RECIPE: GLUTEN-FREE, ALL-PURPOSE “WHITE FLOUR” BLEND

SIMPLIFYING GLUTEN-FREE (GF) BAKING

In order to prevent the hassle of opening three or more bags of flour every time you wish to whip up a gluten-free recipe, you may find it helpful to mix a large quantity of GF all-purpose flour together. You’ll only need to open all five bags one time to mix up a huge batch of flour, and then when you want to put a recipe together you can just pull out a single bag or jar.

This particular GF flour blend is meant to mimic a bag of white, all-purpose, wheat flour. Much of the flour in this recipe is made up of starch and binding flours which create baked goods with a lighter texture. It can, therefore, be used to replace flour blends with a similar “white flour” characteristic in gluten-free recipes of all kinds.

CUSTOMIZING WITH YOUR BINDER

The downfall of creating an all-purpose blend is that it will not be customized for the ideal loaf of sandwich bread or the tender pie crust. These are on the opposite ends of the baked-goods spectrum, as bread generally needs more elasticity and binding whereas pie crusts are meant to remain tender and flaky. So while using an all-purpose blend will generally produce good results, you may find that fine tuning your flour mixture for specific types of baked goods – namely bread loaves or pastries – will generate a better outcome.

Most gluten-free recipes will also call for a specific amount and type of binder, which is often determined by the type of baked good. This particular recipe gives a measurement for xanthan gum, but it is listed as optional. Xanthan gum is used to mimic the gluten property of wheat flour. It is generally needed in larger quantities for high-rising yeast breads and in smaller quantities for tender cakes, pies, and cookies.

If you choose to leave out the xanthan gum, you can then customize the amount and type of binder to the recipe being made which may help resolve the issues with flour customization mentioned above.