For around eight years, I have been baking with shop bought gluten-free flours. Never really getting the result I wanted, and it was never on par with my pre-coeliac baking days. I just assumed that this was as good as it got. I was also thankful that at least it was better than say twenty-five years ago. I remember my dad who was a baker, trying to get results from the gluten-free flour back then. I remember some colourful language and some baked goods that could double as doorstops. With this in mind, I ploughed on, trying to ignore that odd taste and gritty crumbly texture when cooked.
Then just over a year ago, I remember seeing on a few websites about how you could mix up a batch of different gluten-free flours, using certain ratios of each one to make your own plain flour mix. This seemed like a great idea to me. I had already noticed that not all gluten-free plain or self-raising flour was equal. A lot of the lower priced ones seemed to feel more like cornflour in touch. I usually ended up paying for the more expensive ones in the hope of better results.
So I sat down at my desk and researched until my eyes crossed, reading all I could on the types of flours I would need and why. I also made up a few batches of recipes I found online. Some were great, some not so. At the end of the day, though I wanted to make my own version. At last, I have two different mixes that I am happy with. At the end of the day I wanted people to say wow that cake was good, not that cake was good for a gluten-free one.
This makes up 1kg, I normally make 2kg at a time, just double up on the quantities. Sieve all the flour into a large bowl and mix, then store in a large sealed container. It is better to measure up in grams than cups to be more accurate as each cup of different gluten-free flours does not weigh the same.
Ingredients
- 200g brown rice flour
- 200g millet flour or sorghum flour
- 200g sweet rice flour
- 100g white rice flour (or 300g sweet rice flour)
- 300g potato starch
You will notice i do not add xanthum gum to the mix. I prefer to add it separately later on. The amount depends on what I am making. See below.
cakes and biscuits 1/4 tsp of xanthum gum per 200g of flour
Pastry small pinch of xanthum gum per 100g
Bread 2 tsp of xanthum per 500g
Have a try, maybe switch things around and make your own version.
Thank you