The gluten free item that I most often reach for is my homemade all-purpose flour mix. When I first started cooking gluten free foods I bought Gluten Free 101
After almost four years of cooking gluten free, I am amazed at how well this mix works in so many different recipes. When I make biscuits with this mix, they taste like biscuits. When I make pancakes, they taste like pancakes. I’ve even made onion rings with this! I know I’m a geek, but this really is exciting!
Since I use this mix so often, I usually make up a big batch and store it in a large canister so that it’s ready whenever I decide to bake. If you don’t think that you will use the flour often, then I suggest that you store it in the freezer so that the soy and brown rice flours do not spoil. Just be sure to let it come to room temperature if you’re going to make yeast bread.
Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix
3 parts brown rice flour
3 parts corn starch
2 parts soy flour
1 part masa harina
I’ve given you this recipe in “parts” so that you can make as much or as little as you want. I usually use a 1 cup measure, so I end up with 3 c. brown rice, 3 c. cornstarch, 2 c. soy flour and 1. c. masa harina. However, I’ve also used a teaspoon measure when I needed just a little bit.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. (If you’re new to mixing flours, then you want to make sure that you don’t see any clumps or streaks of indiviual flours. By the time you’re done it should be one homogeneous bowl of flour.) Transfer the flour to a canister or other storage container. You’re done!
Be sure to check back in a couple of days for a lesson on making biscuits!
P.S. I’ve added some links to the recipe so that you can purchase the ingredients online if you cannot find them locally. Masa harina is a flour made from corn that has been boiled with lime and then ground and dried. I can usually find it in local grocery stores in the Hispanic food section .
I have a recipe for a hazelnut pumpkin cake and i want to know how to substitute the Gluten free flour mix for bisquick mix. I want to make the cake soon, so anyone who has a recipe contact me at rfaulkner06@bellsouth.net or here, but I need it reallllly soon. Also, i want a recipe for a sugar cookie that you can use cookie cutters with that are not as hard as a brick and are tasty. I got my bread machine so after all the hussle and bustle of Christmas I will start using your recipes in it. I can hardly wait…Rita
@rfaulkner06: Ginger Lemon Girl (blog) has a recipe for a Bisquick type mix that should point you in the right direction.
I own a small baking company. We have been slowly adding gluten free baked goods to our production. Right now we offer gluten free cup cakes, sugar cookies, double chocolate peanut butter cookies, vanilla sticks (which are a meringue cookie), macaroons, & peanut butter brownies. I am going to try the bread recipes on this site to see if we can start adding bread to our repetoire.
Why is gluten free bread so expensive? This I don’t understand! The ingredients are NOT expensive. I know the xanthan gum is pricey but heck, you only use a little. I hate to say this but I think gluten free commercial bakers are gouging the public.
We are sucessfully making gluten free pie crusts. We do charge $1.50 extra gluten free pies. The ONLY reason why we do this is because it IS more complicated to make. With regular dough you mix flour, fat, salt, and water and get pie crust. For the gluten free version you have to measure out three flours and then jump through a few extra hoops to get a pretty pie.
Here are some tips to follow:
1. Take any pie crust you used before becoming gluten free. Mix the flour and shortening in a food processer using the same amount of shortening the recipe calls for. To that add one egg yolk. While the processor is still running you will want to drizzle in just enough cold water to get the dough to form a ball. For most pie crusts you want to work the dough as little as possible to keep gluten strands from forming and toughening the dough. No worries here of that happening! The egg yolk is going to add color and some tenderness to the finished crust.
2. Add about 1 tablespoon of sugar per 2 cups of flour mix.
3. Brush the top of the dough with an egg wash then sprinkle with sugar to give some color to an otherwise pure white dough (we use tapioca and white rice flour with potato starch).
4. Roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper.
5. Chill the dough a little to make it easier to handle. Not too much, though, or the dough will crack as you try to work with it. You want it just cold enough to peel away from the parchment without sticking but not so cold that it becomes a hardened disk.
6. Forget about crimping- just use a fork around the edge. If you must crimp you will need to constantly dip your fingers into your flour mix to keep the dough from becoming a sticky mess. It CAN be done but it is tedious.
7. From this point forward bake the pie and test for doneness just like for any other pie. For apple pies use your cake tester to see if the apples are tender. For other fruits you want to make sure the pie is bubbling well before taking out of the oven. Bubbling tells you that the thickeners have had a chance to set up.
8. To thicken fruit pies use tapioca flour instead of flour. You already knew that, right?
For a delicious cream pie make a cornstarch pudding. Pour it over sliced bananas and voila: Banana Cream Pie. Just ice with Sweetened Whipped Cream. For Coconut Custard make a custard using cornstarch as the thickener. For Chocolate Cream Pie use cocoa in your cornstarch pudding.
I buy my potato starch, tapioca flour, and rice flour at an Asian grocery store. It beats paying exorbitant prices for Bob’s Red Mill products, a lot of which are not organic anyway. I find the rice flour to be nice and silky…ie not gritty like some rice flours out there.
I hope this helps all of you pie lovers.
Lori
PS. Do NOT use the gluten free pie dough recipe out there that calls for cream cheese. It’s a big sticky MESS! If you remove the cream cheese from the mix that recipe is actually a good one. Don’t try to use Egg Replacer for the egg yolk. I’d probably leave the egg out in that case and then maybe add a tablespoon or two of cream cheese for tenderness. Use some yellow food coloring to give some color or perhaps some tumeric.
Lori,
Thank you so much on the info for the gluton-free pie crust and where to get the flours inexpensively,I have a new very small bakery and have been asked to do non-gluton without much success so far,but I am going to give your pie crust a try………
thanks
Terry
@ Lori,
From Canada, I thank you too. I was going to ask if anyone had a gluten free pie crust recipe. Do you think that Mary Frances’ flour mixture would work or what ratio of the tapioca flour and rice flour would you suggest. Like many here, I’m new to the gluten free world, so as much guidance you can give will be appreciated immensely.
Diana
Diana – From what I’ve read, kefir contains yeast, which is how it can make things rise. It sounds like an interesting ingredient, but if wild yeast is supposed to be ok, that’s certainly simpler. I don’t think there would be a problem getting wild yeast to grow in other types of flours as long as they’re starches. But if you have trouble, add sugar or something with sugar in it.
Has anyone tried making Irish Soda Bread with a gluten free flour combo and xanthan gum?
I’ve had some really good Irish Soda Breads that slice just like regular loaf breads and taste really good. They are leavened with baking soda. I guess they are classified as Quick Breads. I’m thinking that they would work really well as sandwich bread.
If anyone tries/has tried this please let me know. I think it could be an awesome alternative to yeast breads which never seem to work the same way twice in a row (at least for me).
I would also be interested in yeast gluten free breads if anyone has a recipe.
This recipe was given to me using Buckwheat flour, which I’m not at all a fan of.
I just substituted Mary Frances’ flour mixture for the buckwheat, but if you like buckwheat, by all means, use it. If you want it for sandwiches, just leave out the raisins and Cinnamon.
4 to 4 1/2 cups flour
* 2 Tbsp raw sugar
* 1 teaspoon sea salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 4 Tbsp butter or virgin olive oil
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 tsp. cinnamon
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 2 cups buttermilk
1. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8 and put your oven shelf up high.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Mix well by lifting the dry ingredients up into your hands and then letting them fall back into the bowl through your fingers. This adds more air and therefore more lightness to your finished bread. Lightly whisk the egg and rice (or nut) milk together.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in most of the egg and milk at once. Using one hand, with your fingers stiff and outstretched (like a claw!), stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl in ever-increasing circles, adding a little more egg and milk mixture if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.
4. The trick with soda bread is not to over-mix the dough. Mix it as quickly and as gently as possible, thus keeping it light and airy. When the dough all comes together, roll lightly in the bowl for a few seconds – just enough to tidy it up. Pat the dough into a round, pressing it to about 5cm/2in in height.
5. Place the dough on a baking tray dusted lightly with brown rice flour. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in it to mark out 4 large pieces, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread.
6. Bake in the oven at 230C/450F/Gas 8 for five minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4 for a further 45 minutes or until cooked. If in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread. If it is cooked, it will sound hollow. If the top doesn’t brown, put the loaf under the grill to brown it (keep an eye on it). Remove from the oven and transfer the loaf from the baking tray onto a wire rack to cool.
7. Serve freshly baked, cut into the four thick pieces. Spread with coconut oil/butter, if desired.
Thanks Diana but my daughter wont touch anything with soy or wheat. I am assumming buckwheat is wheat… I dont know for sure.
@Alice,
Buckwheat is actually a grass, not wheat, but the name is confusing. You can replace soy flour with sorghum flour (I do, as I’m not fond of soy flour). The flavour is as close to wheat flour as I’ve tasted since entering the gluten-free world. I hope this helps.
Yes Diana, it does help. Now, I have to convince my daughter that it is not wheat. Thanks for all the information.
@alice,
Why don’t you use Mary Frances’ flour mix, substituting the sorghum for the soy flour? That way, you don’t have to do any convincing? It only tastes close to wheat flour, without containing any.
I made my first loaf of bread in the breadmachine using the bread recipe Really Good Sandwhich Bread. It didn’t rise much. My machine has a GF button an that is what it was baked on. I did put one packet and 3/4 teaspoon more yeast in it maybe that is what is wrong. It was Flet Rapid rise. And the water was the right temp with a themometer. It did get foamy too. So what should I do? Should I not use the GF setting? It was a treat even to eat this with some jam on it.
Also I once had a recipe for a cheese sauce to make and put over vegs like brussel sprouts, but I can’t find it. I would think that you could make a rough from the flour mix? And then add the cheese and milk maybe? Help.
here’s a rough recipe for cheese sauce: 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp flour mix, enough milk to get the right consistency, grated cheese to taste. So, melt the butter, whisk in the flour, cook for a minute for so, whisk milk in gradually (adding more as needed as the sauce thickens), then add grated cheddar cheese to taste. My mom used to make this for broccoli, and would substitute broccoli water for some of the milk.
I made a loaf this week that didn’t rise either, so it may just be the current weather conditions in Birmingham. I’d give it another shot on the GF setting once the weather has changed and see if that makes a difference. If not, try mixing the ingredients before putting them in the bread machine so that you can make sure that the xanthan gum develops properly
Thank you Mary Frances
I have made several loafs of this bread; in fact, I have one baking right now. I don’t have a GF breadmaker, so I just turn my oven on 200 for about 30 seconds to get it slightly warm, then shut it off. I use my Kitchenaide to mix the batter (dough) for about 3-5 minutes, then I transfer it to a greased bread pan. I put it in the oven to rise for 20 minutes. I take it out of the oven for a minute while my oven preheats to 375 degrees, then I put the bread in the oven for 60 minutes. It rises beautifully and has fantastic flavour.
somebody help me please, I need to know if I can use STEVIA or AGAVE NECTOR in a homemade lemon merigue pie ??????If so how much ????
@Joyce,
I have found Stevia absolutely hideous tasting in any great amount, but Agave I have used cup for cup instead of processed sugar. Is it the merangue you want to use it for? If so, that may present a problem, since it’s liquidy. If it’s in the lemon filling, I can’t see a problem.
Diana
I have found a product called sevita that does not have the bitter aftertaste that stevia has. The only place I can find it is on line. Just google in stevita and see what you can find.
Mary Francis, I love this discussion group – have learned so much about different flours. Thank you.
How long can you keep the coconut flour, and does it need to be
stored in the refrigerator?
Do you have a recipe for GF Cocoanut Cake and macaroons?
Hi
I came across your website browsing for anything gluten free as I’ve recently discovered I am. I make biscuits and cakes for markets and thought of trying out some of my “normal” recipes with gluten free flour, however, the ready made GF flours you buy at the supermarket cost a fortune even through the supplier. I will definitely give your recipe a try, but could you tell me what I can substitute the brown rice flour with as I experimented with it recently and the biscuits turned out dard brown. Also would you have a recipe for Self Raising Flour Mix, I live in Australia and Gluten Free is only recently becoming very common, there isn’t much information out there. I’ve noticed that the US if quite advanced in this area.
I’m hoping for get my biscuit and cake recipes right and start selling them to gourmet shops. Sorry for all the rambling and thankse for reading.
@ Renee: I generally only work with brown rice flour so I can’t offer a substitute, but I’m not sure that is your problem. The biscuits that I make using brown rice flour and corn starch come out very light and do not get as golden brown on top as biscuits made from white wheat flour.
To make self-rising flour add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to 1 c. of my flour mix.
I just want to share, something that I am sure others have also shared, I buy my rice flour and tapioca flour at Asian food markets. The rice flour is very fine. You can also get glutenous (spelling is bad) rice flour, which I believe is made from sticky rice and has no gluten in it at all. I can buy a pound of rice flour for 1.50 and a pound of tapioca flour for .99. When I make biscuits, I use a combination of the white rice flour and brown rice flour- he expensive one (along with tapioca flour and potato starch) -and two tsp of xanthan gum. For the liquid I use rice milk that has been treated with vinegar (1 tsp vinegar for every cup milk alternative and let stand for a minumum of 5 minutes before using) (alternative for dairy buttermilk) My biscuits turn out awsome! Will send recipe if Mary Frances is willing.
You can buy potato starch at the Asian grocery store as well. We stopped using Bob’s Red Mill products as they weren’t organic anyway so there was no reason to use them. The only organic rice flour that is on the market where I live is very gritty so there is no advantage to using it.
Lori
Hello – I’m trying to find a flour mix to replace the Bob’s Red Mill one I currently use – although my 1 year old will eat muffins made with it, I think it is too “beany” tasting! Your mix looks good, except that she is also allergic to rice and soy…yes, rice! So, for her we avoide wheat, rice, oats, barley, dairy and soy (plus we avoid egg & dairy for my son’s allergies – yep, baking is a bit challenging here). Any suggestions would be helpful…thanks.
@Kim: The cookbook “The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy” by Bette Hagman has quite a few bread recipes that are rice, soy, gluten, and dairy free. They do contain eggs, but at least you’d only have to be doing one substitution. Hope that helps!
I am new to gluten-free cooking as well. My husband is gluten, wheat, & soy intolerant. Myself and our two children have always eaten wheat. Recently, my husband and I have decided to take the whole family completely wheat, gluten, and dairy free. Eventually, we would also like to remove eggs and sugar completely. I have been doing alot of research on gluten-free baking to try to come up with a good flour recipe for sandwich, dinner rolls, and pastries. This website has been very helpful – as it saved me alot of trial and error. I enjoyed reading everyone’s posts and am glad to know there are people all over the world trying to cut wheat and gluten as a diet staple. I just ordered Bette Hagman’s “The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread”. I have alot to learn because I am not an avid baker.
Mary Frances’ comments about the addtions to make a self-rising flour should be used for biscuits and what other baked goods?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mary Frances:
I too am new at gluten free baking. My 4 1/2 year old son was just diagnosed with celiac disease (and I’m pretty positive he’s not the only one in the house–so everyone is going gluten free). I tried Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour and OMG I wanted to throw up. The pancakes tasted like bile or something!! My husband who was the trendsetter for GF said it was pretty bad. My 4 1/2 year old loved the pancakes, though. Must not have developed taste buds! I am eager to try your mix….but I was wondering what I could substitute the masa harina with ( I know I’ll taste the corn) and do you need xanthan gum in your recipe?? I am going to use sorghum intead of soy (just because I have heard rave reviews about sorghum) and I understand I can use potato starch instead of corn starch (only because I already bought the potato). What do you recommend my ratios be…. Thank you so much.
Brandi
Sorry I forgot to mention…it was the tapioca flour that made my husband & I want to throw up!! I figured that out by individually tasting the flours in Bob’s mix. Yuck!!! I used a diffrent mix for chewy chocolate chip cookies that used the tapioca flour and those were good. My culinary spouse thinks it’s because there is a ton of butter and sugar in those bad boys!! Oh, and of course the kids loved those too!!
Hi Everyone: I’ve been going through some of the comments and like the idea of trying coconut flour for cake/cupcake style recipes. However, my big goal for this year is to come up with a good gluten-free pie crust. I know it can be done and I’d sure appreciate having something that is workable and tastes good too. I was a great pie baker before I started a gluten free diet.
can I use the flour mix for the usual method of making drop dumplings for stews? What about cocoanut cake?
I’m also new at all this and unfortunately after reading all the helpful comments I cant find what I need. We are gluten, corn, potatoes, shorgum and soy free. What kind of mix can I do without all these, potatoes and corn seems to be everywhere?!
Thanks,
Ellie xx
Ellie, It looks like you could do 3 parts brown rice flour, 3 parts tapioca starch, 2 parts garfava flour, and 1 part almond flour. It will be a bit more expensive than my mix, but all of these flours are available at the Bob’s Red Mill website. If you’re not crazy about garfava flour, try substituting a white bean flour.
Brand new to this and loaded with questions. I’m not a fan of soy and haven’t found any sorghum flour in my brief experience in the gf world. Can coconut flour be used in the all purpose blend, or would it be too strong in taste for most cooking (thinking here of savory type recipes)?
Thanks so much! I’ve learned a lot in the past few days from reading here.
Is potatoe starch flour, potatoe flakes from instant potatoes ground up? I am illiterate to the flours and need advice. And tapioca starch, can you get that in the super market? I know they sell tapioca, but I have never taken the time to see if they have the flour. I have a book that gives gluten free recipes and they have a mix that I would like you to see and tell me if it will work or it will be to grainny or strong before I go out an buy the flours it requires. It goes 2 parts white rice flour, 2/3 part potato starch flour, 1/3 part tapioca flour. And when it calls for parts how would that break down to cups? Rita
@Rita.
If the ratio of the flours that you mentioned above is correct, you could use a cup to represent a “part”, giving you 2 Cups white rice flour, 2/3 Cup potato starch flour and 1/3 tapioca flour.
Diana
@rita,
I get all of my flours at the bulk store here in town. They have a pretty good variety of gluten free flours and starches.
In my previous message, I meant to write “1/3 Cup tapioca flour”. I recognized this as soon as I submitted it, but messages can’t be edited once they’re sent, to correct my ooops.
Diana
@rfaulkner06: As far as I know, potato starch is not ground up potato flakes. Potato starch and tapioca starch/flour are typically found at specialty grocery stores that carry a wide-range of gluten free flours, or through mail-order sources such as Bob’s Red Mil.
Lets try this again, my connection was lost. My husband had a visit with the allergist today. He had gone to a gastro doctor earlier. He has had tests that shows nothing so far with the gastro doctor with a cat scan a colonoscopy, and blood work. He has constant stomache cramps and diarrhea after eating any meal any type of food almost. Especially when we go out to eat, but as well as if we eat at home. The allergist was the last resort. He told my hubby that he needed to go on a gluten free diet which my husband said i was already on. Is there anyone out there that can relate to these symptoms or know of someone who has this problem and what they have been diagnosed with? I have been told by the gastro doctor it was IBS, what exactly is it. Is it just a term to catch all when they don’t know what is wrong with you? Is there a specific medication he should be on specific to IBS all they put him on was Lomotil to stop the diarrhea. Heck, the pain pills will have the effect to constipate you so that should have helped that way and it didn’t. I am so sorry about the subject matter everyone!! I need some direction. Thank you. Rita
@Rita,
No apologies necessary for the subject matter, as all of us have difficulties in some area of digestion, otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.
A question I have is, has he been checked for lactose intolerance? I have heard and read that if raw milk (unpasturized) is ingested, that there wouldn’t be anything called lactose intolerance, as the pasturization process kills all vitamins and enzymes needed for digestion. Then, they put some back in it and call it “enriched”. It’s so much healthier unpasturized. I’m searching for it where I live, but in Canada, it’s illegal to sell it, so it’s very difficult to find.
Rita, here’s the link to the post where I tell about being diagnosed with a wheat allergy instead of celiac. I was having lots of stomach cramps and diarrhea too, and the gastro said it was IBS. However, it turned out to be a wheat allergy.
I Don’t Have Celiac!!
Rita,
Try an elimination diet — take out the gluten, dairy, eggs, and other things that may be upsetting the tummy. Some other foods/ingredients to consider are soy and msg. Start a diet diary, which includes all foods, snacks, and drinks, followed by reactions and comments on general well-being. This will also be helpful to the allergist. Try going organic as much as possible, as this keeps the body cleaner.
I am gf and soy free. My flour blend is a mixture of rice, tapioca starch, corn starch, masa harina and xanthan gum. It can be a frustrating process to determine what the problem is. Hang in there.
Rita,
And read the labels on everything you eat, including the seasonings and spices! Might be an idea to eat at home, or eat only homemade food for a while.
Mary Frances, looked at the site, and was quite informed. I was sickly growing up. after being on my, I had some testing done. Allergies to wool, tomatoes, chocolate, grass, mold, mildew, dust mites and some plastic compounds. Then had moved to Florida and had more tests after moving back to my state of childhood. I aquired allergies to trees. Bad part is I bought a house with 50 of the ones I was allergic to before I knew I was allergic to them. I figured out I have to watch what I drink too. I am not a party person, but at times I will have a drink. I couldn’t drink things with Gin, But I could Vodka. Vodka is filtered a number of times. I can’t drink some wines, especially the ones in oak barrel processing. When I was a baby longggg ago, I had a problem with milk, formula. I had to be on goats milk. Now I also have allergies to medications, anesthesia is among the list. To have my teeth worked on I have to go under general anesthesia. A dentist won’t even touch me. It is amazing that as long as the dental field has been in existance they don’t seem like they have evolved much in research for anesthesia types of products. I was given all the “canes” in various doses, with and without preservatives and childrens doses and still felt numb from the top of my head to the center of my chest. I would be hooked up to all kinds of monitors. Then the nitrous oxide laughing gas, that was a laugh. I didn’t know that you were suppose to be able to open your eyes while under. I couldn’t open mine. Then one day while I was under everything went black and I passed out. I was given oxygen for a few hours before I could leave the office. And with windows open in the winter to feel able to drive, stopped in the ER to be put on oxygen for a couple more hours. So my system has not tollerated a few things. Most of it has been after a thyroid problem unless that was just a coincidence. I am not a good speller. I hope my adult kids aren’t this bad I have a grandson who is 9 and is starting with the allergies. Thank you all for you input and suggestions. I will be using them.
[...] cups gluten free bread flour 2 tsp. xanthan gum 1 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. baking [...]
[...] 1/3 c. Mary’s Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix* 2 tsp. xanthum gum 1 tsp [...]