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. DD hasn't been diagnosed with celiac, but she definitely has a wheat and soy allergy, so I'm 99% gluten-free by default.

I had some success baking with rice and millet flours, but there is room for improvement.

Can I use millet flour cup for cup for wheat (and add some xanthan)?

What about a blend of millet and oat flours, can I use that cup for cup?

I"m not crazy about working with tapioca or cornstarch (yep, I'm a whiner, LOL). Can I do without?

Any advice will be appreciated!!

I pulled out my gluten free gourmet by Betty Hagman...she talks about flours and why they work and don't work in replacements. Wheat flour has 76% Carbohydrates, 10% protein, 1% fat, and 3% fiber. Millet flour has 73% carbohydrates, 10% Protein, 3% fat, and 3% fiber. It seems like a close match. Though she usually recommends mixing...it is worth a try. Don't expect it to work on the first try. Maybe try a partial batch and then experiment depending on what it seems to need. (This book is good because she talks about how to convert recipies...which has been helpful to me as I pretty much cooked w/o cookbooks before going gluten-free)

[OHgal]

Thanks everyone!

I'll have to check out that book, it sounds like a winner.