Sorghum, amaranth, quinoa, millet, teff, garbanzo, fava bean…
What do these grains have in common? They are all gluten-free, and recently have been found in some new gluten-free flour blends. (And of course they are also wheat-free.)
Last year I did a round up post of some of the gluten-free flours that are available on the market. At that time most of the blends available were some combination of rice (brown rice, sweet rice), potato starch, and tapioca flours. These flours make a great replacement for your standard wheat flour when baking.
More recently I’ve been finding some newer choices for flour blends – using a variety of alternative whole grains – and I’m loving that idea!
Here’s the low-down on a couple of them:
King Arthur Flour glutenfree whole grain flour blend – I discovered this on a recent trip to the King Arthur flour store in Vermont. By now you’ve probably seen the new King Arthur gluten free multi-purpose flour
in the standard blend of rice/potato/tapioca. The new whole grain blend is sorghum, brown rice, amaranth, quinoa, millet, teff, and tapioca. Like the multi-purpose flour there is no xanthan gum in this blend so you need to add your own. I’m going to try this to make some whole grain muffins!Bob’s Red Mill glutenfree all purpose baking flour
– I recently ran across this at my local health food store. This one combines garbanzo bean, potato starch, tapioca starch, white sorghum, and fava bean flours. This one also contains no xanthan gum, so be sure to add some. I haven’t decided what to make with this one yet. Any suggestions?
1 comment:
Hi Colette! I started out with Bob's Red Mill All Pupose. It works for pretty much anything. Some people don't like the "beany" taste, but we got used to it over time.
My general all purpose flour now is a blend of sorghum and a couple of starches I mix up myself. I like it and it gives enough added stability to the finished product that I don't use xanthan gum and it works fine.
My bread blend is a multi grain with lots of different flours, most of the protein flours such as amaramth, buckwheat, quinoa, teff, millet, etc. It requires quite an initial investment to buy all the flours, but I think it's worth it. I also use it for pie crust and made gingerbread cookies with it at Christmas. I was whole grain baker before I went gluten free so I don't mind the heaviness of these grains. I don't use xanthan gum with it either.
I'm still experiementing with flours. That's my recipes tend to call for different flours and blends. -- Rogene
Post a Comment