Skip to content

Gluten-free

A personal experiment in remaking favourite recipes without using regular flour turns into a lesson in the chemistry of what makes food taste so good.
SONY DSC
There’s no xanthan gum in this recipe. Because these no-wheat brownies are so dense

A personal experiment in remaking favourite recipes without using regular flour turns into a lesson in the chemistry of what makes food taste so good.

Since May is celiac awareness month, I decided to tread into the waters of gluten-free baking. No one is gluten intolerant in my household, but I wanted the challenge of baking some old time favourites like breads, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies without the traditional gluten enriched ingredients.

What began as a personal culinary venture turned into a lesson on the importance of gluten in everyday baking.

After a few failed attempts, I learned that the trick to make gluten-free baked goods is to find a way to replace the power of gluten. In order to replicate the structure and texture gluten provides you will need xanthan gum and combination of different non-wheat flours.

Xanthan (ZAN thun) gum — it sounds mysterious and very alien but is an important ingredient to gluten-free baking. It replaces the gluten in yeast breads and helps bind, thicken and emulsify gluten-free ingredients. If you don’t add this gum, your baked goods will likely end up as a pile of crumbs!

It is available in health food stores and specialty grocery stores, like Nutters.

The amount of xanthan gum needed will depend on the type of product and its reliance on the gluten structure. Breads rely heavily on gluten for their structure, cakes to a lesser extent, and cookies very little.

Typically, the starchier and/or more refined the crumb, the less the reliance on gluten. Suggestions for the addition of xanthan is 1/4 teaspoon for cookies, 1/2 teaspoon for cakes, one teaspoon for muffins and two teaspoons for bread.

After the gum comes the flour. From beans and grains to tubers and seeds, there’s a rich and wonderful array of delicious and nutritious gluten-free flours available now a days. Each flour and starch has unique properties that affect the texture and flavour. A combination results in a better baked item than using single flours, and some recipes will specify which ones to use.

Though there are many pre-mixed gluten-free flours available, you can also easily make your own pre-mixes. The flours listed below are alternatives to wheat flour. It is important to be aware that there is no exact substitute for wheat flour, and recipes made with alternative flours will be different from those containing wheat.

Gluten-free flours to discover

Potato starch flour is a gluten-free thickening agent that is perfect for cream-based soups and sauces. Mix it a little with water first, then substitute potato starch flour for flour in your recipe, but use half the amount called for.

Tapioca flour is light, white, very smooth flour that comes from the cassava root. It gives baked goods a nice chewy texture. Try it in white bread or French bread recipes. It is also easily combined with cornstarch and soy flour.

Sorghum flour, also called milo or jowar flour, tastes similar to wheat. Available in red and white varieties, it has a slightly sweet taste and imparts a whole-wheat appearance to baked goods. Sorghum flour is high in protein, imparting all-important structure to gluten-free baked goods. Sorghum flour is ideal for darker, heavier baked goods, like brown bread or ginger cookies. It should be no more than 25 to 30 per cent of any gluten-free flour blend.

Soy flour is nutty-tasting flour that has a high protein and fat content. It’s best when used in combination with other flours and for baking brownies, or any baked goods with nuts or fruit, which will mask any “beany” flavour. Another bean based gluten-free flour is chickpea flour. This flour may also be referred to as besan or garbanzo four.

Cornstarch has probably always been in your pantry. A refined starch that comes from corn, it’s mostly used as a thickening agent for puddings, fruit sauces, and Asian cooking. It is also used in combination with other flours for baking.

Corn flour is the finely ground form of corn meal. This flour is milled from corn and can be blended with cornmeal to make cornbread or muffins. It is excellent for waffles or pancakes.

Cornmeal can be ground from either yellow or white corn. This is often combined with flours for baking. Using too coarse a grind can produce gritty baked goods. It imparts a strong corn flavour that is delicious in pancakes, waffles, or muffins.

Rice flour is excellent basic flour for gluten-free baking. It is milled from polished rice. Because it has such a bland flavour, it is perfect for baking, as it doesn’t impart any flavours. Brown rice flour is whole grain, so it is nutritionally better, but makes things heavier. Gluten-free baking also sometimes asks for sweet rice flour or glutinous rice flour. This is confusing because this type does not contain gluten but is made from short grain rice “sticky” rice. The Japanese term for this flour is mochiko since it is used in making mochi (rice cakes).

Simple Gluten Four Mix

1 part sweet white sorghum flour,

1 part white rice flour

1 part tapioca flour

Mix and store in airtight container in fridge.

Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread

2 1/2 cups brown rice flour

2/3 cup cornstarch

2/3 cup dry milk powder

1 tablespoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups warm water

1 packet active dry yeast

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs

In a small bowl, combine water and yeast. Stir to combine. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add yeast mixture, vegetable oil and eggs. Using an electric mixer, mix dough for five minutes on medium-high speed. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with vegetable spray. Spread batter evenly into the pan. Lightly grease a piece of plastic wrap and cover the pan. Allow dough to rise for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake dough for 55 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 208°-211°F. Remove bread from oven and turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups gluten-free baking mix

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F ( 190 degrees C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar. Gradually add eggs and vanilla while mixing. Sift together gluten- free flour mix, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture until blended. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips. Using a teaspoon, drop cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Blueberry Muffins

10 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 cup sugar

grated zest of a lemon

2 large eggs

3 cups gluten-free flour blend

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ cups plain yogurt

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together with a spatula. (If you beat the mixture for awhile with an electric mixer, the muffins will not rise – stick to doing it by hand.) Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each.

Add a cup of the flour along with the baking powder, soda and salt, and mix well. Add half the yogurt and stir until combined, then another third of the flour, the rest of the yogurt and the rest of the flour. Stir in the berries.

Divide the batter among muffin tins that have been lined with paper liners or sprayed with non-stick spray, filling them. (You’ll get about 18-20 muffins.) Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch.

No-Wheat Brownies

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 8-inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine first 4 ingredients together in bowl. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add brown sugar; cook and stir for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa. Add flour mixture until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Beat in eggs until batter is smooth. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean.

Madhu Badoni is a Red Deer-based freelance food writer. She can be reached at madhubadoni@gmail.com. Watch for Madhu’s Masala-Mix blog on www.reddeeradvocate.com.