New Gluten Free Flour

[mbrookes]

Has anyone tried the new gluten free flour from Williams Sonoma? The name is Cup 4 Cup. I saw it on another site, but I don't know whether or not to trust the hype. They are saying to use it as is in direct substitution for wheat flour. Since it is Wiliams Sonoma, I know it will be expensive but with the holidays coming up a good baking flour would be wonderful.

[mushroom]

Agreed on the need for a good cup-for-cup sub, and also on the probable price I think I did see it in their catalogue back in Sept. and dismissed the idea

[lizard00]

Has anyone tried the new gluten free flour from Williams Sonoma? The name is Cup 4 Cup. I saw it on another site, but I don't know whether or not to trust the hype. They are saying to use it as is in direct substitution for wheat flour. Since it is Wiliams Sonoma, I know it will be expensive but with the holidays coming up a good baking flour would be wonderful.

Personally, I wouldn't buy it. It's made primarily of cornstarch and rice flour (not a fan!) AND it's 19.95 for 3 lbs. It's cheaper to just make your own blend. I personally also do not like blends with xanthan added in. I know it eliminates having to buy xanthan separately, but the xanthan balance is a delicate one. Just me (but I bake a lot!)

[fantasticalice]

That's exactly what I thought about King Arthur! Guess what? It turned out to be crap! $10 crap.

Money better spent on a really good cookbook with multigrains. Karen Morgan has a great new book

with the best cakes and cookies, wow! Some white rice but not much.

Flying Apron's Gluten-Free & Vegan Baking Book is also excellent. Very little white & no egg or dairy

but you sure could sub with great results.

So many really good blogs too. Everyone has a flour blend they like. These people on this web site have so much knowledge, because of Celic.com I will never have to buy my flour blends, now I get to blend my own. I like to add buttermilk powder to bisquits, pancakes and waffles. It really adds a zing and a nice rise. You get to control everything. I have added millet, quinoa, teff, buckwheat, chestnut,hazelnut,& almond flour. I have learned how to grind my own flour w/o fancy priced machines. It all just started to flow when I found this wedsite.

Like I stated before, I only wish I would have found you $500 worth of flours ago!

So, blend your own, it's far cheaper.

[Darn210]

It's cheaper to just make your own blend. I personally also do not like blends with xanthan added in. I know it eliminates having to buy xanthan separately, but the xanthan balance is a delicate one. Just me (but I bake a lot!)

Nope . . . not just you . . . me, too!!!

I normally use Annalise Roberts blend recipe but the last time I stocked up on my baking flours I couldn't get the Authentic Foods SuperFine Brown Rice Flour. (I can get it locally and not have to pay the outrageous shipping . . . the flour is pricey enough). I ended up trying the King Arthur's. It was OK but I thought a little grittier. Then I tried the Better Batter. Grittiness factor OK, but the added xanthan gum has messed me up several times. Unfortunately, I bought quite a bit of it and there are only a couple of recipes that I'm willing to use it in now.

[freeatlast]

I agree. I tried Pamela's years ago and hated it. Threw it away. Tried it again last week from a sample that I got at the Gluten Free Expo. Not as bad, but still pretty much bland, tasteless as pancakes. So glad I didn't try KA or BB or the other mixes. I have no problem making my own blend with the flours I like.

[sa1937]

I will confess that I am a flour junkie! My go-to flour lately has been Jules', which I like for pizza crusts. And I just bought a pkg. of King Arthur.

I also like Annalise Roberts' flour blends so also mix some of my own. I've never seen Authentic Foods superfine brown rice flour anywhere but if I do, I'll probably buy it. Supposedly you can whirl brown rice flour in a coffee mill or blender to make it finer. ??? Not sure how it would work. I made her apple crisp last weekend and made her brown rice flour mix using half white rice and half brown rice flours. My gluten-eating friends said I should definitely make it again. Always a good sign.

So here I am...always searching and experimenting like so many of us do. I don't know that a single gluten-free flour blend is available that will be fine to use for everything. Highly doubtful.

ETA: I do like Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix for a lot of things...obviously pancakes, waffles, quick breads and muffins. Have never tried her bread mix.

[Darn210]

ETA: I do like Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix for a lot of things...obviously pancakes, waffles, quick breads and muffins. Have never tried her bread mix.

I will say that I do like Pamela's Mix also. We use it mostly for pancakes but I also like to use it in my choc chip cookies and my banana muffins (but only as a partial replacement for the "flour" component . . . say 1 part pamelas and 2 parts flour mix). It's too dense to use in some of my other (cake-type) recipes. In a pinch on vacation, I will often just pack the Pamela's because I can make pancakes and muffins (not my regular muffins but they will do for vacation) without having to pack my whole pantry.

[Darn210]

I don't know that a single gluten-free flour blend is available that will be fine to use for everything. Highly doubtful.

Agreed.

[fantasticalice]

Pamala's pancake mix:

1 cup almond flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup soy flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 cup buttermilk flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tea xanthan or guar gum

3 tbsp gluten-free baking powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 salt

This way you can sub and control everything from salt to sugar to which starch or bean flour you perfer. I add all kinds of flours when using this mix, millet, quinoa, buckwheat there are several that add bulk. I have found this to be a cheaper way to go but most of my stores carry these flours and last week they were on sale. Fine ground brown rice was $2 for 24 0z. Sorghum was $3. Tapioca $2. I make my own almond flour. All the nut flours I now grind myself. Learned how in Donna Washburn & Heather Butt's Gluten-Free Family Cookbook. Hazelnut, chestnut AND acorn! I kid you not, it's a hassel but fun to see the look on faces when I tell em' what it is.

[pricklypear1971]

I'm loving this thread! So many good ideas, almost makes me want to bake.

Anyone have or know of a good nut meal /flour pie crust recipe?

I'm thinking I'd like it better than a "white" gluten-free substitute.

[sa1937]

Anyone have or know of a good nut meal /flour pie crust recipe?

Have you tried food.com or allrecipes.com? I would think a nut crust recipe would be pretty easy to find (I'm thinking of a crust for cheesecake or something like that and then adapting it for pie).

[pricklypear1971]

Have you tried food.com or allrecipes.com? I would think a nut crust recipe would be pretty easy to find (I'm thinking of a crust for cheesecake or something like that and then adapting it for pie).

The ones I've found still rely heavily on mixing in flour. I was hoping for something more nuts, less filler..,

[Poppi]

Pamala's pancake mix:

1 cup almond flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup soy flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 cup buttermilk flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tea xanthan or guar gum

3 tbsp gluten-free baking powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 salt

This way you can sub and control everything from salt to sugar to which starch or bean flour you perfer. I add all kinds of flours when using this mix, millet, quinoa, buckwheat there are several that add bulk. I have found this to be a cheaper way to go but most of my stores carry these flours and last week they were on sale. Fine ground brown rice was $2 for 24 0z. Sorghum was $3. Tapioca $2. I make my own almond flour. All the nut flours I now grind myself. Learned how in Donna Washburn & Heather Butt's Gluten-Free Family Cookbook. Hazelnut, chestnut AND acorn! I kid you not, it's a hassel but fun to see the look on faces when I tell em' what it is.

Oooooh, thank you. I rely heavily on Pamela's to make pancakes, quick breads and biscuits for my kids. I bought 3 4-lb bags when I was down in the states this summer but I'm almost out and it's $9 for a 1 1/2 pound bag up here which is far too expensive. I'll definitely be trying your mix.

I've never seen buttermilk flour anywhere here, could I substitute milk powder?

[sa1937]

The ones I've found still rely heavily on mixing in flour. I was hoping for something more nuts, less filler..,

I googled and found a few. Scroll down the pages a bit...

Gluten-Free Goddess:

Open Original Shared Link

Mark's Daily Apple:

Open Original Shared Link

[Darn210]

Here is another version of Pamela's from 2007. This matches up with the ingredient list on the back of the package pretty well (no soy flour in this one) but like previously mentioned, I think it would be fairly forgiving if you needed to swap one flour/starch for another.

Poppi, I'm sure the buttermilk "flour" mentioned in the previous recipe was actually powdered buttermilk which can be found next to the regular powdered milk at the grocery store.

I found this on the Internet--don't remember where--and haven't yet tried it.

Almost-like-Pamela's baking mix:

1 ½ cups Brown Rice Flour,

1 ½ cups White Rice Flour,

2/3 cup powdered Cultured Buttermilk ,

1 cup Natural Almond Meal (may appear as brown flecks),

3/4 cup Tapioca Starch,

3/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour,

½ cup Potato Starch,

3 Tablespoons baking powder

2 Tablespoon Baking Soda,

1 tablespoon Sea Salt,

3 tsp Xanthan Gum.

[pricklypear1971]

I googled and found a few. Scroll down the pages a bit...

Gluten-Free Goddess:

Open Original Shared Link

Mark's Daily Apple:

Open Original Shared Link

Ooh, thank you! She really IS a goddess!

[domesticactivist]

We have an almond flour crust on the blog linked from my profile.

We used Pamela's with some success at first but then went grain free.

[Tira]

This is so cool! I love to ccok, but since I discovered I have Celiac, I haven't been able to enjoy food. Because of hubby's job we are on the road all the time. so space is at a priemium esp when we are in small motel rroms and I am limited to a microwave(ugh) a georgeforeman grill, and a crock pot, and an electric skillet. At least I know that when we do get to finally settle, I can come here to get help w/ recipies.

Bless you all!

[Takala]

Bun-in-a-cup gluten free microwave breads are not only very easy and fast to make, they can be very good because the baking time is so short, so if you have to tweak a recipe, you didn't waste 2 hours and 3 cups of flours or flour alternatives like nutmeals. You can make up little batches of flour mixes in sandwich size ziplocks bags, and then add these dry mixes to a cup in which you've already put the liquid ingredients, stir, and microwave 1.5 to 2 minutes, and you end up with a bun or one to two servings of hot bread.

See this thread here:

Bun in the Bowl

This works with other types of gluten free flours, as well. It can even be made without egg, if you use certain types of flour mixtures, such as 1/3 each buckwheat, potato starch, and garbanzo bean. It can also be made "sweeter" like a muffin if you add more sweeteners, and flavored with orange or lemon peel and juice, or extracts. Also good with anise, caraway, or poppyseeds.

[mbrookes]

I finally tries the Sonoma Cup-4-Cup. I made an apple pie. For the crust I used my old, non- gluten-free recipe (2 c. flour, 2/3 c shortening, 5-7 T ice water.)It is the best crust since giving up gluten. It is fairly flakey, not gritty and the dough was really easy to work with. It is a REAL pie!

I'm going to try biscuits next, I think I may be in liove.

[AMom2010]

Just curious, what flours are in the cup 4 cup?

[MrsVJW]

I'm also a convert to Cup 4 Cup flour. I don't bake a lot, but I have had so many bad experiments that went right into the trash with other pre-blended or my own flour mixes that I'm more than happy to pay for Cup 4 Cup.

And what it gives you that other flour mixes do not - it's not gritty. AT ALL. There is rice flour in there, but when you're working with it (I've made fried chicken and cupcakes so far) it's not at all gritty, it feels just like soft, fluffy, wheat flour. It's also made for less grit in my dishwasher (even when I think I fully rinse things that used regular or sweet rice flour, I swear, that stuff still ends up gritting up my dishes for days).

I'm so excited to try some cookies for Christmas this year. And to be able to flip to any recipe in a magazine and say "I want to make THOSE" and be able to do it.

[mbrookes]

I am going to try making cheese straws (something I have REALLY missed) with cup-4-cup and see how that goes. The other flours I have tried turned out gritty and crumbly. If this works, cut out cookies will be next.

[mbrookes]

Hate to keep harping on this (and NO, I do not work for that company), but today I made really good cheese straws using my old recipe. I made no changes except used Cup-4-Cup flour. Whoopee! Cut out cookies will be next!