I have many vivid, strange and sometimes terrifying dreams, and I’m always able to move on with my life without giving them much thought. I tell you this because I recently had a dream that I couldn’t eat gluten, and it still haunts me. Take how I feel, multiply it by a million, and you probably still won't be close to understanding how it feels when a cake-lover is told to avoid gluten.
Enter gluten-free flour.
Twenty years ago, the idea of baking fluffy, light gluten-free cakes at home was unimaginable. Now that gluten-avoidance has become a health trend, gluten-free products have become big business, and that can only be a good thing for those of us who want to do some gluten-free baking.
Gluten-free baking is not completely foolproof, though. If you're just starting out, these tips will make things an awful lot easier.
What Is Gluten?
Without delving too much into the more technical details, gluten provides structure and elasticity to your bakes. If you've ever made your own bread at home, you'll know that the dough becomes stretchy and elastic as you knead it. Combined with yeast and moisture, the gluten provides the scaffolding required for your bread to rise. It also helps keep the whole thing together. It's not just important in bread. All sorts of bakes benefit from gluten.
Can I Substitute Gluten-Free Flour For Regular Flour?
Yes and no. It depends on what you want to make and the gluten-free flour blend you want to use. I've successfully used Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain Flour in pancakes with no need to add anything extra, but if you're using a flour blend without xanthan gum (like Doves Farm plain flour) you may want to add some in. If you're adapting a recipe with gluten in it to make it gluten-free, start with 1/4 tsp for every 200g of gluten-free flour and take it from there. As the name suggests, xanthan gum can make your bakes gummy so less is more. (Unless gummy cakes are your thing. That’s a bit weird, though.) If your flour blend already contains xanthan gum, work away. You may need a little extra liquid (gluten-free flour loves liquid) but I've successfully made a Madeira cake by simply replacing regular self-raising flour with gluten-free self-raising flour that already contains xanthan gum. If you're using a single flour rather than a blend (like coconut flour) you can't just replace your regular flour with it.
Why Do I Need To Add Xanthan Gum?
Gluten helps bind your bakes. Without it, you may end up with a crumbly mess. Adding a binder like xanthan gum helps keep the mix together and provides structure. If you're baking a sponge cake, xantham gum will help prevent it sinking in the middle. I'm all for a cake with a sunken middle if it means creating a delicious pool of icing, but it's not ideal. Xanthan gum is readily available in supermarkets these days, but you could also try adding guar gum or even a 'flax egg'. Mix ground flax seeds (or chia seeds) with double the amount of half water and leave to form a gel for about 10 minutes. If your recipes calls for 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum, mix 1 teaspoon of flax seeds with 2 teaspoons of hot water to create your flax egg. Easy!
What Can I Make With Gluten Free Flour?
What can't you make? Well, it depends on your expectations. If you long for a warm slice of fresh, crusty bread, you may be out of luck. Your bread may be a little cakier than you'd like it to be, and your cookies might not be as chewy, but they'll still taste good. In reality, anything you make with regular flour can be made with gluten-free flour. It just might not be the same as you're used to.
If you're not a seasoned gluten-free baker, start by trying out recipes that are already gluten-free rather than adapting your favourites. As someone who likes to create new cake recipes on a whim (because I clearly enjoy screaming ‘why won’t you rise?’ into the oven!) believe me when I tell you that baking is a science and messing around with recipes without doing your research first can sometimes end in disaster. As you learn a little more about how gluten-free flour reacts, you can give your family cupcake recipe a go and see how it works out. This is extra important when it comes to bread. (Gluten is super important when making yeast bread, and gluten-free bread making is a different beast altogether - gluten-free bread flour will give you the best results.) Use a tried and tested recipe and take it from there.
Bakes that require a gentle touch (so you don't activate the gluten too much) work really well. When I make muffins, I mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, and still a little lumpy. Otherwise, the muffins end up tough and dense. If you want to adapt a recipe that uses regular flour, start with muffins!
Any Other Gluten-Free Baking Tips?
Apart from using xantham gum to keep it all together, and adding a little extra liquid, you could try adding an extra egg to keep your cake super moist. If you're having issues with a cake that just won't rise, up the leavening agent (baking soda/gluten-free baking powder) by a tiny amount (1/4 teaspoon) and see if that helps.
If you’re making pastry, use enough water to create a sticky ball, wrap it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. By then, the pastry should have absorbed the extra moisture.
What Other Flours Can I Use?
The gluten-free flour you buy in the supermarket is simply a blend of different flours that are naturally gluten free. Doves Farm Gluten-Free Plain Flour combines rice flour, potato flour, tapioca flour, maize & buckwheat flour. As you become more familiar with how different flours react, you can create your own blends to suit whatever you want to bake.
Many gluten-free flour options, like buckwheat flour and brown rice flour, are often mixed with something else rather than used alone. Buckwheat flour has a pretty strong flavour, and brown rice flour is too heavy to use alone.
My favourite gluten-free flour to use in baking is coconut flour. Because it absorbs so much liquid, you can't use it as a direct substitute for regular flour in your recipes without making some other changes, but there are some amazing recipes out there that successfully use coconut flour. We're all about this Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts at the moment here in Recipe Guru.
What If I Don’t Want To Use Flour?
No problem! Lots of recipes are naturally gluten-free. Think flourless chocolate brownies or light, delicate pavlovas. (Coole Swan says that it is gluten-free here.)
And Finally...
Experiment, make mistakes and have fun. And remember: most gluten-free baking disasters are still edible. Maybe don't serve them to your guests, though.
These gluten-free recipes will help get you started:
Blueberry & Oat Cookies
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Cupcakes
Lemon & Almond Cookies
Linwoods Chocolate Chip and Flaxseed Blondie Brownies
Raspberry & Banana Muffins