Baking Tips for Gorgeous
Gluten Free Creations
Marilyn Le Breton (C) 2012
Gluten Free Flour
The most important thing to remember when baking with gluten free flour is this one golden rule:-
All gluten free flour and flour mixes are NOT the same.
You really must (unless you are a very experienced gluten free baker) stick to the flours used in the recipe you are
following.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of times I am told that something didn’t turn out ‘right’, ‘nice’,‘tasty’ etc only to discover when I ask, that the baker has used a completely different flour to the one recommended in the recipe. You wouldn’t stick the wrong petrol in your car and expect it to perform well so please don’t use flours/flour mixes that are not recommended for the recipe that you are following.
Different flours have different textures, consistencies, absorbencies, weight to volume etc, not to mention that they all have very different tastes.
Unless otherwise stated, I always use Respectrum Gluten Free Flour Mix, which has been specially blended for me, to suit all of my recipes, by Innovative Solutions, the link below will take you directly to Respectrum Flour bulk baking option (there is also a smaller 500g size for purchase on the site).
http://www.innovative-solutions.org.uk/site/product_45.php
Other gluten free flours I occassionally use are:
Organic coconut flour.
Do try and get an organic version of this, as the non-organic version is bleached to make it look pure white. It's never a good idea to use foods that are bleached if you can possibly help it, plus the organic verison has a much nicer taste. The organic coconut flour is a very pale yellow colour and a creamy smell to it. This flour has a very over powering flavour and a very little goes a looooong way, so use sparingly. It can also clump together so when you use it, make sure you sift it through a fine mesh sieve first.
Hemp flour.
I love this flour, it’s full for goodness and supplies some much needed roughage and fibre into the boys diet. It also helps to make the best gluten free bread (in our fussy opinion). I get mine in a big tub from the same suppliers as Respectrum Flour Mix, Innnovative Solutions.
Gram Flour.
This is also known as chickpea flour. I use this mixed together with the Respectrum Flour Mix when I need a more ‘robust’ flour, for making things such as wraps or yeast free rolls.
Gluten free flours that I rarely use are:
Quinoa.
(pronounced Keen-wa) flour. Although this is an incredibly healthy grain full of wonderful nutrients, but I am just not very keen on its taste as a flour in baked goods. I do however have a very tasty saviour quinoa cracker recipe that I shall post at a later stage.
Maize meal/cornmeal/maize flour.
This is purely because both myself and my eldest son, Luke, have trouble digesting this and get tummy ache if we eat too much of it. We are both fine with corn flour (the very fine flour that is most commonly used to thicken sauces). It’s a shame as one of the nicest sweet gluten free roll recipes I have ever come across contains cornmeal. So I will post it anyway for those of you lucky enough not to have a corn problem. It also means we can’t eat a lot of the gluten free dried pastas that are available, as most are corn based, but this motivated me to making my own pasta & it is so easy that I kick myself I took so long to get around to doing it!
Gluten free flours I strongly recommend that you NEVER use with your child on the diet are:
Soya flour.
This is a very heavy flour with an overpowering taste and the finished cake/biscuit/bread is never as light or as pleasing to taste as those made with other flours.
Brown rice flour.
This is another heavy flour that alters the taste and texture of the finished product considerably. There are also concerns that brown rice inhibits the uptake of calcium by the body –something we all need to avoid, but even more so where our children are concerned.
All gluten free flour and flour mixes are NOT the same.
You really must (unless you are a very experienced gluten free baker) stick to the flours used in the recipe you are
following.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of times I am told that something didn’t turn out ‘right’, ‘nice’,‘tasty’ etc only to discover when I ask, that the baker has used a completely different flour to the one recommended in the recipe. You wouldn’t stick the wrong petrol in your car and expect it to perform well so please don’t use flours/flour mixes that are not recommended for the recipe that you are following.
Different flours have different textures, consistencies, absorbencies, weight to volume etc, not to mention that they all have very different tastes.
Unless otherwise stated, I always use Respectrum Gluten Free Flour Mix, which has been specially blended for me, to suit all of my recipes, by Innovative Solutions, the link below will take you directly to Respectrum Flour bulk baking option (there is also a smaller 500g size for purchase on the site).
http://www.innovative-solutions.org.uk/site/product_45.php
Other gluten free flours I occassionally use are:
Organic coconut flour.
Do try and get an organic version of this, as the non-organic version is bleached to make it look pure white. It's never a good idea to use foods that are bleached if you can possibly help it, plus the organic verison has a much nicer taste. The organic coconut flour is a very pale yellow colour and a creamy smell to it. This flour has a very over powering flavour and a very little goes a looooong way, so use sparingly. It can also clump together so when you use it, make sure you sift it through a fine mesh sieve first.
Hemp flour.
I love this flour, it’s full for goodness and supplies some much needed roughage and fibre into the boys diet. It also helps to make the best gluten free bread (in our fussy opinion). I get mine in a big tub from the same suppliers as Respectrum Flour Mix, Innnovative Solutions.
Gram Flour.
This is also known as chickpea flour. I use this mixed together with the Respectrum Flour Mix when I need a more ‘robust’ flour, for making things such as wraps or yeast free rolls.
Gluten free flours that I rarely use are:
Quinoa.
(pronounced Keen-wa) flour. Although this is an incredibly healthy grain full of wonderful nutrients, but I am just not very keen on its taste as a flour in baked goods. I do however have a very tasty saviour quinoa cracker recipe that I shall post at a later stage.
Maize meal/cornmeal/maize flour.
This is purely because both myself and my eldest son, Luke, have trouble digesting this and get tummy ache if we eat too much of it. We are both fine with corn flour (the very fine flour that is most commonly used to thicken sauces). It’s a shame as one of the nicest sweet gluten free roll recipes I have ever come across contains cornmeal. So I will post it anyway for those of you lucky enough not to have a corn problem. It also means we can’t eat a lot of the gluten free dried pastas that are available, as most are corn based, but this motivated me to making my own pasta & it is so easy that I kick myself I took so long to get around to doing it!
Gluten free flours I strongly recommend that you NEVER use with your child on the diet are:
Soya flour.
This is a very heavy flour with an overpowering taste and the finished cake/biscuit/bread is never as light or as pleasing to taste as those made with other flours.
Brown rice flour.
This is another heavy flour that alters the taste and texture of the finished product considerably. There are also concerns that brown rice inhibits the uptake of calcium by the body –something we all need to avoid, but even more so where our children are concerned.
Xanthan Gum
Xanthan Gum
Xanthan gum is something I use in almost all of my gluten free baking. I find it almost magical, as it puts elasticity back into the baked item which is vital for baking bread or making pasta. It also binds the ingredients together and gives the food a better and more normal texture. It will very often stop the food you are making from ending up as at best very crumbly and just ‘not right’ or at worse it will become a pile of crumbs.
Xanthan Gum has been approved to be used in foods since the late 1960s. And it is used in lots more than ‘just’ gluten free baking. You’ll find it lots of different foods, especially ice creams, sauces and salad dressings. It’s also used in cosmetics and toiletries (especially toothpastes).
So what is Xanthan Gum?
Yuck, I hate science-y bits.
Very basically, it is a sugar that has been fermented with a bacteria. The bacteria used it the one that makes broccoli and cauliflower go black. That piece of information made me 'eeeuuuwww' when I found out too! And then it is dried into a very fine powder.
Phew that got me out of typing a long string of latin names!
BUT because the sugar that is fermented can come from several sources, you need to do a bit of investigating& be sure the one you are using is safe to use in gluten and dairy free baking. Usually (because it is being sold as a gluten-free gluten substitute) it will be made from corn or soya (most commonly corn) but it can also be made from wheat and milk. So please do check the source of the xanthan gum you have and do not use it until you are sure it is safe to use, as apparently residual amounts of gluten have been found in xanthan gum derived from wheat at a level high enough to affect those who are highly sensitive to gluten – i.e. our children!
This really needs checking when you use a ready made product that contains xanthan gum, it’s not a good idea to assume that it is gluten free and safe for our children, until you know for sure.
The Xanthan Gum I use is derived from corn dextrose and despite Luke & I having a corn intolerance, it doesn’t affect us at all. I get it from the same company that supplies the Respectrum flour, Innovative Solutions
http://www.innovative-solutions.org.uk/site/product_20.php
Xanthan gum can seem like a very expensive product when you first start to use it. In 2013, 100g will cost almost about £6.66 for a good food grade and diet safe version. But you use very little each time you bake, usually
just 1tsp or approximately 2grams or 0.1 oz (very approximate as my scales were not happy weighing such a teeny amount), so that’s about 13 pence ago. It also lasts a heck of a long time if you store it in an airtight container and by 'a long time', I mean years.
Important tips for baking with Xanthan gum
PLEASE be extremely careful to use EXACTLY the amount specified in the recipe.
The easiest way to do this is to level off the amount of xanthan gum in the measuring spoon with the back of a knife, so that the amount is a level spoonful.
Not enough xanthan gum and the texture will be too crumbly.
Too much xanthan gum (and that means just a pinch too much) and you’ll get something that starts to resemble rubber - not a good texture to have in your baking.
Never, ever, never, never, ever use a food processor or electric whisk or any motorised kitchen gadget when the ingredients include xanthan gum. If you do, you will ‘over-work’ the xanthan gum and you will have a batter/dough that starts to resemble well chewed chewing gum and the end texture will be rubber, if you are lucky or plastic if you really went to town and over-worked it.
The exception to this 'electric gadget' rule is the use of a bread machine with a gluten free programme. The gluten free programme is designed not to overwork the xanthan gum,
I don’t own a food processor. This will shock all those who know me as ‘the kitchen gadget Queen’. I don’t need one – mixing up cake mixes or cookies dough by hand is a complete & utter doddle using just a good old fashioned wooden spoon.
Xanthan gum is something I use in almost all of my gluten free baking. I find it almost magical, as it puts elasticity back into the baked item which is vital for baking bread or making pasta. It also binds the ingredients together and gives the food a better and more normal texture. It will very often stop the food you are making from ending up as at best very crumbly and just ‘not right’ or at worse it will become a pile of crumbs.
Xanthan Gum has been approved to be used in foods since the late 1960s. And it is used in lots more than ‘just’ gluten free baking. You’ll find it lots of different foods, especially ice creams, sauces and salad dressings. It’s also used in cosmetics and toiletries (especially toothpastes).
So what is Xanthan Gum?
Yuck, I hate science-y bits.
Very basically, it is a sugar that has been fermented with a bacteria. The bacteria used it the one that makes broccoli and cauliflower go black. That piece of information made me 'eeeuuuwww' when I found out too! And then it is dried into a very fine powder.
Phew that got me out of typing a long string of latin names!
BUT because the sugar that is fermented can come from several sources, you need to do a bit of investigating& be sure the one you are using is safe to use in gluten and dairy free baking. Usually (because it is being sold as a gluten-free gluten substitute) it will be made from corn or soya (most commonly corn) but it can also be made from wheat and milk. So please do check the source of the xanthan gum you have and do not use it until you are sure it is safe to use, as apparently residual amounts of gluten have been found in xanthan gum derived from wheat at a level high enough to affect those who are highly sensitive to gluten – i.e. our children!
This really needs checking when you use a ready made product that contains xanthan gum, it’s not a good idea to assume that it is gluten free and safe for our children, until you know for sure.
The Xanthan Gum I use is derived from corn dextrose and despite Luke & I having a corn intolerance, it doesn’t affect us at all. I get it from the same company that supplies the Respectrum flour, Innovative Solutions
http://www.innovative-solutions.org.uk/site/product_20.php
Xanthan gum can seem like a very expensive product when you first start to use it. In 2013, 100g will cost almost about £6.66 for a good food grade and diet safe version. But you use very little each time you bake, usually
just 1tsp or approximately 2grams or 0.1 oz (very approximate as my scales were not happy weighing such a teeny amount), so that’s about 13 pence ago. It also lasts a heck of a long time if you store it in an airtight container and by 'a long time', I mean years.
Important tips for baking with Xanthan gum
PLEASE be extremely careful to use EXACTLY the amount specified in the recipe.
The easiest way to do this is to level off the amount of xanthan gum in the measuring spoon with the back of a knife, so that the amount is a level spoonful.
Not enough xanthan gum and the texture will be too crumbly.
Too much xanthan gum (and that means just a pinch too much) and you’ll get something that starts to resemble rubber - not a good texture to have in your baking.
Never, ever, never, never, ever use a food processor or electric whisk or any motorised kitchen gadget when the ingredients include xanthan gum. If you do, you will ‘over-work’ the xanthan gum and you will have a batter/dough that starts to resemble well chewed chewing gum and the end texture will be rubber, if you are lucky or plastic if you really went to town and over-worked it.
The exception to this 'electric gadget' rule is the use of a bread machine with a gluten free programme. The gluten free programme is designed not to overwork the xanthan gum,
I don’t own a food processor. This will shock all those who know me as ‘the kitchen gadget Queen’. I don’t need one – mixing up cake mixes or cookies dough by hand is a complete & utter doddle using just a good old fashioned wooden spoon.
Vanilla Sugar
Flavouring baking for this diet can be tricky.
Nearly every sort of flavour that essences come in will cause a problem.
The exception to this is vanilla.
Some on the diet are unable to tolerate vanilla but this a very small percentage and you will already know if you have a highly reactive child and won't even be thinking of trying to flavour foods.
The problem with using vanilla to flavour baking is how to do so. The vanilla essences, flavourings etc that you can buy are not going to be diet friendly.
The problem lies in what the vanilla flavour is suspended in. 9 time out of 10 its suspended in alcohol - which a complete and utter no-no for our children.
Occassionally you will find it suspended in an oil but unless it is sunflower oil, it isn't going to be any good for our children.
The best way I know to flavour food with vanilla is to make vanilla sugar and it so easy to do.
You need a large glass airtight jar (a large jam or coffee jar is ideal) which you fill up with sugar.
Break a vanilla pod into 3 or pieces and push them into the sugar.
Screw the lid on tightly and wait a day or two.
Voila - vanilla sugar. As you use the sugar, just top it up with more sugar.
In a few months you will notice the flavour isn't as strong.
Remove the pieces of vanilla pod and relace with fresh pieces.
Nearly every sort of flavour that essences come in will cause a problem.
The exception to this is vanilla.
Some on the diet are unable to tolerate vanilla but this a very small percentage and you will already know if you have a highly reactive child and won't even be thinking of trying to flavour foods.
The problem with using vanilla to flavour baking is how to do so. The vanilla essences, flavourings etc that you can buy are not going to be diet friendly.
The problem lies in what the vanilla flavour is suspended in. 9 time out of 10 its suspended in alcohol - which a complete and utter no-no for our children.
Occassionally you will find it suspended in an oil but unless it is sunflower oil, it isn't going to be any good for our children.
The best way I know to flavour food with vanilla is to make vanilla sugar and it so easy to do.
You need a large glass airtight jar (a large jam or coffee jar is ideal) which you fill up with sugar.
Break a vanilla pod into 3 or pieces and push them into the sugar.
Screw the lid on tightly and wait a day or two.
Voila - vanilla sugar. As you use the sugar, just top it up with more sugar.
In a few months you will notice the flavour isn't as strong.
Remove the pieces of vanilla pod and relace with fresh pieces.