Q&A for How to Make Flour

When delving into gluten-free baking, my approach has been one of experimentation, as I lack formal training as a baker. This lack of formal training, in many ways, has allowed me to explore and adapt recipes more freely. While commendable one-for-one flour blends like those from King Arthur and Bob's are now available, I personally prefer the latter over the all-purpose option that incorporates garbanzo beans, bringing a potent flavor. For successful gluten-free baking, it's crucial to abandon the traditional method of scooping flour into a measuring cup. Instead, investing on a small scale proves invaluable. The weights of gluten-free flours vary, making volume measurements unreliable. The back of flour containers typically provides conversion values (grams per quarter cup, for instance), allowing for precise measurements that ensure consistency. Taking meticulous notes during the experimentation process is essential. Additionally, I recommend adjusting the fat content in recipes, especially when dealing with flours that don't absorb fat the same way traditional flours do. For instance, if a recipe calls for two sticks of butter, I suggest starting with a slightly reduced amount, like 14 tablespoons, instead of 16, to observe the impact on the final product.

To make bread flour from all purpose flour, simply add 1 teaspoon of wheat gluten for each cup of flour. Combine the flour and wheat gluten well. If you don't plan on using it right away, store it in an airtight container.

In a cupboard, a month. In a freezer, a year. (Only applies to airtight containers.)

Yes, you can use the flour to make cookies as soon as you've finished preparing it.

No, flour must be starchy. Beans, nuts, peas, and seeds (such as quinoa) are also listed above. Roots like potato and tapioca are also found in many commercial products. Check out gluten-free bread and cereal ingredient lists the next time you're in the grocery store for ideas and combinations used successfully. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour contains: garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour. Every flour has its own unique properties. You will need to make some adjustments if you want to substitute it in a recipe that calls for a specific type of flour, like 'all purpose flour.'

Wheat gluten is sold in many grocery stores. It might not be called wheat powder or gluten, though. It is most commonly named "vital wheat gluten", so be on the lookout!

Wheat gluten, wheat meat, gluten meat, or simply gluten, is a food made from gluten, the main protein of wheat. It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving the sticky insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten.

No, but you can definitely use cornstarch or cornflour.

Yes. See How to Make Rice Flour .

Yes. Look up corn bread and corn cakes. Both are normally leavened with baking soda and salt or baking powder. Many recipes use sugar, but this is just for a sweet flavor rather additional leavening.

If your slime recipe calls for cornstarch, you can use flour instead.

If you use just quinoa flour, you will have to add something to create a gluten-like texture within the dough. Quinoa does not have gluten like regular flour. Xanthan gum is often used in gluten-free recipes to create the texture needed.

Yes, you can. Add the ground almonds to the flour and stir till all is mixed.

No, there is no easy way, that's why flour making was one of the first uses of steam engines when they were created. White flour is sifted from whole ground wheat in a complex process not easily duplicated at home.