Want to create something that is uniquely suited for you? Make your own gluten free flour blend. Take your favorite flours and blend them into something you can use for all of your gluten free baking.
How to make your own
Gluten Free Flour Blends
You can use any of these grains or starches for your flour blends.
Rice, Corn, Millet,Amaranth, Teff, Sorghum, Soy, Potato, Beans, Arrowroot, Quinoa, Tapioca, Flax, Wild Rice, Buckwheat, Indian rice grass, Almond meal or any other nut meals, Popcorn, Mesquite beans. You can also use certified gluten free oats which are now available.
Why is a flour blend recommend instead of just using one "flour"? Blending a variety of these together helps to round out the flavor. It also allows you to use a starch to help lighten the heavier flours like beans or nut meals.
You can also combine "cereal" type flours with "bean" type flours to form a complete protein that you can bake with. That is why you often see cornbread served with chili. The corn and the beans form a complete vegetable protein combination.
Some people do not like the flavor or texture of rice flour so they prefer to use something else. A lot of it is individual taste. Play around with the different flours at first and see which ones you like better.
For a good middle of the road combination mix together:
3 cups of heavy( cereal or bean type) flour
with 2 cups of a starch. This will give you a good "all purpose" blend
that you can use for everything.
If you will be baking often, you can store this in your cupboard. It doesn't take long to go through 5 cups of flour blend. If you stir up a big batch, go ahead and keep it in the refrigerator to stay fresher longer. Remember, most of these flours are whole grains and will go rancid faster. They also do not have any preservatives in them either.
Here are to blends for you to try:
Gluten Free Flour Blend
You can use this formula or come up with your own based on your preferences and allergies. This can give you a guide. Remember, I use a lot of freshly ground flour in my baking.
2 cups of brown rice flour, finely ground.
1/2 cup of finely ground white bean flour, or sorghum flour
1/2 cup of coconut flour, or almond meal
1 cup of cornstarch
1/2 cup of tapioca starch or arrowroot starch
You can make your own Gluten Free Flour Blend using the flours you enjoy.
Make sure that you keep the ratio of heavy flours ( rice, bean, sorghum. coconut, millet, soy,) and starch flours (cornstarch, tapioca, arrowroot, potato) in a 2 to 1 ratio.
Use two cups of heavy flour and 1 cup of starch flour for your blend. If you do that, it should be light enough to make anything you want.
Check the commercial packages and you will see that they all blend their heavy flours with starch flours to lighten up the finished product.
Self-Rising Gluten Free Flour Blend
Make a big batch of this and get a head start on making muffins, scones, cakes, cupcakes, pancakes, waffles, anything that you would use regular self-rising flour for.
1 Tbsp sea salt
3 Tbsp Rumford Baking Powder ( no aluminum that's a good thing!)
1 cup Bean,Soy flour, Sorghum flour
1 cup Coconut flour or Almond Meal
2 cups Tapioca flour
3 cups Brown Rice flour or White rice flour finely ground
2 cups Powdered Milk
Now you have a gluten free flour blend that is just right for your allergy needs. And you didn't have to go shopping all day to find it.
I love it when we save money and time!
Kathy
Ps….. these work great for any recipes that have 1 cup of regular wheat flour or less. Just exchange cup for cup.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
This will save me SO MUCH MONEY $$$, I can't believe that when you by floor at the store it only comes in little box. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
This is great, we have multiple intolerances in our house and none of the bought mixes apply. Thanks so much!
Thanks so much. I am vegan but my son has not only a wheat intolerance but a potato intolerance which makes finding mixes difficult. I will admit to finally having found one that works for me, but I have so many different flours to use up! If making the one with milk powder I would use soy milk powder.
Hi Jen.
There is also a rice milk powder available. I saw it at one of the shows I went to.
I’ll find it and report back to ya.
Found it! It’s Growing Naturals. They have dry rice milk powder and dry rice protein powder.
Thank you for sharing these quantities and blend ideas.. I'm new to this.. and this helps!!
I’m glad I can be of help. If there is anything I can do for you, let me know. I’ve been gluten free for 12 years and I have a few tricks up my sleeve I can show ya:)
Oh dear, thanks for sharing. I’ve been looking for a bean flour recipe to make a cereal-like meal for my 1yr old son. Do you have any ideas on this?
You can use a grain mill to make a bean “farina” type meal. Fill the hopper and grind the beans on a very coarse setting a little at a time adjusting the setting as you go until you get it more cereal like.
With the arsenic in rice and my health problems, my doctor does not want me to eat rice. What can I use in place of rice flour?
You can use any other gluten free flour.Sorghum, millet, gf oat (if you can have it), tapioca to name a few.
Can I use 1 cup coconut flour with the 2 cups rice flour to avoid using a bean flour?
You can use 1/4 cup of coconut flour and then add 3/4 cup of something else. Coconut flour is like those little washcloth squares you buy for kids that expand to 20 times their size when you add 5 drops of water. It absorbs gobs of water.
I am very new to gluten free and I am very unsure about the flour. I know that I want to try and save money by making my own flour. Do these given amounts make a lot flour? Would the self rising blend be the best for everyday baking and such? I have two young kids and I want to use something that will make these foods as normal as possible. Thank you for your help!!
The recipe makes about 4lbs. If you do any baking at all, it’s easy to go thru that much in about two weeks. By the time you make pancakes or waffles one or two loaves of bread, some cookies or a cake or pie crusts, you’ve pretty much used it up.
The self rising is good for things like pancakes, waffles, biscuits, muffins, quick breads anywhere a recipe calls for self rising flour. Like Bisquick but without the shortening added.
Flour blend without the added soda, baking powder or salt would be good for just about everything else.
What about xanthan gum in your all-purpose flour? Or is that something you add to your baked products when you are actually making them?
i am so excited to have come across this site and will be trying out both of your flour mixtures?
Most of the gluten free flours available on the market today have xanthan gum added already. Please read your labels. You don’t want to add more or everything will taste like a rubber band.
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