My Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour
At first, my greatest challenge was finding a substitute for gluten-full, all-purpose flour. I quickly realized that baking without gluten wasn’t as simple as swapping flours. What could help the gluten-free flour behave the way I needed it to?
I tasted, smelled and experimented with gluten-free flour after gluten-free flour, jotting down notes about likes and dislikes, successes and failures. The trick, I learned, is to choose ingredients not just for flavor, but for performance, so that cake is light and moist, pizza crust is tender and crisp, and gravy is rich and creamy.
When I started to develop my gluten-free all-purpose flour, I wanted it to have a limited number of ingredients and a neutral flavor so that I could use it in all of my recipes. After much experimenting, I chose white rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch as my base. Next I had to figure out the proportions. The cakes quickly let me know that a higher ratio of tapioca flour to potato starch yielded cakes that had more springiness and were less crumbly. I added salt to my flour blend to round out the flavors. The last ingredient was xanthan gum, an emulsifier and stabilizer.
It took me months of trial and error to develop this gluten-free all-purpose flour. My blend is an old-school mix of white starches, but if you want to add more fiber, replace the 6 cups of white rice flour with half white rice flour and half brown rice flour. In my experience, the classic ratio that mimics gluten-full unbleached all-purpose flour is 60% grain flour (white rice, brown rice) and 40% starch (tapioca flour, potato starch). If you decide to use a gum, which I recommend in small amounts for final overall texture, add about ½ teaspoon of xanthan or guar gum per 1 cup grain/starch blend.
My Gluten-Free All-PUrpose Flour
Makes about 10 cupS
Prep Time 12 minutes
I like to have a good-size container full of gluten-free all-purpose flour on hand, which I store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. If you have enough room, you can store the flour in your refrigerator or freezer—especially in the humid summer months. Just shake or whisk before using. I’ve listed both weights and volumes in the recipes, because when you’re making a large quantity, measuring by weight speeds things up.
INGREDIENTS
6 cups (870g) white rice flour
3 cups (375g) tapioca flour
1½ cups (246g) potato starch
1 tablespoon (9g) salt
2 tablespoons (18g) xanthan gum
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients.
