Sunday, September 27, 2009

Homemade Flour Mixes ~ Totally Worth It

Since our family went gluten-free on August 1, I have been using pre-packaged GFCF flour mixes: Bob's Red Mill Baking Mix and Bob's Red Mill Biscuit mix instead of homemade GFCF flour mixes. It wasn't until I tried Pamela's Gourmet GF cookies that I realized the unique (metallic ?) taste in BRM Mixes is so unnecessary. I can only surmise that this unique taste comes from the ground beans they use. I looked at the ingredients list on Pamela's GF cookies and noticed there are no bean flours, but rather combinations that include rice flours instead.

I did more research at TACA and was surprised to see that one of the contributors for the flour mix recipes page thinks rice flours (used in Bette Hagman's Feather Light recipe and Pamela's GF cookies) are gritty.

To me, regular flour seems very "light" so I decided to make a combination of Bette Hagman's Feather Light and the recipe the Taca author preferred - GF Flour Mix II. I omit the almond flour simply because it is so expensive.

Today I made my first from scratch recipe using my combo flour mix and it is just leaps and bounds better than Bob's Red Mill mixes, in my opinion. There is no weird taste or aftertaste and I detected no grittiness at all. I remain grateful to Bob's Red Mill mixes for helping me get started on this GFCF journey, and for also giving me that nudge I needed to actually make a flour mix. For, once I tasted Pamela's cookies, there was just no going back.

I must stress the importance of adding xantham gum to your recipes that call for GFCF flour, unless you want a cake that does not rise. I also noticed that cake recipes, instead of calling for 1 teaspoon of baking powder (for example), call for 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder AND 1/2 tsp. of baking soda.

I will edit the recipes I have posted thusfar to include flour mixes.


*** Update: November 20, 2009 ***

I am now using Carol Fenster's Sorghum Blend Flour Mix recipe exclusively for all recipes that call for flour: Carol's Gluten-Free Flour Blends

I use Sorghum Flour Blend (#3) and I omit the 4th ingredient. This blend, minus the 4th ingredient, is featured in the Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook that I purchased in September.

5 comments:

Kathi said...

Good morning...check this link out:
http://www.gluten.net/recipes/index.php?catid=1

The rice flour blend is the one I used all of the time. The tapioca is what makes it great. Thanks for this post because I got lazy with the BRMF too and I am tired of the taste of beans!

christine said...

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I could not be any more thrilled to find you! We found out that our 18 month old had Celiac about 6 months ago and that I also have a gluten intolerance. It has transformed our life, but we feel SO much better now, it is worth it! Just today I was thinking that I need to start mixing my own flour to see if I can make some of my old holiday recipes this winter. I don't want everything to have that gritty aftertaste. I am SO, SO excited about your blog! Off to read more!

Southern GFCF said...

Thanks Kathryn. The link to that site is also on the Outback Steakhouse website.

christine, I am so happy you found us. Glad you're all feeling better! I haven't been as prolific with the recipes as I'd hoped to be. I am really, really going to try to post more often.

Don't you just love Pioneer Woman?! Kathryn told me about her. (Thanks again Kathryn!)

I am also excited about the prospect of GFCF holiday cooking. Our new Carol Fenster GF cookbook is as big as a Bible.

xo

Jenny said...

I use different flour blends for different recipes, but my favorite blend for the moment is the Gluten Free Pantry french bread mix. I can replicate it with my own flours, I have like 83 flours in my fridge, LOL. Also LOVE Cybele Pascal's the Allergen free bakers handbook. Every recipe I have tried came out so good I could serve it to non-diet people without a second thought. Everything in the book is free of the top 8 and gluten.

Southern GFCF said...

Wow Jenny, thanks again! :)