Flour Recommendation

[Christy77]

My daughter was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. I feel that I've handled this challenge well but the cooking is frustrating. I currently use Pamela's baking mix for breads and I'm happy with the results, however when it comes to baking (brownies, muffins, cinnamon rolls etc) the stuff is all gooey and literally impossible to work with without falling apart. I want to also try pizza dough but haven't attempted that one yet. Can anyone recommend a flour that will give a better result? I went with Pamela's because I am so new to this and know nothing about gluten free cooking and it already had the xanthan gum in it etc so I thought it be a good way to ease me into this all but it's too frustrating. Thanks!

[AVR1962]

Personally, I prefer to work with rice flour. When making anything that has to stick together though like noodles and cookies I use half pizza crust flour which has the xanthan gum in it, and half rice flour. If you find your daughter is still having issues with a feeling of a sick stomach, it could be the xanthan gum, sometimes it bothers people especially at first. I coudl not eat anything with gums of any sort for at least 8 months. As a thickener for gravy I prefer corn starch.

[sa1937]

Welcome, Christy! Are you talking about Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix? I use it for several things besides waffles and pancakes. It make outstanding banana bread and other quick breads or muffins. But I wouldn't use it for pizza crust or other yeast bread type recipes. She also has bread mixes but I haven't tried any of them so can't comment.

Since you're so new to this yet, you might want to try starting with a mix. Some people like Gluten-Free Pantry French Bread Mix for pizza. I personally like to make my own from scratch but starting with a mix might make it easier for you. There are as many flour mixes as there are cookbook authors. Gluten-free flour blends are usually a mixture of gluten-free flours and starches like potato starch and tapioca starch.

For other recipes Betty Crocker has mixes for cake, cookies and brownies that are pretty good as well as gluten-free Bisquick, all of which are pretty easy to find (our local Wal-Mart carries them).

As far as xanthan gum is concerned, many of us use it without a problem so I wouldn't automatically assume your daughter has a problem with it.

[fantasticalice]

Just read on Anna's site that they use xanthan gum that does not contain corn! Wow, that works for me

because I think we are eating too much corn!? Take a look at Anna's site, I think it's Anna Bakes Bread.

Frugal Gluten Free has King Arthur Mixes 1/2 price for a week. You cannot go wrong with KA!

[fantasticalice]

That's Gluten Free Saver! 6 mixes, $26! 51% off for 1 week. King Arthur Mixes.

[fantasticalice]

Take a look at the Gluten a Go Go site, great advice there!

[freeatlast]

If I were just starting out gluten-free, I would go to Kroger and buy some gluten-free King Arthur's flour and use that as my flour blend in gluten-free recipes

[Christy77]

Thanks everyone for the advice! Sylvia, I bought "Pamela's amazing bread mix" off of amazon and use it in all my cooking for now just for the ease. My neighbor is gluten free and she recommended it and I bought it because it already has the xatham (sp?) gum in it etc. However, it tends to fall apart, be gooey or crumble in recipes and I think if I took the time to combine different flours I'd have a better result.

[gluten free overseas]

I remember the "gooey" disasters!

Buckwheat (I grind my own because got glutened with contaminated preground buckwheat) is great for breads and pancakes--Sylvia showed me a great bread recipe back when I had none! Thanks, Sylvia!!

For a lot of things like cupcakes or muffins, I use 1 cup rice flour, 1/2 cup ground almonds (or almond flour, same thing), 1/2 cup tapioca starch and then a teaspoon or so of xanthan gum. The ground almonds seem to give it that "fluffy" texture, out with the gooey!! But I try to be sparing with the almonds because they are expensive, so that is why I mix them with rice and tapioca flours.

I also have been adding in 1/2 cup ground walnuts to a lot of things because I have cholesterol issues and fat around the belly (walnut oil is said to combat these things)--and I love what it does to banana bread or blueberry muffins etc. But I don't like chunks of walnuts in stuff, I grind mine up in a coffee grinder (that is not used for coffee beans).

Also, I really like arrowroot for a lot of things like focaccia bread or thickening a sauce. It's just my preference though.

I started off with mixes too when I went gluten free... and then I gradually started experimenting to do things from scratch. Good luck!!

[freeatlast]

I remember the "gooey" disasters!

Buckwheat (I grind my own because got glutened with contaminated preground buckwheat) is great for breads and pancakes--Sylvia showed me a great bread recipe back when I had none! Thanks, Sylvia!!

For a lot of things like cupcakes or muffins, I use 1 cup rice flour, 1/2 cup ground almonds (or almond flour, same thing), 1/2 cup tapioca starch and then a teaspoon or so of xanthan gum. The ground almonds seem to give it that "fluffy" texture, out with the gooey!! But I try to be sparing with the almonds because they are expensive, so that is why I mix them with rice and tapioca flours.

I also have been adding in 1/2 cup ground walnuts to a lot of things because I have cholesterol issues and fat around the belly (walnut oil is said to combat these things)--and I love what it does to banana bread or blueberry muffins etc. But I don't like chunks of walnuts in stuff, I grind mine up in a coffee grinder (that is not used for coffee beans).

Also, I really like arrowroot for a lot of things like focaccia bread or thickening a sauce. It's just my preference though.

I started off with mixes too when I went gluten free... and then I gradually started experimenting to do things from scratch. Good luck!!

I tried your flour blend in Annalise Robert's Vanilla Cupcake recipe. It turned out great! Thanks for the suggestion