Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour (2024)

FAQs

Which gluten-free flour is best for baking? ›

Best Overall: Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour

This mix, which has all recognizable ingredients (including sweet white rice flour, which is the main ingredient in mochi, a nice light, powdery, starchy flour that doubles as a binder), worked well in all three of our tests.

Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

(For more on xanthan gum and its role in gluten-free baking, see our guide to xanthan gum.) Why it's great: Made from a blend of white rice flour, whole grain brown rice flours, tapioca starch, and potato starch, this flour yields baked goods with no grittiness or aftertaste.

When to Swap All-in-One Gluten-Free Flours for Regular Flour. These gluten-free flour blends substitute well in batters that use baking powder and/or baking soda to leaven—such as cookies, muffins, and cakes—along with batters that are wetter in texture, like pancakes and quick breads.

Substitute by weight, not volume. Moreover, because they are finer, they weigh less than all-purpose flour, so it is a good idea to substitute your blend for the all-purpose by weight, rather than by volume. If the original recipe calls for 260 grams of all-purpose flour, substitute with 260 grams of your blend.

Use xanthan gum or guar gum: Gluten-free flours lack the elasticity and structure that gluten provides, so adding a binder like xanthan or guar gum can help to hold the ingredients together and give your baked goods a better texture.

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

This gluten free product was handled exclusively in our dedicated gluten free facility and tested for gluten free integrity in our quality control laboratory using an ELISA Gluten Assay test.

It's not all good news though as gluten-free flours simply cannot fulfil this same function of leavening which is why you might have experienced flatter and denser bakes when using these flours. At this point you will need to turn to other sources to help your gluten-free baked goods to rise.

If you want to buy just one gluten-free flour, we highly recommend the Pillsbury all-purpose gluten-free flour. Not only is it our favorite gluten-free flour, and easy to use in gluten-free recipes, but it's also one of the few gluten-free flours currently on the market that is recommended for baking with yeast.

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

Do I need to add xanthan gum to gluten-free flour? ›

Xanthan Gum adds thickness and viscosity to gluten-free breads and other baked goods. Without xanthan gum, your gluten-free baked goods would be dry, crumbly and flat. Because xanthan gum is gluten-free and vegan, it's the preferred thickener for those home bakers with food allergies.

All gluten-free flours have a different taste. Some gluten-free flours are naturally sweet, some are nutty, while others have a strong flavor. When you're just getting started baking gluten-free, experiment with as many different flours as you can. Be sure to keep notes about which flours you like and which you don't.

In fact, baker's yeast reacts well with gluten-free all-purpose flour and other gluten-free flours like rice flour for baking gluten-free bread recipes and pastries. It's not so much the yeast you have to worry about when sticking to a gluten-free diet.

Shipton Mill gluten-free plain white flour is great for everyday and keeping the cupboard stocked for lots of eventualities. Marvellous in a Victoria Sandwich with loads of jam and cream, it holds its own with the best of the wheat flours.

Gluten-free baked goods often benefit from extra liquid to hydrate the flour blends, eliminate grittiness, and achieve a less dense or dry texture. However, it's very important to drive off this extra moisture during baking, or you'll wind up with a gummy texture.

If you want to buy just one gluten-free flour, we highly recommend the Pillsbury all-purpose gluten-free flour. Not only is it our favorite gluten-free flour, and easy to use in gluten-free recipes, but it's also one of the few gluten-free flours currently on the market that is recommended for baking with yeast.

Baking with gluten-free flour will produce some slight differences in taste or texture. Millet flour tends to have a mild flavor while buckwheat flour lends itself to a more earthy taste. In addition, quinoa flour has a nutty flavor and bean flour can actually sometimes taste like beans.

It works well in recipes that call for baking powder or yeast, making it a versatile product you'll reach for time and time again. At Bob's Red Mill, we're proud of our wide range of gluten free products.