Does anyone have any suggestions for alternatives to wheat flour in muffin and cake recipes? I'd like to use rice bran and oat bran and perhaps soy flour, but I'm not sure of the quantities to use. Is there a tried and true recipe I could follow? Thank you very much in advance.
If you are looking for a gluten-free diet, avoiding wheat of any kind would be best. Spelt also is not considered wheat free, but some people can tolerate it better than wheat. It makes a nice bread as works well for pizza crust.
There are lots of resources on the Web for baking and cooking with alternative grains (garbanzo, quinoa). Different grains are more suitable to different recipes and you might find you prefer one over another.
For an all-purpose baking flour, The Gluten-Free Gourmet and author, Bette Hagman, suggests
2 parts white rice flour
2/3 part potato starch flour
1/3 part tapioca flour
Mix together and store in a cool, dry place.
I use quinoa flour on its own for muffins and pizza crust.
Another pizza crust that's wheat-free, quick, easy and cheap are brown rice tortillas.
Good luck!
This is also from "The Gluten-Free Gourmet" by Bette Hagman. As a general rule you can use the following substitutes. For each cup of wheat flour called for in a recipe substitute one of the following:
7/8 cup rice flour
5/8 cup potato starch flour
1 cup soy flour plus 1/4 cup potato starch flour
1/2 cup soy flour plus 1/2 cup potato starch flour
1 cup corn flour
1 scant cup fine cornmeal
1 cup of the GF flour mixture (2 parts white rice flour, two-thirds part potato starch flour and one-third part tapioca flour)
I bought brownies made with rice flour at Chamberlains Natural Foods and they were among the best I've had. You might try rice flour.
Is it a low carb alternative you're looking for? Flax meal and almond meal are good. Careful w/the flaxseed, it has a laxative affect.
I have many recipes that are gluten free. Mostly I use GF flour that can be purchase in health food stores. There is also a mix that you can make and keep and use when you need it.
Bette Hagman's mix is one:
2 parts white rice flour
2/3 part potato starch flour
1/3 part tapioca flour
Many recipes have a number of different flours in them...tapioca, garbonzo bean, soy, rice, corn. You can start by looking for recipes at
www.csaceliacs.org/
and
allrecipes.com/
If you are just allergic to wheat it gives you more options like oats. If you have recently been diagonosed with celiac, there are a number of helpful sites on line such as celiac.com that have information. I use corn starch to thicken anything that needs thickening. I use corn tortillas as my base for my "pizza" when I don't want to bother making a crust. Some of the cook books I have have great pizza crusts in them. Even my husband likes them:) If I can be of help and give you some of my recipes contact me harrietschipper@hotmail.com
Virginia,
I have a whole website devoted to gluten free baking and cooking, as I follow a gluten free lifestyle. I make lots of muffins! If you have questions just let me know! My website is http://www.gingerlemongirl.com
I also have other gluten free resources listed there! Happy Gluten Free baking!
I use (white or whole) spelt flour, as it contains more protein and less gluten than regular wheat flour, and am able to tolerate it better than oat flour. You might also like to try quinoa, millet, and amaranth flours; barley and rye flour work OK too.
