Gluten-Free Baking: Essential Flours and Starters

Gluten-free baking has come a long way in the past 10 years. When I was first diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that required me to go gluten-free, it was an incredibly hard process. There were not a lot of options available in regular grocery stores. There was a lot of trial and error, and it was incredibly expensive. Fortunately, the number of products available has increased, as well as the quality and accessibility of these products. Allow me to introduce you to gluten-free flours and starches and share my experience of how they can be used in baking.

1:1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour

A mix of gluten-free ingredients, 1:1 flours are meant to be used in baked goods that are not yeasted. The “1:1” is referring to the ratio for replacement in a recipe. It means you replace the all-purpose wheat flour in a recipe with an equal amount of the gluten-free flour. For example, if a recipe calls for 2½ cups regular all-purpose flour, you would use 2½ cups gluten-free baking flour (by volume, not weight). Every brand is a little different, but it will be a mixture of rice flours, starches, and gums.

Gluten-Free All-Purpose and Bread Flours

These types of flours are meant to be more successful in leavened breads. There are two big differences between these flours and 1:1 baking flour. First, most gluten-free bread flours are made with wheat starch that has had the gluten removed. It’s important to know that even though they are gluten-free, they are not wheat-free, so these products might not be suitable for your dietary needs. Second, these flours typically do not have xanthan gum in the mixture but use psyllium fiber instead to build structure and elasticity.

Almond Flour/Meal

There are a ton of different nut flours/meals out there that you can use to add flavor, texture, and nutrients to baked goods, but the most common is almond. This product is typically not used on its own in baked goods and needs to be blended or mixed with another flour product. If you would like to add it to an existing recipe, our recommendation is to replace no more than 25% of the flour in a recipe with a nut flour/meal (by weight, not volume).

Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is similar to nut meals, as it adds flavor, texture, and nutrients to a baked good. However, it is extremely absorbent—it can absorb about four times its weight in liquid. We do not recommend using this in recipes unless the recipe has been specifically developed and tested with coconut flour.

Oat Flour

Oat flour is oat groats that have been ground into a fine powder. It will add both flavor and nutrients to a recipe. It’s important to make sure that if you are dealing with a severe allergy or celiac disease, you double-check the packaging to make sure the oats are certified gluten-free. Sometimes oats are milled on the same machines as wheat grain, which can result in cross-contamination.

Rice Flour

Rice flour is the foundation for most gluten-free baking. It’s made from finely ground rice and can be made from either white or brown rice. It can be used as a thickener instead of flour but is mostly used as a replacement for flour in cookies, cakes, and pastries. Sweet rice flour (or glutinous rice flour) is different from regular rice flour; it’s made from sticky short-grain rice and used to make specific recipes, like mochi.

Cornmeal

Cornmeal/corn flour is ground white, yellow, or blue corn and is available in fine, medium, and coarse grinds. This flour is typically used in quick breads, but the coarser-ground meals are great for dusting the outside of yeasted doughs to keep them from sticking and give a fantastic crunch once baked (think pizza crust and English muffins). What size grind you use in recipes is totally up to personal preference, but I like fine and medium best. Be aware there are a lot of cornmeal mixes out there (such as self-rising cornmeal mix or cornbread mix) that are a blend of regular flour and cornmeal with leavening, which are not gluten-free.