For those of us who can’t eat gluten, the choice is clear. Eat familiar foods with gluten and say no to our health, or learn to love other foods. Afterall we need to feed our bodies.
Gluten intolerence (coleliac diseas) causes the body to percive gluten – the elastic protein in wheat, rye, barley, triticale, spelt and oats – as a toxin. The gluten damages the lining of the small intestine, causing inflammation and digestive problems.
Gluten – free however needn’t mean free of flavour. No one should live without chocolate cake. It is possible to create gluten - free versions of your favorite recipes, simply by substituting the flour. There are quite a few flour alternatives and listed below is a guide where to use them. Because gluten strengthens and binds dough in baking, the flours listed below are all great alternatives to wheat flour however, recipes made with wheat-free alternative flours will always be different from those containing wheat.
All-purpose gluten-free plain flour
This flour is suitable as a substitute for wheat plain flour in most recipes
6 cups rice flour
2 cups potato starch
1 cup gluten-free cornflour
Place flours in a large bowl. Mix to combine. Store in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 3 months.
Variation To convert the above recipe to self-raising flour, add 2 teaspoons baking powder per cup of gluten-free plain flour blend.
| Arrowroot flour is ground from | Quinoa flour (pronounced ‘kee | |||||
| the root of the arrowroot plant | wah’) is related to the spinach | |||||
| and is a good thickener. It’s | family and has been used for | |||||
| tasteless and the fine powder | more than 5,000 years. | |||||
| becomes clear when cooked. | Uses: This grain bakes great | |||||
| As arrowroot is an expensive | in cakes and pastries. Puffed | |||||
| ingredient, llok out for products | quinoa is a great alternative to | |||||
| that label the less expensive | couscous or oats. | |||||
| tapioca flour as arrowroot. | ||||||
| Uses: Ideal for thickening clear | ||||||
| sauces. | White rice flour is milled from | |||||
| polished white rice, so it’s | ||||||
| quite bland. When baked | ||||||
| Brown rice flour is milled from | correctly it produces a melt-in- | |||||
| unpolished brown rice | the-mouth shortcrust. It’s often | |||||
| containing th ebran, which gives | used in baking because of this | |||||
| it a high fibre content. | quality. | |||||
| Uses: Brown rice flour works | Uses: White rice flour is ideal | |||||
| well for making potato gnocchi. | for recipes that require a light | |||||
| texture, such as pastry, short- | ||||||
| bread or cakes. | ||||||
| Buckwheat flour is not form of | ||||||
| wheat, but is actually related to | ||||||
| rhubarb. It has a strong nutty | Rice flour from Asian super- | |||||
| taste and is not generally used | markets is finer than white rice | |||||
| on its own in recipes. | flour and has more delicate | |||||
| Uses: Perfect for savoury pastry | cooked texture. Chinese rice | |||||
| and muffins or banana bread. | flour is made from long-grain | |||||
| Blend with rice flour or cornflour | rice, whereas Japanese rice | |||||
| to reduce the nuttiness. | flour is milled from calrose | |||||
| short-grain rice. | ||||||
| Uses: Great for noodles, | ||||||
| Potato starch (also called | pastry, sponge cakes and | |||||
| potato flour) is a fine white flour | bread. | |||||
| made from potatoes and a light | ||||||
| potato flavour. Its flavour is | ||||||
| undetectable in the finished | Soya flour is a high-protein | |||||
| dish. | flour with a nutty taste. It’s not | |||||
| Uses: Ideal in sponges and | generally used on its own in | |||||
| shortbread or added to casse- | recipes, but when combined | |||||
| roles, soups or stews for thick- | with other flours is a very | |||||
| ening. | successful flour alternative. | |||||
| Uses: This flour has a higher | ||||||
| fat content, and is good blen- | ||||||
| Tapioca flour is made from the | ded with other flours and water | |||||
| root of the cassava plant. It | to make egg-free pastries and | |||||
| adds ‘chewiness’ to baking and | cakes. | |||||
| is a good thickener. | ||||||
| Uses: Perfect for casseroles | ||||||
| and to bind pastries. | ||||||
