White Rice Flour Blend and Gluten-Free Baking Tips

I posted the recipe for this flour blend in my Rhubarb Crisp blog last week, but I thought I would give it it’s own post since I am anticipating linking back to it a lot in the future. I’m finding that just about the only grains I can tolerate these days are white rice and quinoa. I thought that sorghum was OK, but recently had some bad experiences with it. So I’m back to just white rice and quinoa. Sigh…..At least I found a great all-purpose flour blend that seems to work with a wide variety of recipes. And that seems to work with my digestive system!

I came across some great tips for gluten-free baking in Better Nutrition Magazine (Oct. 2012) and I thought I would share them with you as well:

1. Mix well. Most regular, gluten-filled recipes, advise not over mixing batter because it makes the baked good tough. You don’t have to worry about that with gluten-free baking. The more you mix it, the better. It helps to aerate it, resulting in lighter baked goods.

2. Make small loaves. If you’ve tried my White Rice Quick Bread recipe, then you know it’s a small loaf. Smaller loaves provide even baking and better structure so it doesn’t collapse.

3. Use gums. Xanthan and guar gum are usually good additions, helping to hold baked goods together and with rising. Instead of adding the gum to the flour blend, I like to add it to each individual recipe since the amount changes depending on the recipe.

4. Use a little extra oil or butter. This helps gluten-free baked goods be soft and tender.

5. Watch how you measure the flours. (This is my own tip). Measure each ingredient by scooping into the measuring cup, then leveling off with the back of knife. It works best if you don’t use the measuring cup itself to scoop the flour, but to use a spoon or scoop to fill the measuring cup. This prevents the flour from compacting and affecting the measurements.

So keep those tips in minds when you try this flour blend:

White Rice Flour Blend
Gluten-Free, Low-FODMAP

Ingredients

2 cups white rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch (not flour)
1/3 cup tapioca flour

Directions

1. Measure each ingredient by lightly spooning flour into the the measuring cup so it is overflowing. Level off the flour with the back of a knife. Use this same method when measuring this blend for recipes.
2. Blend ingredients really well and store in an airtight container in the pantry.
3. Recipe may be multiplied to make a larger batch.