The “All-Purpose” Gluten-Free, Corn-Free Mix I Use For Recipes On This Site
February 21, 2011
Basic “All-Purpose Flour” Mix
2 cups Brown Rice Flour (I use Authentic Foods Superfine*)
1/3 cup Tapioca Starch (also called Tapioca Flour)
2/3 cup Potato Starch (NOT flour)
—>Mix well in large plastic container or Ziploc bag. Store in cool place or fridge.
*Authentic Foods mills wonderful, silky smooth flours that yield baked goods that are noticeably superior to those made with coarser gluten-free flours. This quality comes at a premium! The Authentic Foods Flours are expensive, but worth the price. Once you use their Superfine Flours, you will never go back.
Can I use the yeast bread flour mix in a sourdough starter? Last summer I created a sourdough culture from the grapes on my backyard vine. I’ve been thinking about making a GF sourdough but didn’t know where to start.
Nancy, I have done a lot of reading about gluten-free sourdough breads, but I haven’t tried making them yet. Back in my days of wheat eating, I was obsessed with my “pet” sourdough starter that lived in the depths of our refrigerator, so I would be thrilled if you gave it a try and reported back! Here is a link to one of my favorite Bread Making Blogs. They have gluten and gluten-free breads here. You won’t find a more passionate community of bread bakers on the web!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/keyword/gluten-free-sourdough-starter
Here is another website to check out for baking GF Sourdough breads. http://glutenfreesourdough.blogspot.com/
Have fun!
I’m so happy there is more published articles about those of us that are challenged by gluten and other allergies. Look forward to trying some of the recipes that have worked for you. I’m yearning to someday have a gluten free ciabatta. Love, and miss you! Sylvia
p.s. Diane says that we are “wheatarded”!
Terris, do you ever use a bread-making machine?
Hi,
I do know that Karina’s (Gluten-Free Goddess) site has some great posts about using a breadmaker for gluten free bread baking. Your question though is timely since I have an upcoming post about my gf/df sandwich bread! Cheers, Terris
Thanks for stopping by! I have used a bread machine before when baking gluten-free (Breadman TR520 Programmable Bread Maker) breads, but I was never that satisfied with the results. Of course, I only tried 2 or 3 times, so perhaps I didn’t try hard enough.
Have you ever substituted sorghum flour for brown rice? I like the flavor better and it seems to have the same (if not more) nutritional value. Found you via pinterest and am quickly becoming obsessed…
Hi Tammy, I’m so glad you found me through Pinterest! Love that site.
Regarding the sorghum flour, I love working with it and really like the taste and often sub out some of the brown rice flour in a recipe for sorghum. Since I think these flour combos really are a question of personal taste bud preferences, I encourage people to use the combo they like best. For now, I have been sticking with the brown rice, potato starch, tapioca starch combo because these 3 seem to be the easiest to come by for people who don’t have access to specialty or health food stores. I also hesitate to call for 4 different types of flours in recipes (brown rice, sorghum, potato s, tapioca s) since some people (particularly those new to baking gf) get overwhelmed by the sheer number of ingredients! But, when baking for my family, we love the combo of those 4. For some reason my kids don’t seem to like the sorghum only + potato starch + tapioca starch combo quite as much, but like I said, it seems to be such a personal thing. Happy baking, Terris
Hello,
I just wanted to know instead of using brown rice flour can I use sweet rice flour? If so could you tell me the difference with the two flours? I did order from Authentic foods and I have finally got my flours; but instead of brown rice I ordered sweet rice only because I have not eaten brown rice before and was’nt to sure on the taste. Well overall thanks again for the recipes I will be giving some a try!!! (all smiles)
I’m so excited for you that you got your flours! You are ready to get in the kitchen and do some baking!
The sweet rice flour is a great product, however, it is a bit different from the brown rice flour I call for. Sweet rice flour is milled from a short grain, starchy, white rice. It is used mainly for thickening gravies and sauces. Some gluten free bread and baked good recipes call for a very small amount of it (1-2 tablespoons). It can add lightness and moistness to a baked good, but too much can really make for a gummy end result. The brown rice flour actually has a very mild flavor, and when mixed with the tapioca starch and potato starch in the amounts I specify, you will end up with a flour blend that mimics the flavor profile of a regular all-purpose flour (that you used before going gf). So, for best results, I would definitely buy some brown rice flour (perhaps Bob’s Red Mill if it’s easier to come by). Good luck and happy baking!
GREAT!! Thank you sooooo much I will go ahead and order some brown rice flour!! Thanks again for all the advice and help!!
Am looking for G F, CF flour blends that don’t use potatoe flour or starch. Will arrowroot flour work as substitute for the potaoe starch or a mix with 2 tsps sweet rice flour, or are there other substitutes that give the same expansion that potatoe does? Cassava flour or white sweet potatoe flour (if I can find it)?
Sorry for the delayed response but for some reason I just found your comment in my spam folder! Arrowroot flour/starch would definitely make an acceptable substitute. Potato does have good expansion but another reason I use it is because it keeps breads and gf baked goods a bit moister than arrowroot. Adding the tiny bit of sweet rice flour may help with that, but I haven’t tried it myself so I can’t guarantee it. Cassava flour (also known as tapioca starch/flour) will also work, but I try to use a combination of it, with the potato starch to attain the best flavor. So, you could use the cassava/tapioca starch with arrowroot for a nice flavor. Some people report a metallic aftertaste if they use too much tapioca starch. Regarding the white sweet potato flour, I don’t have an opinion because I’ve never worked with that or even seen it. I’m quite curious though and will try to research it! Thanks for stopping by and I hope this helps a bit!