Easy to make homemade gluten free flour blend – perfect for baking cookies, muffins, cakes, and more.
I distinctly remember one particular conversation I had with a friend of mine several years ago. Her dad was going through a few health issues and needed to get tested for a number of things – one of them to rule out Coeliac Disease. Our conversation went a little something like this….
Me: Wait. What’s Coeliac Disease again?
My friend: I think it’s when you’re allergic to gluten – like in bread and pasta.
Me: Oh wow, that would be horrible. I could never do that. I’d miss pizza and bread too much. I’d be so skinny though.
Man, I can be such an idiot.
I also used to say that dating people you meet online is weird and I would never do it because there’s no way you could really get to know a person without being in their actual presence. Ha!
So naturally, here I am. Years later I’m married and living in a new country with the love of my life, a man I met online. The first time we met in person was after 10 months of getting to know each other via Skype chats and Facetime calls. By the time he was finally able to make the journey from England to Arizona, being together felt like the most natural thing in the world.
And it’s because of this man that I now have this gluten free food blog, dedicated to spreading awareness about Coeliac Disease and proving that a life without gluten is every bit as tasty as one without is….just without as many dining out options.
Life has a funny way of putting me in my place.
Also, eating gluten free definitely does not make you skinny.
Gluten Free Baking
I think when most people learn that they or a loved one have to give up gluten, it comes as a huge loss – and with reason. Here’s this thing called gluten and it’s everywhere. It’s more than likely a key ingredient in some of your favorite foods: bread, pizza, pasta, cookies, bagels….It’s almost literally in e v e r y t h i n g that isn’t a fruit or vegetable. Hell, it’s even used a filler in a lot of meat products. Giving up gluten for the average person means radically changing not only your diet, but your lifestyle. In summary: it sucks.
As someone who has loved baking for as long as I can remember, learning to bake gluten free has been….a process. It’s been a long, expensive, frustrating, but ultimately rewarding process.
If there is one thing to keep in mind with gluten free baking is that you need to have patience let go of your expectations. There are so many rules of baking that no long apply once you throw gluten out of the window and new rules to come and take their place.
For example, there’s no need to worry about mixing gluten free bread dough because there’s no gluten to over work. In fact, beating your cake batter for an additional 2-3 minutes is probably even a good idea because it adds air to the batter which allows for better rising.
Gluten Free Flour Blend
For this particular recipe I strongly recommend you do yourself a favor and invest in a kitchen scale. Because this blend will be used as an all purpose 1:1 substitute for gluten containing all purpose flour, it’s important that your measurements are accurate to begin with. If you still want to measure out the flour using cups then make sure to pack the flour into each cup and level off the top. When I measured and weighed my flours this way I was able to get within 5 grams each time.
Things to keep in mind about this gluten free flour blend
Make sure that you use potato starch and not potato flour. Potato starch will provide you with light, fluffy baked goods. The latter will break your teeth. However, tapioca starch and tapioca flour are actually the same thing so either label is fine for that one.
Make sure to check and double check that the flours you’re buying are free from cross contamination. Few things are more frustrating than when you buy flours for a gluten free flour blend only to realize that they are processed in a facility that handles wheat.
Finally, make sure that you take your time to blend all the flours together properly. Spend a couple of minutes whisking everything together, shake the flours around in a jar, and/or put everything in a food processor/ blender and go to town.
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Homemade Gluten Free Flour Blend
Easy to make homemade gluten free flour blend - perfect for baking cookies, muffins, cakes, and more
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups White Rice Flour 180 grams
- 3/4 cups Brown Rice Flour |120 grams
- 2/3 cup Potato Starch | 112 grams
- 1/3 cup Tapioca Starch | 42 grams
Instructions
- Add all your flours to a bowl and whisk together. Take the time to fully blend everything together evenly. You can also toss your flours to a blender/food processor to blend.
- Store in an airtight jar/container.
Notes
Adapted from Land O Lakes Makes about 3 cups, can easily be multiplied
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
3Serving Size:
cupAmount Per Serving:Calories: 514 Carbohydrates: 118g Fiber: 2g Protein: 7g
The absolute best blend I have used in last several years! Weighing it does make it more accurate, but it is pretty close if you don’t have access to a scale. I’m sharing it with everybody I know who is gf!
Yay! Thanks Jen – that makes me so happy to hear!
Often xantham gum is made from wheat and or corn derivatives. Being a Celiac for 35 years I have found that Guar gum is actually an excellent substitute for xantham . Use a teaspoon of Guar gum per cup of flour. In addition many baking powder products also used wheat, aramath , sorghum, corn derivatives. After switching to 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda….you might find the source of your husbands gastritis .
Hi Beth! Thanks for the tips! Fortunately we’re able to find certified gluten free baking powder and xanthan gum where we live, but it’s a good thing to remind people of when they buy it. It’s crazy how many everyday food items contain gluten!
Fortunately Mike’s gastritis has passed now. He had a bad ear infection awhile back and the doctor put him on strong antibiotics that completely tore his stomach up. He went from a fairly normal (gluten free) diet to only tolerating plain chicken breast right on the back of the antibiotics. He was thankfully able to get a prescription for a good probiotic (VSL#3) and that set him right again.
Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing your hard-earned knowledge with us all. Have you any understanding or opinion about the role that brown and white rice flour play in the dynamics of the baking process? I see that your recipe here calls for more white than brown, but I’m wondering what would be different to the outcome if you were to reverse the ratio to contain more brown than white?
Regards,
Paul
Hi Paul!
Typically brown rice flour makes baked goods a little heavier feeling than white rice flour. That being said, I don’t think it will actually be that noticeable here if you’re just switching the amount of brown and white flour. You might also notice a slightly sweeter/nuttier taste if you use primarily brown rice flour which can be quite nice.
So basically, using primarily brown rice flour here might make for a slightly denser, sweeter bread but will still work and come out well. Hope that helps!
Is there something I can use instead of the potato starch? I’m not supposed to eat potatoes.
I haven’t tried it like this but you could try using more tapioca starch or arrowroot starch in place of the potato starch
How would you make a yellow sheet cake recipe using this flour? What other ingredients do you need?
Hi Jessaca! I don’t have a particular sheet cake recipe I use but you might like this one http://theheritagecook.com/tender-yellow-cake-with-fudge-frosting-gluten-free/
Can i use this flour to make bread ?
As long as the recipe is calling for an all purpose gluten free flour (or flour blend) than that should work!
Your comment about this being a process is so apt. Thank you for making it a bit easier to sort out gluten-free baking. What a journey it’s turning out to be.
Totally! It’s been almost 4 years now since switching over to gluten free and I’m still learning little things here and there with cooking/lifestyle. I’m so glad I’ve been able to help!
ive been thinking that maybe 1/2 cup of slightly ground chia seeds or flax seeds added would make for a flour that would hold together better..just thinking
It’s something to play around with and try! I do think adding chia/flax might effect the amount of moisture a recipe needs and impact on the texture but it would be a great way to add some extra nutrients in the flour
Hi Sarah, Thanks for sharing .My query is can use instead of potato starch and tapioca starch with corn flour.
While you can always try it out and see how it works I don’t think it would work out quite as well. In theory corn starch does similar things to potato and tapioca but when you break it down they all do have different tastes, textures and properties. You would also need to reduce the amount of corn starch needed. In baking I know that you usually need about half the amount of corn starch as you do tapioca flour which would end up throwing off some of the amounts here
Hey Sarah! Can this be used as a cup for cup flour?
Thanks so much!
Absolutely!
Hi! I’ve been looking at a ton of gluten-free flour blends online and many of them have xantham gum in them to hold things together. Is there a reason you don’t put it in your blend? Do you add it later when you’re making a recipe? So far yours looks like the easiest blend to make, so I’m just curious! Thank you!
Hey Cassie! I decided not to include it in my flour blend for a couple reasons. At the time I made this blend my husband was still having a lot of gut issues related to the celiac disease. I found that a lot of people with stomach issues could sometimes be triggered by xanthan so we decided to cut it out and see if it made a difference. At this point he has so many foods that could set him off so I’m not sure if the xanthan was actually the problem.
Since we stopped using it so much in baking I personally don’t think as many gluten free recipes actually need it. There are definitely some recipes that I think benefit from it – I’m working on gluten free cinnamon rolls right now and the xanthan free ones never seem to work out right. In those cases I include it in the recipe to just add it in as you go. Otherwise I figure it’s one less thing to add, ya know?
Okay great! Thanks so much for the response. Before I started researching different recipes I always just assumed gluten-free flours needed xantham gum in them (based off of working in a cafe that occasionally made gluten-free items that always contained xantham gum). After looking up what xantham gum is made from I’m happy to know it isn’t always necessary. I’m going to try this flour blend out today 🙂 Thank you!
Looks like a great and simple blend! Can I use white rice flour as a substitute for the brown rice flour? I don’t have any brown rice flour to hand and want to make these for a special occasion coming up. Thanks so much! 🙂
Thanks Annie! That will work just fine! Hope you like it!
Thanks so much Sarah. Can I ask if you have used this flour for brownies before? I have a traditional recipe that’s an old favourite of mine. I would love to convert if I can make it work!
I have to say of all the glutenfree blends I have tried, this one works the best for me so far. I make a batch and store it in the fridge and use it in most of my baking. Thanks for sharing this recipe, Sarah!
That makes me so happy to hear! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment – they make my day!
Can I use this as a diabetic to make more diabetic friendly desserts?
Hey Autymn! I would treat this flour as you would a regular all purpose flour. Since it’s made up of starchy flours it’s one that’s probably best used in moderation for healthier desserts. I’ve heard that coconut flour is a good flour for diabetics because it’s lower in carbs and higher in fiber
Sarah, can I just substitute the coconut flour for the rice flour? I too am partial to coconut flour…?
HI Susan! I wouldn’t recommend subbing coconut flour for the rice flour here. Coconut flour is extremely absorbent which can makes it a difficult flour to substitute. As a general rule of thumb you would usually only need 1/4 cup coconut flour for every 1 cup all purpose/grain based flour. Nourished Kitchen has a really good post on coconut flour that I’ve found to be helpful – if you go to the section called “Baking With Coconut Flour: What You Need to Know” she has a lot of info about how you might be able to use coconut flour in recipes. http://nourishedkitchen.com/baking-with-coconut-flour/
Hope that helps!
This looks like the perfect blend! I have been mixing up a similar mix lately as it’s so much cheaper to make your own!
Thanks Kristy! I wish I had tried making my own so much sooner!