A primer on gluten-free flours
Vanilla Almond Flour Cake with Raspberries
There are a variety of reasons to minimize wheat flour in your diet including celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity or the need to find lower glycemic alternatives for metabolic health. You can avoid gluten while still celebrating life with the occasional treat. Below are some of my favorite flours in my gluten-free kitchen:
Almond flour is made from ground blanched (peeled) almonds. It is high in fat, protein and calcium and is a good option when following a low-carbohydrate diets. Almond flour has a mild nutty flavor and is dense in texture. It is great for cookies. It does not rise well so cakes made with the flour are often dense. I recommend sifting before using and storing it in the freezer or a cool dry place. Almond meal is typically made from raw unpeeled almonds. Compared to almond meal, almond flour has a finer texture and lighter color.
Note: Other nut flours, like hazelnut or chestnut flours, cannot be subbed for one another due to differing fat content.
Recipes: Chocolate cake, Vanilla cake
Almond and Arrowroot Rose Cardamom Cookies
Arrowroot flour is ground from the root of a tropical Indonesian plant. It is mild tasting and can add crispness to cookies. It can also be used interchangeably with cornstarch as a thickener or to give a glossy finish to sauces. It is a good dredging agent. Arrowroot tubers are rich in fiber and the flour may be a good source of prebiotic fiber. It is best mixed with other flours as a blend when baking.
Recipes: Savory Pie crust
Despite it’s name, the buckwheat plant has nothing to do with wheat. It is gluten-free and grain-free and has more protein, dietary fiber, and B vitamins than an equal weight of oat or whole wheat flour. Buckwheat flour has an earthy, slightly bitter flavor that is excellent in soba noodles, crepes and hearty sweet or savory treats like biscuits or scones. Beware, excessive mixing or beating may result in a tough texture of your baked good. As a general rule, keep buckwheat flour to about 25% or less of the overall flour mixture.
Recipes: Buckwheat crepes
Chickpea flour is a pale, yellow flour made from ground chickpeas. It is high in protein, fiber, calcium, iron, folate and B vitamins. It is often used in dough, dumplings and noodles or as a thickener for sauces. It can also be used as batter for fried foods. It can impart a mild bean-like flavor to baked goods, so it is best to combine with other flours or use it with strongly flavored batters such as spice and/or chocolate flavors. Socca is a delicious, traditional French pancake from Provence made from chickpea flour.
Recipes: Socca
Almond Flour Doughnuts
Coconut flour is made from fresh coconut meat that is dried, de-fatted and ground into flour. It has a similar protein profile as wheat flour. Because it is high in fiber and low in carbohydrates it is an excellent option for low carbohydrate baking. Coconut flour has had the oil removed from the ground coconut flesh making it light in texture but requiring strong binders to hold the baked good together. It has a strong coconut flavor. Store in the freezer or refrigerator.
Recipes: Almond and coconut flour scones
Corn flour is made from finely milled kernels of corn. The entire kernel is used to make this product. Corn flour can give lighter texture to baked products and is often used in gluten free pasta.
Oat flour is made from ground whole or rolled oats. It is easily made with a highspeed blender. It is slightly sweet in flavor and high in protein. It is useful for building structure in a baked good like cookies or crusts. It is heavy in texture and does not work well in cakes meant to be light and spongy.
Recipes: Banana Bread
Carrot Cake with Almond Flour
Potato starch is made from steamed potatoes that have been dried and ground. This starch is a dietary source of iron. It is bland in flavor and can lump up easily. It imparts a chewy, fluffy texture to baked goods and is often used in mixes. It is a good thickener and stores well.
Brown rice flour is made from finely ground whole grain rice containing bran and germ. It is high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Its texture can be gritty and crumbly and the items prepared with it can dry out easily. It is best combined with other flours. It has a short shelf life. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Sweet rice flour is good for sauces. It is an excellent thickening and binding agent. It makes things chewy. Sweet rice flour is ground from glutinous, waxy rice, containing more starch than brown and white rice flours.
White rice flour is neutral in flavor with a sandy texture and long shelf life. It is best combined with other flours as it tends to be grainy.
Red Velvet (Beet) Almond and Cassava Flour Waffles
Tapioca flour is also known as cassava, yucca, or manioc flour. Tapioca starch and flour are the same product. It is milled from the dried starch of the cassava root. Cassava flour incorporates the whole root, whereas tapioca flour is made up of only the starchy part of the plant. Tapioca starch thickens when heated with water and is often used to give body to puddings and sauces. Beware, too much tapioca starch can make a baked product sticky or tough. (Using as a 1/3 portion of a flour mixture typically works well.) While it is a great binder, it is inadequate for creating the texture needed for cake.
Recipes: Red velvet waffles, Cassava flour tortillas
There are actually many more varieties of flour than what I have listed above. Typically, multiple flours are combined to create a blend that behaves close to all-purpose wheat-based flour.
Here is a recipe from my culinary alma mater, The Natural Gourmet Institute:
All purpose Gluten-free flour blend:
2 cups white rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
Treat this blend like it is all-purpose flour. Store it in an air-tight container.
Join a Relish Health Virtual Cooking Class to learn more about gluten and dairy free cooking and baking.
Need a source for these flours? Try Thrive Market.
Try some of these recipes:
DUTCH BABY PANCAKE
PREBIOTIC-RICH POTATO LEEK TART (GRAIN-FREE)
TOASTED MARZIPAN
TIPS TO MAKE YOUR HOLIDAY COOKIES MORE HEALTHY
(This blog post is not sponsored by any manufacturer. However, at no cost to you, Relish Health may receive a commission on purchases made through an Amazon link.)