Questions about health

[zus888 37]

Am I the only one that hasn't had any luck with this flour? I've made pie crust, Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies, and Hershey's chocolate cake. All were subpar.

[sa1937 324]

I haven't seen Better Batter Flour around here so haven't tried it.

[freeatlast 60]

I haven't tried any of the retail mixes except for Pamela's about 6 yrs. ago, hated it, never tried another one.

I am THINKING about trying King Arthur's, though, as Kroger now carries it.

[GlutenFreeManna 612]

I've never seen it before. Does it have xanthan gum in it already? If not that might be part of the problem. If you still have lots of the flour to use up, why don't you try making a recipe from their website instead of just subbing it in a wheat-flour based recipe? You're more likely to have good results using a recipe that was written for the flour you're using.

http://betterbatter.org/recipe-archive-2

[sreese68 36]

I tried it once using one of their recipes. For either bread or rolls - don't remember. It just didn't work out.

I've had good luck with King Arthur Flour's products. You can buy them online from King Arthur and some local stores carry their gluten-free stuff.

BTW, if you're going to bake, I highly recommend using a stand mixer. It makes the job SOOOOOO much easier. I use mine 3 - 5 times a week. (My kids hate store-bought gluten-free bread.)

[Coleslawcat 6]

I use it all the time and everything turns out beautifully. I've done cakes, cookies and pizza crust so far. I love that stuff!

It already has the xanthan gum mixed in as well as pectin to help with binding.

[alex11602 75]

I use it all the time now and I have never had a major problem with it. I did find that if I am subbing it cup for cup in a recipe that calls for wheat flour that I have to add a bit more liquid. It was 1/3 c extra for bread that I made, but only 2 tbs when I made a pizza crust and I never had to add anything extra for recipes that already call for gluten free flour.

[Ginsou 5]

I haven't tried any of the retail mixes except for Pamela's about 6 yrs. ago, hated it, never tried another one.

I am THINKING about trying King Arthur's, though, as Kroger now carries it.

I'm dairy,wheat,soy intolerant so there are some commercial mixes that I cannot use. I have used King Arthur's with great success...I love their chocolate cake mix, and have also made a loaf of bread that rose very high. Yesterday I made chocolate chip cookies and they came out pretty good. I like my cookies a bit "puffy", so next time will add a bit of gluten free flour to the box mix. I bake at different altitudes, and have to substitute Earth Balance for butter. I've also had success with Betty Crocker cake (I make cupcakes) mix and Bisquick. The King Arthur website has recipes, and they also have "do it yourself" mixes and recipes. In the past I have baked everything from scratch, out of necessity, but am now leaning toward commercial mixes. You can order King Arthur from that famous "A" website and get free shipping.

[krystynycole 5]

I haven't tried that one, but I've been using gluten-free Bisquick. They have a ton of recipes for pizza crust and stuff. My non gluten-free husband loves recipes I use with it!

[sarahbella636 0]

Better Batter is the only flour mix I've ever used (besides recently trying out Pamela's for pancakes) and I haven't been satisfied with the taste. Probably b/c I'm also subbing out dairy and eggs since my non-Celiac daughter is allergic to them. I would love to use Pamela's mix for baking but it contains milk, so it wouldn't work for our whole family. I've had much better results making the Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate cake for my son and myself (the Celiacs in the family) and gluten cupcakes w/o the dairy and eggs for the rest of the family... but I'm not that comfortable baking with gluten. I just bought 2 more boxes when they were running their 30% off sale... but I just wish I liked it more for baking.

On a more positive note, I think the company has great customer service and the flour is great for gravies and cooking.

[zus888 37]

Yes, the customer service is awesome there. When I make Tollhouse cookies, I had to add a LOT more flour for the cookie to have any substance. Otherwise, the cookies were thinner than cracker-thin. Probably closer to a potato chip. Adding the extra flour also ended up making the cookies pretty darn hard the next day.

I am worried about my holiday cookies and had high hopes of finding a great flour to make my staples, but it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do that. I've not seen recipes for my staple cookies online, so my only option was to find a good all-purpose gluten-free flour to substitute. And if it can't do a simple chocolate chip cookie, I don't have a lot of hope for any of my other recipes.

[GlutenFreeManna 612]

Yes, the customer service is awesome there. When I make Tollhouse cookies, I had to add a LOT more flour for the cookie to have any substance. Otherwise, the cookies were thinner than cracker-thin. Probably closer to a potato chip. Adding the extra flour also ended up making the cookies pretty darn hard the next day.

I am worried about my holiday cookies and had high hopes of finding a great flour to make my staples, but it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do that. I've not seen recipes for my staple cookies online, so my only option was to find a good all-purpose gluten-free flour to substitute. And if it can't do a simple chocolate chip cookie, I don't have a lot of hope for any of my other recipes.

Gluten-free flours respond differently than wheat flours. You can't expect to just substitute cup for cup in most existing recipes. You will either need to play with the amount of liquid or add some other ingredients to make up for the difference in flour. Often the "dough" you get for a gluten-free recipe is nothing like the dough was for a gluten recipe. gluten-free doughs tend to be either more like cake batters or very crumbly. Instead of just substituting flours why don't you try a new recipe that someone else has created that may be close to your favorite. Here's one for gluten-free tolhouse cookies: http://www.food.com/recipe/gluten-free-toll-house-chocolate-chip-mimicry-329214

[EZGlutenFree 0]

I've never used better batter before but I've read alot of blog posts about it on a blog called "gluten free on a shoestring". The writer seems to swear by better batter if my memory serves me correctly. She even has a note about it at the end of most of her recipes.

I've been using alot of gluten-free Bisquick myself lately. It makes really good banana bread and pancakes. I've even tried the pizza crust recipe and found it to be pretty good but not as chewy as I remember pizza to be.

[freeatlast 60]

Yes, the customer service is awesome there. When I make Tollhouse cookies, I had to add a LOT more flour for the cookie to have any substance. Otherwise, the cookies were thinner than cracker-thin. Probably closer to a potato chip. Adding the extra flour also ended up making the cookies pretty darn hard the next day.

I am worried about my holiday cookies and had high hopes of finding a great flour to make my staples, but it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do that. I've not seen recipes for my staple cookies online, so my only option was to find a good all-purpose gluten-free flour to substitute. And if it can't do a simple chocolate chip cookie, I don't have a lot of hope for any of my other recipes.

Have you tried King Arthur? I haven't either, yet. Just wondered if you had tried it. They have it at Kroger where we live, now.

[zus888 37]

I haven't yet, but it's next on my list to buy once I get through my existing flour.

I'm always AMAZED that people LIKE the gluten-free Bisquick. I tried the biscuits and pancakes and couldn't eat them they were so AWFUL! The pancakes tasted like white rice. There was no flavor, really. Like a watered down flavor. But I've heard so many people RAVE about those pancakes. I'm baffled. But I've also only recently been diagnosed and REMEMBER the awesomeness of the Bisquick Supreme Pancakes. And the biscuits were even WORSE. Tasted like rice and eggs. No amount of apple butter could help those things. I've completely given up on using it for baked goods. I do like the parmesan chicken recipe on the box though!

[Coleslawcat 6]

I haven't yet, but it's next on my list to buy once I get through my existing flour.

I'm always AMAZED that people LIKE the gluten-free Bisquick. I tried the biscuits and pancakes and couldn't eat them they were so AWFUL! The pancakes tasted like white rice. There was no flavor, really. Like a watered down flavor. But I've heard so many people RAVE about those pancakes. I'm baffled. But I've also only recently been diagnosed and REMEMBER the awesomeness of the Bisquick Supreme Pancakes. And the biscuits were even WORSE. Tasted like rice and eggs. No amount of apple butter could help those things. I've completely given up on using it for baked goods. I do like the parmesan chicken recipe on the box though!

I used the Better Batter again last night for cupcakes and once again no one I served them to even suspected they were gluten free. The Pamela's pancake mix is good. It doesn't taste like traditional pancakes, but they taste good. I don't use pankcake/biscuit mixes. I just use my Better Batter and make my pancakes/waffles from scratch. They come out great. Are you sure you are measuring the flour correctly? Are you spooning and scraping rather than scooping? I'm just trying to figure out why the Better Batter isn't working for you. I use it all the time with great results.

[zus888 37]

I definitely spoon and level. I can't get it to work with the Tollhouse cookie recipe. They suggested that I chill the dough before making them, but I'm too eager to wait. Plus, I make cookies more to eat the dough than to eat the cookies. Based on my conversations with customer service, I was told to lower the oven temp by just a few degrees and then cook it longer. I did that with a different brand of flour for the Hershey's cake and it turned out better (and I doubt it's due to the flour).

Oh, and I think someone suggested using Crisco instead of butter, but I just can't eat Crisco-based cookie dough. Something about it makes me cringe at the thought.

Man, I really hope that I can make my Russian teacakes this holiday season. I'm not holding much hope for my rollout cookies.

Pamela's rocks!!! I love the pancakes! The almond meal adds much more of a rich flavor to the pancake. I really love almonds, though.

[Coleslawcat 6]

I definitely spoon and level. I can't get it to work with the Tollhouse cookie recipe. They suggested that I chill the dough before making them, but I'm too eager to wait. Plus, I make cookies more to eat the dough than to eat the cookies. Based on my conversations with customer service, I was told to lower the oven temp by just a few degrees and then cook it longer. I did that with a different brand of flour for the Hershey's cake and it turned out better (and I doubt it's due to the flour).

Oh, and I think someone suggested using Crisco instead of butter, but I just can't eat Crisco-based cookie dough. Something about it makes me cringe at the thought.

Man, I really hope that I can make my Russian teacakes this holiday season. I'm not holding much hope for my rollout cookies.

Pamela's rocks!!! I love the pancakes! The almond meal adds much more of a rich flavor to the pancake. I really love almonds, though.

For cookies I use Roben Ryberg's Gluten Free Cookie Book. It doesn't use blends it uses brown rice flour and sorghum flour (in different recipes) and adjusts the rest of the recipes to compensate. I love some of the recipes in there and was satisfied though not in love with others. None have been bad though. I rarely use the Better Batter for cookies. Brown rice flour is so much cheaper so I just use that cookbook instead.

[modiddly16 50]

I'm one of those who love gluten-free Bisquick, everything that I've made with it has been delicious! Different strokes for different folks I reckon!

I haven't tried Better Batter but have heard people rave about it as well, so I'm going to order some!

[violentlyserene 0]

I haven't tried Better Batter yet but it's on my list. I'll also be ordering a small box of Domata flour to try. My local store has Pamela's so i'll try that eventually as well. The Arrowhead Mills mix i tried last week was pretty awful tastewise. The biscuits were easy and had a pretty good texture and look though so I'll be trying brownies or something more heavily flavored to cover up the weird aftertaste.

[sarahbella636 0]

Just wanted to update after my last post regarding Better Batter. I made Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies with butter and eggs along with Better Batter last night and I was very pleased with the results. Now to just find a good recipe that is both gluten-free and vegan...

[freeatlast 60]

Just wanted to update after my last post regarding Better Batter. I made Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies with butter and eggs along with Better Batter last night and I was very pleased with the results. Now to just find a good recipe that is both gluten-free and vegan...

SaraBella, hi, an what a lovely handle I'm pretty sure you could sub egg replacement for the eggs and coconut oil or light tasting olive oil in place of butter or shortening. I'm just learning to cook vegan, myself, but there are some very smart people on this board who could offer suggestions on how to modify a recipe and make it vegan or post some vegan recipe links.

[zus888 37]

Just wanted to update after my last post regarding Better Batter. I made Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies with butter and eggs along with Better Batter last night and I was very pleased with the results. Now to just find a good recipe that is both gluten-free and vegan...

WHA???? How is it that mine turned out potato chip thin and yours turned out fine??? I followed the recipe to a T (with butter). I ended up having to add at least another 1/2 cup of better batter flour to give the cookies some thickness, like a normal cookie. Then after they cooled, they were hard.

[shadowicewolf 166]

i like the bisquick

[organicmama 15]

WHA???? How is it that mine turned out potato chip thin and yours turned out fine??? I followed the recipe to a T (with butter). I ended up having to add at least another 1/2 cup of better batter flour to give the cookies some thickness, like a normal cookie. Then after they cooled, they were hard.

Suzanna, did you chill the dough? With gluten-free flour cookies, it is not uncommon to chill before baking I there are any issues with thinness. Also, what was the reason for adding the extra flOur? Better Batter most often requires added liquid for correction, if anything.