Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Mix
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Most of us eat too much gluten. Before I was diagnosed with a mild gluten sensitivity a few years ago, I ate wheat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And snack time. Convenience foods such as cereal, bread, snack bars, and pasta tend to be full of gluten ingredients. There is a debate about whether wheat should be avoided even by people without gluten sensitivity, but I’m not going to get into that. There are a lot of nutritious grains out there, and if we eat too much of one of them, we aren’t getting enough of the others. (See here for my thoughts about eating too much of the same foods.)
When I first began avoiding gluten, I got a cookbook called Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals by Silvana Nardone. This book was a lifesaver for me in my transition, as it provided recipes for things like cornbread, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies. These were essentials to my diet, and I was relieved to find a gluten-free approach to these foods. I stocked up on Silvana’s homemade gluten-free flour mix, which is a combination of white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, and salt. It carried me beautifully through the transition.
When I made the commitment to real food, I knew this combination of ingredients wouldn’t fit the bill. I did some research, but I couldn’t find a good resource for real food homemade gluten-free flour. I know these ingredients aren’t as close to the source as a batch of freshly ground whole wheat flour, but I didn’t have a great alternative. I can’t eat almonds, so almond flour was out of the picture for me. To this day, I don’t have a perfect solution.
For lack of a better option, this is the homemade gluten-free flour recipe I use. I fill a big container with this mixture so I can easily grab a cup or two when I’m baking. I switched Silvana’s white rice flour to brown rice flour, which is a whole grain product. I also dropped the salt because I didn’t think it was necessary. Otherwise, I’ve generally maintained her proportions. Some people use corn starch in their gluten-free flour mix, but I stay away from that because so much of the corn grown in the US is genetically modified.
Ingredients
- 5 cups brown rice flour preferably Bob's Red Mill
- 2 1/2 cups tapioca flour
- 1 1/4 cups potato starch
- 1 1/2 tbs. xanthan gum
Instructions
- Thoroughly combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.
- Transfer to a storage container and store the flour in a cool, dark cabinet.
Approximate Nutrition Info
Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Mix Price Breakdown
A cup of this homemade gluten-free flour mixture costs $.75, while a cup of white whole wheat flour costs $.15. I actually prefer the gluten-free version to whole wheat flour in many recipes because it is lighter in texture. If I didn’t have a gluten sensitivity, I would never have started baking with these ingredients. But I’m glad I did because it has added a variety to what my family is eating, and that’s a good thing.
If you have suggestions for other real food homemade gluten-free flour combinations, I’m all ears.
Can you make gluten free flour without brown rice & white rice flour and garbanzo flour? Like millet flour, cassava flour, tapioca flour, almond, coconut and etc?
Yes, there are many recipes that just use cassava flour, millet, flour, etc. I don’t have a mix that includes these other flours, though.
I like using sweet white sorghum flour in place of brown rice flour. Seems to work well.
I cannot eat xanthan gum. What can I substitute?
I’m not sure of a substitute. Some people leave it out. Xanthan gum helps to bind the final product together, but this mix should work without it. Your baked goods may be a bit more crumbly, though.
I can’t afford xanthan gum. I substitute the same amount of guar gum. Works great! Another idea is to use a package of plain gelatin to flours that don’t have gluten and crumbly and dry.
Psyllium Husk Powder. Mix it with your wet ingredients until it forms a glob, then add in your dry ingredients. 1 1/2 tbs per cup of flour. Its superior to xanthan gum, imho… Buy psyllium husk powder, not whole husks.