Demonstration Video - Making A Gluten Free Flour Mix

Here's my first video on gluten free baking.

Watch me as I make the gluten free flour mix recipe in the last post. It's easy once you see how.



I'd really like to hear what you think. Is it useful?

Also, just to clarify, my scales can weigh amounts over 2 kilograms/5 pounds. I did the video in one take and a few little misstatements sneaked in! Did you notice I referred to the tapioca starch as tapioca flour at some points? It is the same thing. The potato starch and potato flour are NOT the same thing.

Now that you can use the same flour mix, I'll put up some of my recipes over the next while. Almost all my recipes use this flour mix for consistent good results.

Sandra's All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix Recipe

Here's the recipe I promised. I use this gluten free flour mix as a substitute for wheat flour in most recipes - 1 cup for 1 cup.

Mixing your own gluten free flour really is an easy process, as you'll see when you try it. The second time around of course it's even easier and much faster.

Before you start you will need to:

• Get a reliable set of scales that can weigh at least 2 kilograms or 5 pounds. I use postal scales that are accurate to within 2 g. or 0.1 oz.
  
• Purchase the dry ingredients in bulk, making sure that you have the right amount of each before you start.
• Find a container to measure and store your flour mix. I use a one-gallon size ice cream container - nice and light, large enough to easily hold twelve cups of mix and still have lots of room to stir, and it has a tight fitting lid.
• Get a large wire whisk.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

Ingredient	Weight In Grams	Weight In Ounces
White (or brown) Rice Flour	864 g.	30 oz.
Tapioca Starch	160 g.	6 oz.
Potato Starch (NOT potato flour)	512 g.	18 oz.
Xanthan Gum	24 g.	1 oz.
Guar Gum	48 g.	1.7 oz.
Total of All Ingredients	1608 g.	56.7 oz.

Yield: 12 cups (approximately)


Directions:

Weigh your container without the cover and make a note of it.

Place the container that you weighed on the scales and spoon the rice flour into it. Keep adding a bit at a time until the scales measure the container weight plus the rice flour weight from the table above.

For example, if your container weight is 100 grams, the total weight of the container and rice flour will be exactly 964 grams.

To continue the example, gradually add the second ingredient to get to a total of container weight, plus rice flour weight plus tapioca starch weight equal to 1124 grams (100 + 864 + 160).

Keep adding ingredients one at a time. You will end with a total weight of container (100 g.) plus all ingredients (1608 g.) or 1708 grams.

Mix gently with the wire whisk until your gluten free flour mix is a uniform color. If you like, you can finish off by putting the lid on the container and rolling it a few times on the counter just to give it a little extra mixing.

And that's all there is to it. Although it took many days of testing and trial baking to work out all the details, it all boils down to this simple recipe that works for baking most ordinary recipes.

When I use this mix in a recipe, I always measure the flour by weight. (1 cup gluten free flour mix = 132 grams or 4.7 ounces)

I'd really like to hear how this mix works in your recipes.

In future posts I'll put up some of my recipes, ones that I have tested and know turn out well.

Sometimes it's easier to get a clear idea of how to do something by watching so I'm working on a demonstration video that will show you exactly how I mix my gluten free flour.

How To Make A Gluten Free Flour Mix

It has been quite some time since I last posted. The reason is that I have been learning how to create videos and other fun things. Now I know how (or at least I have a glimmer of an idea!) you get the benefit.

I have been using one all purpose flour mix for years. It is the basis I use to adjust any recipe that uses wheat flour - I just substitute one cup of my gluten free mix for one cup of wheat flour.

I developed this recipe and have found that most of the time it gives me consistently good results.

I will put the recipe up in the next post so you can try it out.

A big plus of having just one gluten free flour on hand all the time is that you get used to the little tricks that make it work well. I will share those tips and tricks I discovered with you as well as some of my favorite recipes.

And, as they say on late night TV, there's more! For those of you who learn most easily by watching someone actually doing something - I am creating a demonstration video that shows me actually mixing up the ingredients. It should be available soon.

But, first things first. Look for the all purpose gluten free flour mix recipe in the next post.

Stove Top Gluten Free Pasta Casserole

A couple days ago I felt the need for some real comfort food. You know what I mean - bland, filling, no fancy ingredients, just a plain stick to your ribs meal. Fortunately you can have this kind of food even when you are on a gluten free diet, if you know where to look!

I started to dig in my pantry cupboard and found a whole bunch of canned foods I recently bought because they were on sale. I found 12 cans of tuna, 6 cans of peas, 6 cans of pea soup! Get the picture? Anyway, I also found a package of a brand of pasta that I bought recently for the first time and have been wanting to try.

The result of this cupboard survey was a new recipe that turned out to be just what my taste buds were wanting. Hope you enjoy it.

Here is my off-the-cuff recipe. Serves one to four depending on how hungry you are!

Sandra's Everything in the Pantry Casserole

Ingredients
1 cup macaroni type gluten free pasta (uncooked)
1 28-ounce can gluten free pea soup
1 can tuna
1 10-ounce can peas
OR whatever vegetables you have on hand. Frozen would work too - a cup to a cup and a half.
salt and pepper to taste
a touch of garlic salt

Method
Prepare macaroni according to package directions using a large pot. Cook a little less time than recommended since it's going to cook further once it's in the casserole. Drain in colander and rinse.

Using the same large pot, empty in the cans of soup, tuna and peas. Heat thoroughly, on low, stirring occasionally. Add drained pasta and spices and continue to heat the casserole for a few minutes more to make sure everything is nicely hot.

Serve with condiments of your choice. Green tomato chow is one of my favorites.

Comments
If your cupboard has different ingredients, this is a very flexible recipe. Mix and match whatever you have on hand that appeals to your tastebuds.

Before I went on a gluten free diet I used to make all kinds of casseroles similar to this, using different types of cream style soups. It makes such a quick and nutritious meal I hated to give it up, but I discovered that most cream soups do have wheat in them so I've had to become a bit creative in finding substitutes.

You might wonder about using pea soup in a casserole. I wondered! This is the first time I tried the pea soup and it worked fine. As usual, read labels carefully. The pea soup brand that I like is Habitant. One version is gluten free (the original) and another of their brand is not gluten free.

I could have used cream style corn. I just happened to have some of that on hand as well! Most brands of cream style corn use cornstarch as thickener, but you always need to check the label.

I've also had some luck making my own creamed soups but it's so nice to just pull something off the shelf ready to use.

I used a rice pasta but other types would work as well. Actually, a corn pasta might be very tasty with this combination.