Food and Ingredients – Gluten Free Necessity

We somehow fit all of these gluten-free flours, starches, and seeds in our cupboards Overview of Gluten-Free Flour This article provide a brief overview of gluten-free flours and answers some common questions. What is gluten-free flour? Gluten-free flour refers to any flour that is not made with one of the 3 gluten-containing grains of wheat, barely, or rye. Standard baking flour contains wheat and therefore contains gluten. Gluten-free flours include singular flours made from grains and nuts or a blend of flours and starches. What's the difference between gluten-free flour and regular flour? Gluten-free flour doesn't contain wheat or other gluten containing grains like regular flour does, and all purpose gluten-free flours are blends of multiple flours, starches, and gums that attempt to replicate the structure and consistency that the gluten in regular all-purpose wheat flour provides to foods. Singular gluten-free flours, like almond flour, rice flour, or buckwheat flour, usually don't come as close to replicating the taste and texture of wheat flour in foods as gluten-free flour blends do. What are the different types of gluten-free flours? The 2 main types of gluten-free flours are gluten-free flour blends and flours made from singular grains, nuts, or other plants. Gluten-free flour blends are a combination of grain, nut, or plant flours and starches, and these flour blends are generally used in baked goods the same way wheat flour is used. Some gluten-free flour blends distinguish between "all purpose" gluten-free flour and "cup for cup","measure for measure", or "1:1" gluten-free flour. All-purpose gluten-free flour is used when a gluten-free recipe calls for flour, whereas "cup for cup" or "measure-for-measure" flour serves as a 1 for 1 replacement of regular wheat flour in recipes. While a 1 for 1 replacement works in some cases, it may not work well for recipes that use yeast, because gluten-free flour typically does not rise as well. As an example, if you were following a gluten-free bread recipe, you would likely use a blend of gluten-free flours, but most gluten-free bakers wouldn't use a bread recipe that normally calls for wheat flour and directly substitute the 1 for 1 gluten-free flour because it likely wouldn't work well. Similarly, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of gluten-free flour, you won't get as good results if used 1 cup of just coconut flour or rice flour. Here are some of the singular gluten-free flours: Gluten-Free Grain Flours: Brown Rice Flour White Rice Flour Sweet Rice Flour Sweet Brown Rice Flour Millet Flour Quinoa Flour Buckwheat Flour Fonio Flour Teff Flour Oat Flour Gluten-Free Nut Flours Almond Flour Coconut Flour Gluten-Free Legume Flours Garbanzo Bean/Chickpea Flour Fava Bean Flour Other Gluten-Free Plant Flours Tapioca Flour Cassava Flour Potato Flour Corn Flour Arrowroot Flour Sorghum Flour Amaranth Flour Tigernut Flour What does gluten-free flour contain? I compared 20 different gluten-free flour blends and found the most common ingredients are: Rice Flour (Brown Rice, White Rice, Rice, & Sweet Rice) Tapioca Flour/Starch (Tapioca Flour and Starch are the same) Potato Starch Sorghum Flour Xanthan Gum The 20 gluten-free flour blends compared did not contain yeast, soy, eggs or peanuts, or added sugar. Allergens in Gluten-Free Flours Relatively few of the gluten-free flour blends compared did contain at least one food allergen: 2 out of 20 gluten-free flour blends contained milk in the form of milk powder 1 out of 20 gluten-free flour blends contained tree nuts in the form of almonds flour and coconut flour 4 out of 20 gluten-free flour blends contained corn in the form of cornstarch or corn flour Does gluten-free flour have starch? The majority of gluten-free flour blends contain starch. The most common kind of starches in gluten-free flour blends are tapioca starch and potato starch, but cornstarch, modified food starch, and rice starch are also used in some gluten-free flour blends.