Understanding & Choosing Gluten Free Flours, Part 1: Density

January 28, 2010 { }

Photo from Bobs Red Mill

I’ve been thinking about writing this series for a while now because of the onslaught of e-mails from readers wondering what flours to stock their pantries with. Most recently, though, a reader sent me an e-mail expressing her disappointment in my Orange Quinoa Muffins. The recipe worked but she was caught off guard by the quinoa flour, feeling that the flavor was a bit strong.

I love quinoa flour not only because of it’s nutty flavor but for the nutrition it adds to my baked goods. Obviously everyone doesn’t feel the same way. I decided to stop thinking about the series and just write.

This will be a multi-part series. Today, I’m talking about flour density, or how heavy the flours are. Next Friday I’ll talk about mixing flours and share recipes that give examples of each. Next we’ll talk about flavors and which flours mix well. The final post will be a gluten-free flour round-up of recipes from my favorite bloggers.

Choosing the Right Flour for the Job

Understanding the different properties of each flour will help you pick the right product for the job. I divide them into three ‘denseness’ categories: light, medium, and heavy. Remember that I’m talking about the lightness or heaviness of the flour, not the flavor.

Lightweight gluten free flours, or the least dense, are your starchiest flours and are generally neutral in taste. Arrowroot, cornstarch, potato starch, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, and white rice flour fall in this category. When I first saw cornstarch, arrowroot, and potato starch talked about as flours, I was totally confused. They’re technically not flours at all but used as such to enhance the quality of gluten free baked goods.
Mediumweight gluten free flours are, on average, more nutritious than lightweight flours. These flours have a little more body and bulk, including amaranth, coconut, garbanzo bean, millet, quinoa, sorghum, superfine brown rice, and teff.
Heavyweight flours are going to produce a much denser final product. These flours would also be more nutritious than starchier flours. Nut flours are obviously higher in fat but are packed with omega-3 fatty acids and other good-for-you nutrients. Almond flour, regular brown rice, buckwheat, stone ground cornmeal, and any other nut meal (walnut, pecan, chestnut, etc.) would be considered heavyweight flours.

What’s your experience with gluten free flours? What do you like? What do you dislike? Questions? Leave it all in the comments and we can talk about it.

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Category: Articles, Gluten Free Flours
Tags: gf flours > gf meals > gf pastry > gluten allergies > gluten free baked goods > gluten free flour blends > Gluten Free Flours > gluten free gifts

Comments

37 Responses to “Understanding & Choosing Gluten Free Flours, Part 1: Density”

Kisha
January 28th, 2010 @ 8:10 pm

I like most GF flours, but I’m wandering what the best mixture would be to make a sandwich bread that isn’t heavy?

[Reply]
Amy Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
@Kisha, I have a fantastic sandwich bread recipe if you can hold on a week or two until I get it posted. It’s delish! I’ve been working on reducing the starch in it and it’s pretty darn good.

[Reply]
Maggie Savage
January 28th, 2010 @ 8:13 pm

Thanks Amy. This series will be so valuable for so many. I was wondering if you know of a database or tool that will tell me the nutritional content for my recipes. My mom needs to get her cholesterol down and I’d love to help her. Thanks!!

[Reply]
Amy Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
@Maggie Savage, I just learned at Culinary School that you can go to MyPyramid.org and they should have a tool there that will let you enter foods and find the nutritional info of recipes. I also got a program that will do that with my Nutrition and Meal Planning book.

It’s called Nutrition for Foodservice & Culinary Professionals by Drummond & Brefere.

[Reply]
Amy
January 28th, 2010 @ 8:15 pm

Thanks so much for beginning this series. This is all new for me so its very helpful to have a clearer explanation of different flours.

[Reply]
allergymama
January 28th, 2010 @ 8:17 pm

Sorghum is my favorite gf flour by far. I use a tone of it! I’m thinking it would fall into the medium weight category here. What would you say?

[Reply]
Amy Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
@allergymama, I don’t know how I left sorghum out…it must have been when I was editing because it was on the list. Thanks for catching that!! I use it all of the time too. It’s a neutral flavor and seems to go well with everything.

[Reply]
Chelsey
January 28th, 2010 @ 8:51 pm

I’m a big fan of almond flour. It has a neutral taste and is rich in fiber calcium and good fats. I make muffins with almond flour for my day home kids and they love it (I have one really picky eater who can’t tell!). People always ask for seconds when I bake these muffins. It’s too bad it doesn’t work for breads.

[Reply]
Kestlyn
January 28th, 2010 @ 9:22 pm

I’m a newbie to GF, so I am very thankful that you’re writing this series! I can’t wait until you post your bread recipe. I made a loaf with sorghum, brown rice, and tapioca flours that tasted great…but it was about 1 1/2″ high and VERY dense. Could you possibly consider giving alternatives in your recipes as you write this series (for those of us with different levels of experience with GF)? ie. Perhaps a lighter bread recipe for the newbies (and kiddos new to GF) along with a healthier heavy weight bread recipe for those who have moved past wheat withdrawal.

[Reply]
Kelly Michelle
January 28th, 2010 @ 11:55 pm

Thanks for sharing. For those of us new to gluten free I think it may be very helpful if you could include some comparisons to things like all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and whole wheat pastry flour if at all possible to add perspective if never having used these ones before.

[Reply]
Jenn
January 29th, 2010 @ 1:16 am

Great post Amy – I think one HUGE hinderance for many GF folk is figuring out why and how to use all of the different GF ingredients. It can be extremely intimidating when faced with choices of 20 or more ingredients to choose from, and having no idea why some people chose one set of ingredients over another.

You have an interesting way of breaking apart the flours – While white rice flour may be less dense and fit in with the starches based on density alone, I’m not sure that I would categorize it with them for cooking/baking – in my experience working with the starches (potato, amaranth, cornstarch, tapioca) introduces a completely different type of chemistry to a product than rice flour.

One example to show this – when making a sauce, adding a flour like white rice flour will thicken your sauce and it will become opaque (think gravy) – but if you add tapioca flour instead, your sauce will not become opaque as it thickens but remain translucent and develop a bit of a sheen (this is why lots of pie fillings call for tapioca).

Consequently, each starch has different heat tolerance, dissolution and acid/base characteristics that make one better than another for different uses. They are chemically structured very differently from flours.

Likewise, flours also differ from each other in their chemical properties which will affect their baking/cooking. Unfortunately I am not a starch or food chemist so I have no way of choosing ahead of time which properties are needed for which products – I think someone really needs to write a book on gluten free chemistry, because there is a LOT of information that could be useful to everyone.

Until then, I choose a starch:flour ratio that I think will best serve whatever it is that I am making, and then pick the starch I want to use, and then for the flour part just throw a bunch of different ones together based on umm…a “gut” feeling of what I think will work. Ha that is hardly scientific at all!

By FAR my favorite flours are millet and sorghum. I like grinding my own almond flour too. I use rice less and less because I feel that it has a hard time interacting with other parts of dough/batter and can develop a bit of a grainy texture. Quinoa can have a bit of this issue too, but I think it works better when mixed with other GF flours. I tend to use bean flours only in small amounts because of their very strong flavor.

Wow that was a long comment, sorry for the novel!

[Reply]
Denise Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 8:51 am
@Jenn,

What (machine?) do you use to make almond flour? I have a grain mill, but the manual warns against nuts (too oily). Also was wondering if I can make my own quinoa flour with the mill.

Great series, Amy! Looking forward to the next installment.

[Reply]
Kestlyn Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 11:28 am
@Denise, I know you weren’t asking me, but I use the almond meal that is left over from making almond milk. I soak almonds overnight, rinse, and then put them in the blender. Fill with filtered water to the top and blend until smooth. Strain through muslin and you’re left with almond milk and almond meal/flour. Just dry and it’s ready to go.

[Reply]
Jeanine
January 29th, 2010 @ 5:40 am

What a great post, I can’t wait to see the rest of the series! When I went GF, this was the hardest part. I like using ground flaxseed, oat flour and sorghum now, in addition to some of the light flours.

[Reply]
Alta (Tasty Eats At Home)
January 29th, 2010 @ 7:36 am

I love that you’re doing this series. I love quinoa flour, but you’re right, it does have a distinct taste. I also like sorghum and coconut flour a lot. I think for a lot of people that are still missing wheat and looking for wheat replacements, those on that first list will be easiest for them to connect with. For those of us who appreciate heartier, more rustic baked goods and have moved past the wheat withdrawal, those on the second two lists work well. Great job!

[Reply]
Sandy
January 29th, 2010 @ 8:25 am

What a great topic! Can’t wait for more!

[Reply]
Shawna
January 29th, 2010 @ 10:06 am

I feel like I’m going to culinary school myself! What a treat! Thanks for the info!

[Reply]
Tara Mcginnis
January 29th, 2010 @ 10:10 am

I have gotten as many GF flours as I can, including nut flours and mix a little bit of each into a large container, then I pull from that when I’m baking. Not sure if it makes it any better or not but it makes up for my ignorance of what flour to choose.

[Reply]
Aubree Cherie
January 29th, 2010 @ 10:19 am

Hi Amy, Thanks so much for deciding to ‘just to it’ with this series. Its something I know I’ve struggled with and am excited to read what your thoughts are and especially what your favorites are.

~Aubree Cherie

[Reply]
Sandy Gillett
January 29th, 2010 @ 10:58 am

Thanks for doing this series Amy. I can’t wait for the sandwich bread recipe. I lost count on the number of recipes (loaves) I’ve made and then dumped in the trash.

[Reply]
Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen
January 29th, 2010 @ 1:34 pm

I am looking forward to the rest of this series. Even though I don’t think I need to eat gluten free – I do feel the need to lighten my load in terms of grain based flours – so using quinoa, or buckwheat and various bean flours are of interest to me. But gluten free flours tend to be expensive, and to I don’t want to spend money on something I might not like, or might not have the right texture or flavor for a recipe – and it is so hard to know without experimenting with them – UNLESS Amy is writing about it on her blog! Thanks Amy!

[Reply]
jamie
January 29th, 2010 @ 2:27 pm

i too say thank you for the postings! i am fairly new to gf, so i appreciate all the help i have to say bette hageman has a table in her cookbook (i think the one about breads, but my brain is shorting out) that shows the protien, carb, and other values of the different gf flours and compares them to wheat flour. that has been helpful to me. and so far my favorite gf flour mix is fava bean, sorgham, tapioca starch, and coconut flour. i mix it up in 3 cup batches and store it in tupperware in my fridge. but i am always experimenting and tinkering with recipes, so this will be great.

[Reply]
Karen@Cook4Seasons
January 29th, 2010 @ 3:34 pm

Excellent! The more info. the better. I totally agree that the chemistry with gluten free baking is the hardest part. I’m still trying to figure out the starches and thanks to Denise have a better understanding.
I use coconut flour occasionally – but it requires so many eggs that I go broke just making a small batch of muffins (since my eggs cost $6/dozen;-) And I’m not always crazy about the texture. I also use almond flours (both blanched and regular) with mostly good results. I love sorghum and also find that quinoa and garbanzo have intense flavors.
I look forward to each upcoming post esp. one that includes a successful sandwich bread. Mine always crumble!

[Reply]
Vee S.
January 29th, 2010 @ 6:55 pm

Amy,
Do you possibly have a gluten-free, casein-free, and yeast-free sandwich (aka light not dense) bread recipe that uses sourdough starter as the leaven? That would be perfect for me and all my allergy problems. I have a “wild” starter I created from potato water I could use. It is great added to pancake batter.

[Reply]
Amy Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:32 pm
@Vee S., I have never made sourdough bread. I’d love to someday, though.

[Reply]
Vee S.
January 29th, 2010 @ 6:58 pm

Oh yeah, forgot to add I’m allergic to oats, too! So gluten-free oats are out.

[Reply]
Lisa
January 29th, 2010 @ 7:49 pm

Fantastic Idea.
I love it.

[Reply]
HeatherC
January 30th, 2010 @ 12:42 am

maybe a total novice question but can 1 similar in density flour be substitited for another in a consistent ratio (ie 1 c sorghum for 1 c quinoa)? Obviously taste will be different but will recipe still hold together?

[Reply]
Amy Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:32 pm
@HeatherC, Generally that should work. I always stop and look at the batter, evaluate the consistency, and make adjustments if needed. Sometimes an extra tablespoon of liquid or two is just what it needs.

[Reply]
Mona
January 30th, 2010 @ 7:58 am

Thank you so much for doing this job, your website is really helpful!

Having lived glutenfree most of my life, it’s hard to now also be limited to low GI flour. Experimenting with almond-and coconutflour, is not easy. Problably sounds strange to you, but here in Norway I have ONE brand to choose from . Looking forward to the next part of this series, mixing flours and recipes.

I love quinoaflour! Making my quinoa and yougurt bread, moist and tastes great, hardly any yeast and it doesn’t crumble.

[Reply]
karen
January 30th, 2010 @ 11:18 am

I really wish there had been something like this when I started out. I wasted so much money on flours! This is a great idea. I use corn flour for breading fish and seafood. I would like to find one I really like for things like fried chicken.

[Reply]
Lauren
January 30th, 2010 @ 3:11 pm

Interesting. I’m interested to see the rest of this series =D.

[Reply]
Linda- Kitchen Therapy
January 30th, 2010 @ 3:13 pm

This is an interesting way to group flours. Though I would say that refined starches aren’t really flour. They offer no nutrition, other than high glycemic calories.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Reply]
Libby
January 30th, 2010 @ 7:07 pm

Newbie here experimenting with gluten free flours.
I just found some Chia Seed(super packed with nutrients) and og Brown Rice flour blend at the farmers market this week, really cheap. The sign mentioned 1:1 substitute for wheat flour. I’m excited to try it!

Thanks for the recipes, this helps a lot!

[Reply]
Terri
January 30th, 2010 @ 11:40 pm

Thanks Amy for posting about the differences between the GF flours. I love your website! You inspire me to try my own things in baking. I have built off some of your recipes and changed them to suit my needs. The banana flax muffins are a regular in my kitchen!
Anyway,
I have gone through my share of failed experiments with gf blends, so I tried a store bought one. I wasn’t impressed with the taste of Bob’s red mill all purpose flour. It was a little too beany for my taste and my family hated the baked goods I made with it. I looked online and found a GF blend, and modified it with the ingredients I had. I use brown rice flour(3 parts), corn starch (3 parts), soy flour(2 parts) and almond flour (1 part).(the original recipe called for 1 part corn flour instead of the almond flour, but I find the almond tastes much better.) I also cut down on the cost of the flours by grinding my own brown rice flour and almond flour using a spice grinder. It is a little time consuming, but it’s time well spent. I grind long grain brown rice and it turns out fine in the muffin recipe. Thanks again for posting about the flours. I look forward to reading the next installment!

[Reply]
Ricki
January 31st, 2010 @ 8:36 am

A great idea to post about flours–I’ve been playing around with combinations myself and find that it’s true, chemistry is a huge factor in GF baking–even more than in conventional baking. I haven’t had the same experience with nut flours being the most dense, but maybe that’s because I tend to combine them with other flours.

[Reply]
Brooks J. Young
February 13th, 2010 @ 12:55 am

Amy,

Thank you so much for writing this series. I have been running around in circles trying to find out about different flours and also where to purchase them.

I’m definitely going to try all your new recipes.

You’re the best!

[Reply]

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Understanding & Choosing Gluten Free Flours, Part 1: Density

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