Gluten-free flour – alternatives to wheat
There are many types of gluten-free flour on the market. Before you learn how to use the various options, try to get to know them better. That way you will learn to choose them on your own, depending on the culinary effect you want to achieve. Here are the most popular types of gluten-free flour and their characteristics:
| Gluten-free flour | Main characteristics |
| Rice flour | It has a neutral flavour. It is added to pancakes, bread and pastries. It is good for binding the ingredients. It is a good idea to mix it with other flours to reduce the stickiness. |
| Corn flour (or, maize flour in the UK) | It is used in gluten-free breads, tortillas and waffles. It is naturally yellow and loose. Its culinary properties are better when you mix it with cornstarch (or, cornflour in the UK). |
| Buckwheat flour | It has a strong distinct flavour which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your preferences. It is an excellent source of B vitamins, magnesium and fibre. It is good for pancakes and breads, particularly if you eat them with savoury sides. |
| Nut flour (almond, hazelnut or pumpkin seed flour) | It is essentially ground up (and sometimes degreased) nuts or seeds. It does not have any gelling or binding properties but it is a good thickening agent. Unlike wheat flour, it is mainly a source of fat; it has little carbohydrates. |
| Coconut flour | It is very highly absorbent. It has quite a lot of fibre and little carbohydrates. It is best to use it in small quantities, for example, in pancakes (with another flour type) or keto pastries. |
| Amaranth flour | It is more nutrient-dense than wheat flour. It has a lot of iron, proteins and fibre. It can be used as an ingredient in gluten-free flour blends or individually, for example, to make omelettes. |
| Legume flour (chickpea, lentils or peas) | A good source of protein and fibre. Legume flours have a more distinct flavour so they are particularly useful when making savoury dishes. You can use them in blends of gluten-free flours to enrich them with protein or as a thickening agent for sauces. |
| Millet flour | It adds a crumbly texture and a light yellow colour to baked goods. It goes well with cakes, cookies or homemade gluten-free pitas or tortillas. It can be used as an ingredient of blends for bread-making and sponge cake. |
| Quinoa flour | A good source of iron, folates and copper. It has a mildly nutty flavour. It is good for baking bread, breadstuff and pastries. |
| Tapioca flour | It has a sweet taste and is a source of starch. It is added to gluten-free baked goods to make them crispy and crunchy – always with another type of flour. You can use it to make gluten-free cakes as an alternative to pancakes. |
| Potato flour | It has a neutral natural flavour that goes well with both sweet and savoury dishes. A cheap alternative to gluten which gives the goods a better texture and binds water. Add it to sauces, gravies and desserts as a thickening agent. It is edible after heat processing. A valuable element of gluten-free mixtures for baking. |
| Certified oat flour | It is acceptable only if it is marked as gluten-free (for example, with a gluten-free symbol of a crossed grain). It is really just ground oats. It is excellent for all types of cookies, cakes, omelettes, pancakes or rolls. It is loved for its neutral taste and low price. |
You can make a lot of the flours mentioned above at home, using a blender or a food processor. This is how you can make your own homemade rice flour, oats flour, almond flour, coconut flour, amaranth flour or millet flour, and many others.
How to replace gluten in different products?
Gluten is a protein best known in wheat (gliadin). However, it can be also present in various forms in rye (secalin), barley (hordein) and even in oats (avenin). Gluten makes doughs elastic, easier to handle and stretchy. It is gluten that helps baked goods (bread, cakes or rolls) rise by trapping gas bubbles. It makes baked goods light and airy. However, it is not irreplaceable. Here are several functions of gluten in popular baked goods and ideas on how to replace it.
- Pancakes – gluten gives them elasticity and prevents from crumbling when you roll them and stuff them. For best results when making gluten-free pancake batter, you can use, for example, two parts corn flour to one part cornstarch, or rice flour.
- Bread and bread rolls – this is the biggest challenge when making gluten-free baked goods because gluten gives the dough the right texture, the crumb and tenderness. You can make gluten-free bread and bread rolls using many various blends of gluten-free flours but mixing various flour types is the safest option. Try, for example, a blend of buckwheat flour, rice flour, corn flour and starch (potato starch or corn starch), using these ratios: 4:3:2:1.
- Pastries – pastry baking requires more sophisticated knowledge of the secrets of gluten-free sweets. They require keeping the right ratios and mixing various types of flours, for example, rice flour, millet flour, oats flour and chickpeas flour.
- Pasta – gluten in wheat pasta not only gives it the right texture but also prevents releasing starch to water during cooking. The best homemade and store-bought noodles are made of corn flour, legume flour (for example, chickpeas, lentils) or rice flour. Read carefully the cooking time on the packaging of gluten-free pasta because it often differs from the cooking time of wheat pasta.
- Cookies – gluten is not a key ingredient when baking cookies. You can easily replace wheat flour with most types of gluten-free flours when making cookies, for example, oats flour or almond flour.
- Pierogis are excellent when you make them with two parts rice flour to one part potato starch with a little fibre, for example: psyllium husk powder, ispaghula or ground flax seed. It is also a good idea to add binding elements, such as an egg, to the gluten-free pierogis dough.
- Omelettes – wheat flour and gluten are not essential in this case, as they mainly absorb the excess of water. You can easily replace wheat flour with any gluten-free flour, such as oats flour, chickpeas flour, rice flour or coconut flour.
Also read: 7 Signs from Your Body to Go Gluten-Free.
6 golden rules to follow when making gluten-free goods
Knowing gluten-free alternatives to wheat flour is not everything. It is also important to know specific tips and tricks on how to approach ready-made gluten-free recipes and how to make any recipe gluten-free on your own.
- It’s not all about replacing flour
Making gluten-free baked goods based on regular recipes only by replacing wheat flour to a gluten-free alternative is a risky business. Some recipes may work but many won’t – the dough won’t rise, the cake will crumble or you won’t get the desired flavour or texture. With some recipes, you will need to increase the liquid ratio; others will require lowering the liquid ratio or adding a bonding agent, such as an egg or a flax seed pap. As a beginner, you’d better stick to tried and tested original gluten-free recipes.
- Mix various gluten-free flours together
A trick to increase your chances of success in baking gluten-free goods? Blend various types of flour together. No gluten-free flour is the perfect alternative to wheat. Rice flour has a stretchy texture; almond flour makes very crumbly baked goods, and buckwheat flour has a pronounced flavour that is not to everyone’s taste. To minimise those weaknesses and maximise the advantages of gluten-free alternatives to wheat flour, mix them together. A perfect blend for gluten-free baking will contain at least 3 to 4 flour types.
- Replace gluten rather than only eliminate it
Gluten adds a characteristic texture to baked goods. It binds dough or batter ingredients and makes them stretchy. If you want perfect gluten-free baked goods, you cannot remove gluten from a recipe without replacing it with something else.
Eggs are used most frequently for that purpose. Flaxseed, chia seeds, ispaghula and potato starch also work well as they form a characteristic gelatinizing structure when combined with water. Never omit them in your gluten-free recipes.
You can also use another thickening agent to make perfect baked goods, such as xanthan gum powder or guar gum powder. These are safe food additives that have no adverse health effects (unless you are allergic to any of them). To increase your odds of successful gluten-free pastry, add approx. 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum powder per 250g of gluten-free flour. Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends contain it, so do not consider it an unnecessary ingredient.
- A piece of advice to beginners – use ready-made gluten-free blends for baking
If you consider yourself new to baking and worry about making a mistake, you can use ready-made blends for gluten-free baking, such as a blend for gluten-free bread. They contain certified gluten-free flours and additives at the right ratios. Typically, they also have a recipe on the packaging. They may be the perfect choice for individuals who don’t feel like experimenting in the kitchen.
- Adapt the baking time for gluten-free baked goods
Gluten-free baked goods tend to burn a bit faster than those baked with gluten. At the same time, they need more time to bake well. If you replace wheat flour with gluten-free flour when baking, it is usually a good idea to lower the baking temperature by approx. 20-25 degrees and bake approx. 10-15 minutes longer.
- Stir the gluten-free mixture carefully
When baking goods with traditional flour, the time of kneading and mixing is sometimes limited to avoid too much gluten. Grandma’s recipes will often advise you not to over-mix it, and automatic food processers are also adapted to mixing dough or batter with gluten. If you use gluten-free flour, you do not need to worry about over-mixing. Long mixing and kneading is actually good for gluten-free products as the ingredients will be combined better and will bind together. Many gluten-free doughs are better if you put them aside for 10 to 20 minutes (once you’ve mixed them and before you continue processing them) for the starch structure to stabilise.
Uncommon sources of gluten – beware of these ingredients
When discussing gluten-free baking and cooking, we must mention traps that you can get caught into. If you must follow a gluten-free diet for health reasons, you must not get even a trace of gluten in your meals. You certainly know that you must avoid anything that contains wheat flour. However, gluten is a protein that is present everywhere. There are many ingredients that contain gluten and you may ingest it without even realising it. Here are some ingredients and semi-finished products used when baking which can add unwanted gluten to your meals:
- baking powder (make sure you only use a gluten-free one),
- uncertified oats flour (which may contain trace amounts of gluten),
- semolina and durum (a type of wheat),
- dinkel wheat (a type of wheat that contains gluten),
- (barley) malt,
- starch (always check the type of starch – wheat starch contains gluten, potato and corn starch do not),
- seasoning powders (especially spice blends, for example to make a cheesecake, apple pie or gingerbread, often contain wheat flour),
- extracts (for example, vanilla extract, almond extract).
If you or your loved ones must limit or eliminate gluten, it is useful to learn the basics of gluten-free baking and cooking using alternatives to wheat flour. Then it will be easier for you to make any traditional recipe gluten-free and experiment in the kitchen. A mixture of culinary intuition, knowledge of certain rules and alternatives to wheat flour will help you create excellent healthy foods without a trace of gluten.
………….
References:
1. Culetu A, Susman IE, Duta DE, Belc N. Nutritional and Functional Properties of Gluten-Free Flours. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11(14):6283. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11146283. Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/14/6283.
2. Šmídová Z, Rysová J. Gluten-Free Bread and Bakery Products Technology. Foods. 2022; 11(3):480. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11030480. Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/3/480
3. Arora, Kashika, Tlais, Ali Zein Alabiden & Augustin, Guenther & Grano, Daniele & Filannino, Pasquale & Gobbetti, Marco & Di Cagno, Raffaella. (2023). Physicochemical, nutritional, and functional characterization of gluten-free ingredients and their impact on the bread texture. LWT. 177. 114566. 10.1016/j.lwt.2023.114566. Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0023643823001457.
4. Monteiro JS, Farage P, Zandonadi RP, Botelho RBA, de Oliveira LL, Raposo A, Shakeel F, Alshehri S, Mahdi WA, Araújo WMC. A Systematic Review on Gluten-Free Bread Formulations Using Specific Volume as a Quality Indicator. Foods. 2021 Mar 13;10(3):614. doi: 10.3390/foods10030614. PMID: 33805719; PMCID: PMC7999268. Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7999268/.
5. Pico J, Bernal JL, Gómez M. Influence of different flours and starches on gluten-free bread aroma. J Food Sci Technol. 2017 May;54(6):1433-1441. doi: 10.1007/s13197-017-2562-3. Epub 2017 Mar 27. PMID: 28559602; PMCID: PMC5430174. Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5430174/.