Bob's Red Mill gluten-free Flour & Mixes...

[OhLaDeDa]

Ok, I'm new to all of this. I've been looking through the posts trying to get an idea of products, etc. The only gluten-free items I've tried so far are the gluten-free flour and gluten-free pancake mix from Bob's Red Mill. Silly me, didn't look closely at the pancake mix ingredients and found out rather quickly that it has corn in it. I'm allergic to corn also. I've made cookies and biscuits with the gluten-free flour and it wasn't bad. I did notice a little bit of a grainy texture in the things I made. So, finally, my question is... Is the texture common among all the gluten-free products or was it just the brand I chose?

Thanks for your input!

[Johnny Cool]

We're new also, husband (whose username this is) was just diagnosed by biopsy a couple weeks ago. So far I've tried rice flour in two instances, cheese sauce, and corn bread, and they both turned out well. I like the softness and finer texture it has. We haven't gotten to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods yet, so hopefully when we do we'll find other things. We tried a new Super Wal Mart 'cuz somebody on here said they had an entire gluten-free aisle, but apparently the one in Madison, WI is not one that does.

The other things we found were certain breakfast cereals, he likes to have cereal in the morning, and some frozen entrees for when he can't find something to make himself for lunch. My plan is to make soups on the weekend and keep them in the fridge for him to heat up for lunch too. We just got back from vacationing in Florida on Christmas Eve, and that was tough on him. The biggest problem for him is adult beverages, now that he can't drink beer. I found some Red Bridge for him, but when we go out it's hard for him to find something to drink, he doesn't like the soda out of a gun bars always have, and he can only tolerate so much vodka and cranberry juice!

I'm going to peruse this thread for more tips too. I've been on Adkin's for years, so it's not a problem for me to cook without wheat, but it's going out that will be the problem for us.

[melrobsings]

For 99% of things it's a brick and grainy. It's hard to get things just right. I have found making my own flour mixes is BY FAR the best, and most cost efficient way to go about things. Not to mention if you are allergic to almost everything you don't have to worry about reading labels as much. Welcome to brickbread land!

[OhLaDeDa]

Thanks for the replies. Since I started this thread I've been doing A LOT of reading. I'm going to try to find a good blend and just do it myself. So if you have any suggestions please feel free to share!

Welcome to brickbread land!

Oh, thank you so much!

[melrobsings]

ANYTIME!!!!

I have found that Bette Hangmans works best for me thus far.

it's:

2 parts rice flour

2/3 part potato starch

1/3 part tapioca flour

for those of you who are like me and really bad at math:

6 cups rice flour

2 cups potato starch

1 cup tapioca flour

I have also thrown in a handfull of almond flour to the stash to get almond flavor in there, it works but makes it more "bricky" and chewy.

I have also tried bettes potato flour mix:

3 3/4 cups rice flour

3 cups tapioca flour

2 1/4 cups potato starch

there is also her featherlight mix: (good for baking)

3 cups rice flour

3 cups tapioca flour

3 cups cornstarch

3 tbs potato flour

I also throw in a teaspoon or 2 of xanthan gum. FYI xanthan gum seems like it will break the bank but you only use a tiny bit and a bag should last you a month or 2.

For cookies I only use rice flour, it's CHEAP and does fine, but only for cookies.