Sometimes you just want to break out and do some experimentation in the kitchen – and I’d really like to start creating some of my favourite recipes from some non-gluten free favourites too. So where do I begin?
Once as rare and hen’s teeth, gluten free cookbooks are now popping up everywhere.
The only problem is that the vast majority of them fill their pages with home cooked main meals that few of us struggle with. I mean, do we really need guidance on how to cook our lamb shanks and french beans gluten free?
The ones that I have learned to seek out give gluten free versions of the meals I’ve generally had to do without – lasagne, canelloni, quiche, pancakes – and the list goes on…
These are wonderful books to have on hand – but sometimes you just want to break out and do some experimentation – and because I have been feeling adventurous of late, I really want to start creating some of my favourite recipes from non-gluten free favourites too.
Of course the main ingredient I will need to replace is wheat flour – so where do I start?
Flour substitutes
At the recent gluten free expo in Sydney, a couple of the presenters talked about substitute gluten free flour mixes – which I found fascinating given my current sense of restlessness. For general baking, they suggested 2 parts fine rice flour, 1 part maize cornflour (check it is gluten free), and 1 part of either soy or chickpea flour. For self raising flour they suggested you add 2 teaspooons of gluten-free baking powder.
Of couse the main idea is to mimic the protein levels, elasticity and texture of wheat flour so you can get a fairly good result and I plan to start experimenting on a range of cakes and biscuits soon.
Rice flour is popular becuase it is low on the allergy spectrum, versatile and widely available – and the secret is to get a fine ground one. Asian supermarkets tend to stock this and I have also recently switched to using brown rice flour in my cakes (which I can get from Coles or a health food shop) – which does add a rather a joyfully smooth, spongy texture to my cupcakes.
Then to add the protein part – you can add either chickpea or soy flour (depending on allergies and sensitivies and ease of supply).
To save time, it makes sense to me to make up a bulk blend of these flours to use for general baking, but for those that are not as keen – of course there are already some wonderful pre-mixed flours on market – and a glance at the ingredients list should tell you if it fits the right baking profile for you.
Bobbie Crothers, a dietician at the gluten free show in Sydney said that because gluten free flour is dryer than ordinary flour, it adapts better to heavier, and moister recipes with smaller amounts of flour with ground nuts with high fruit content with coconut. But does not perform so well with recipes with high flour content that are traditionally light and fluffy – like breads and pastries.
So how do you go about increasing the elasticity of your flour? This is where the added guar gum or xanthum gum come in. These are jellyish type additions that give some bounce and stickineess to your baked glories – and I have recently invested in a small pack of the latter which I found in the health food section of my supermarket.
Xanthan v Guar gum
So what is the difference between the two? According to wikipedia, guar gum is a naturally occuring substance that comes from the guar bean (which is why many gluten free health food labels use it as an ingredient) with 8 times the thickening properties of corn starch. Although it does pretty similar things, Xanthan gum is grown artificially and is able to maintain its elastic properties at very high temperatures which is why it has become a very popular additive in food, although some people have shown sensitivity to it.
As for results in cooking – I am not sure how the two stack up as I have only used Xanthan gum, but I do also plan to try out guar gum when I next see a pack in the shops.
Of cours finding the perfect wheat flour substitute for favourite recipes in ordinary baked products are one thing – but unfortunately when it comes to breads and pastry – its not so easy to fake it – which is why I will be leaving that one to the experts for the time being. (Although it is something I intend to investigate in the future.)
But for the time being, I am about get started on my first project - so stay tuned for a full update soon on ‘Operation Gingerbread Man’ .
LH
interesting article. Thank you. sometimes I think you need to be a scientist to read and understand some product labels and know which flours to mix
I’d have to agree. I’ve given up on baking bread and just buy it. I make cakes from mixes, but that’s about it. I’ll make a not give the flour substitution a go with 1 part chickpea flour.