“Tips for Gluten-free Baking” Disclaimer: None of the information provided in these posts should be taken as medical advice. Please consult with your doctor before trying recommendations or if you have concern
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In one of my past posts, I shared a couple of flour blends I created along with some suggestions on how to change them based on your baking needs. Today, I want to offer some tips I’ve learned on this 16+-year gluten-free (GF) journey of mine when making GF baked goods. Let’s dive in.
How gluten behaves in baking
Gluten, which consists of the proteins gliadin and glutenin, is the elastic protein in wheat, barley, and rye that creates the structure and chewiness found in baked goods. When you add water to wheat flour, the gliadin and glutenin react to make the dough stretchy and pliable. Using leavening agents like yeast, salt, baking soda, baking powder, or cream of tartar creates air bubbles in the batter, which gluten traps to create the rising affect you see in breads, cakes, biscuits, etc.
What to change in gluten-free baking
So, what do you do when there is no gluten? Well, you have to get creative, and, sometimes, a little scientific. Here are some tricks I’ve learned (through both experiment and discussion with other bakers).
Spoon and scrape (or measure)
When measuring out wheat flour, you can simply scoop up the flour in your measuring cup and scrape across the top, leveling the amount of flour. You can also weigh it out (which makes using recipes with metric measurements much easier).
With GF flours, however, “less is more” is better, so weighing would be the best route. If you don’t have a scale (or, like me, can’t convert metric in your head), scoop the flour into the measuring cup and scrape across the top to level it out. It can cut down on the denseness of the end product.
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour
- Price: $7.95
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free Bread Flour
- Price: $12.95
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free Pizza Flour
- Price: $12.95
Add a little extra
When you’re making looser or “liquid” GF batters like cakes, pancakes, or breads, which need more ability to rise (thanks to all those air bubbles), here are two suggestions:
Liquid
I have already talked about the need to add starches to grain flours in GF flour blends, and those starches are finer and absorb more liquid than the ones in wheat. So, it’s actually a good thing for your batter to look a little “runny.”
When I’m working with traditional recipes, I tend to add an extra tablespoon or two per half-cup of liquid to compensate for the extra thirstiness in my flour blend. As in all baking, altitude and humidity affect your ingredients, so you will have to play with the ratios depending on where you live.
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix
- Price: $8.95
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free Fudge Brownie Mix
- Price: $8.95
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix
- Price: $8.95
- King Arthur Baking - Gluten-Free Confetti Cake Mix
- Price: $8.95
An egg or two (no, really)
Surprisingly enough, adding more egg or egg substitute can also help with elasticity and crumb texture in the end product. When I was experimenting with pie crust (which isn’t nearly as easy to make as some old sayings claim), I discovered that adding an egg to the mixture (not a common ingredient) helped hold the mixture together, making it easier to roll out. This helps with pizza crust, as well.
Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum replaces gluten’s elasticity and prevents GF baked goods from becoming a pile of crumbs. While some blends already contain this ingredient, others don’t, so read your flour blend’s ingredients carefully. If it contains xanthan gum, you’re good to go except for one product: spaetzle-stye egg noodles. My Mom’s friend made these noodles for me last year (and I love her for it), and she discovered that adding teaspoon of extra xanthan gum helped hold the mixture together better, allowing her to roll them out and cut them without having them crumble under her fingers.
Leavening agent
With baked goods involving yeast, add a little baking powder (about ½ teaspoon for a loaf of bread) when you mix all the ingredients together. It adds a little extra rising agent to help keep the bread from being too dense. With other baked goods, adding half again the main leavening agent (usually baking soda or powder or cream of tartar) helps give that rise a little extra boost.
That’s all for today. I’m breaking this up to avoid another 1,000+-word post. I’ve learned a lot about gluten-free baking, and I really want to share this information, because this is a frustrating skill to learn, and these tips are worth it to use.
Be safe. Eat safe. And savor life!
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