Gluten Free Flour Mix
Next Monday, September 16th, I'll be starting my very first blog series, sharing one meal off our menu each week, that will be called "Menu Monday". This series has been in the works for awhile, but I'm finally ready to launch it.
Because our over half the family is strictly gluten free, all the recipes that I share will be gluten free. Some may also have conversions for doing it non-gluten free, and most have been adapted from regular recipes and can easily be made either way.
One very, very, important part of gluten free cooking, especially baking, is what flour you use. When we first went gluten free, it was a royal nightmare trying to figure out how to cook with so many different flours, and what flours to use for what. Finally, we stumbled upon a flour blend that can be used in exchange for wheat flour in nearly any recipe. Because I'll use this in so many recipes that I share, I wanted to share it as a separate post that I can link back to anytime I call for, or reference to, this flour.
Gluten Free Flour Mix*:
2 Parts rice flour (we use brown rice, but white can also be used)
1 Part tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum to every cup of flour (Very, very, very, important. Do NOT leave this out.)
Mix all together well.
We store ours in a plastic canister in the cupboard, and mix up batches of approximately 9-15 cups at a time. This can also be mixed up in larger batches and stored in the freezer. I honestly don't know how long it keeps not in the freezer however, because we normally mix up a new batch every few days, as much as we go through. It should be fine for at least a couple months though, I think.
*Note: Although this can be exchanged for wheat flour in most (but not all) recipes, it's not quite an equal exchange rate. Rice flour is more absorbent than wheat flour, so we use about 7/8 of a cup of GF flour mix in exchange for every cup of wheat flour called for.
For those of you who are wondering what in the world gluten free means: Gluten is the protein that is found in many, but not nearly all, grains, the most common of which, are wheat, barley and rye.
Here is a more complete definition from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten-free_diet
Because our over half the family is strictly gluten free, all the recipes that I share will be gluten free. Some may also have conversions for doing it non-gluten free, and most have been adapted from regular recipes and can easily be made either way.
One very, very, important part of gluten free cooking, especially baking, is what flour you use. When we first went gluten free, it was a royal nightmare trying to figure out how to cook with so many different flours, and what flours to use for what. Finally, we stumbled upon a flour blend that can be used in exchange for wheat flour in nearly any recipe. Because I'll use this in so many recipes that I share, I wanted to share it as a separate post that I can link back to anytime I call for, or reference to, this flour.
Gluten Free Flour Mix*:
2 Parts rice flour (we use brown rice, but white can also be used)
1 Part tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum to every cup of flour (Very, very, very, important. Do NOT leave this out.)
Mix all together well.
We store ours in a plastic canister in the cupboard, and mix up batches of approximately 9-15 cups at a time. This can also be mixed up in larger batches and stored in the freezer. I honestly don't know how long it keeps not in the freezer however, because we normally mix up a new batch every few days, as much as we go through. It should be fine for at least a couple months though, I think.
*Note: Although this can be exchanged for wheat flour in most (but not all) recipes, it's not quite an equal exchange rate. Rice flour is more absorbent than wheat flour, so we use about 7/8 of a cup of GF flour mix in exchange for every cup of wheat flour called for.
For those of you who are wondering what in the world gluten free means: Gluten is the protein that is found in many, but not nearly all, grains, the most common of which, are wheat, barley and rye.
Here is a more complete definition from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten-free_diet
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