Getting Started With Gluten Free Baking

If you enjoy baking, you know that nothing compares to the distinctly satisfying feeling that comes from transforming a hodge-podge of ingredients that, although relatively unremarkable on their own, mix to form a mouthwatering masterpiece of baking perfection that not only warms your heart but also your belly (and the bellies of those around you).

However, if you’re gluten free, it’s easy to feel like your days puttering around the kitchen whipping up your favorite baked goods are nothing more than fond memories of your gluten-filled past. Perhaps you’ve been so accustomed to conventional baking that the idea of venturing into gluten free territory seems foreign and intimidating, or maybe you simply don't know where to begin so have resigned yourself to leaving it to the professionals.

Ready for the good news? With the right tools, a little bit of knowledge, and some preparation, cooking up delicious gluten free baked goods at home is not only attainable but also surprisingly practical.

Simply replacing gluten products with  alternatives, such as gluten free flour blends and xanthan gum, can completely transform your baked goods into a tasty gluten free treat. Put your fears of never being able to enjoy a delicious cookie behind you, and commence your journey to gluten free baking.

Why Bake Gluten Free at Home

In the past decade or so, more and more people have been jumping on the gluten free bandwagon for reasons ranging from celiac disease to gluten intolerance and wheat allergies. In fact, according to a recent study by NPD, a consumer research firm, more than 30% of Americans actively avoid gluten in their diet. This spike in gluten free consumers has increasingly led more stores to stock their shelves with gluten-free alternatives to beloved cookies, cakes, pies and more.

For the growing number of gluten free people out there, these store-bought options are great in a pinch but still are not without faults. First of all, after some time on a gluten free diet, eating the same store-bought products over and over again can become horribly monotonous. Secondly, many of these products are laden with sugar, making them off-limits for those with diabetes or weight concerns. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, buying your gluten free baked goods at the store deprives you of the countless joys of baking delicious gluten free treats in your very own kitchen.

Baking your favorite gluten free treats allows you full control over both the quality of ingredients that go into your food and the creative process that makes baking enjoyable.

Manage Your Expectations

Aside from a few technological innovations, baking hasn’t changed much over the years. Before becoming gluten free, you probably baked in the same way as your mother and grandmother before you. You knew exactly what the batter for your favorite yellow cake should look like, and trusted that the process for baking cookies would not vary much from recipe to recipe. As a novice gluten free baker, it follows that you would expect baking to remain relatively the same, albeit with a few ingredient swaps.

However, the gluten free baking process, as well as the appearance and texture of many types of gluten free dough and batters, is entirely different from that of conventional baking. Learning to let go of your expectations of what you think baking should be is the first step to becoming a successful gluten free baker. Managing these expectations will not only eliminate the “Well this doesn’t look right” mentality but also stave off disappointment when your gluten free baked goods don’t come out identical to their “normal” counterparts. Also, it is important to remember that gluten free baked goods crumble a lot easier than gluten goods. Baking smaller items such as mini cookies or mini muffins will help to improve the quality and consistency of the treat.
Think of it this way—a chef friend of mine once told me that on his very first day of culinary school, the teacher walked into the classroom and commanded the students to forget everything they know about cooking. Applying this same philosophy to gluten free baking will allow you to appreciate the gluten free process all on its own, not in comparison to how you think it should be.

A Note on Gluten Free Kitchen Safety

The first consideration when preparing gluten free food at home should always be safety. This is particularly the case for those with celiac disease and other gluten intolerances where even the slightest amount of gluten can trigger a dangerous reaction. To minimize the risk of accidental contamination, thoroughly wash and dry all tools and utensils between uses and store gluten free ingredients in a separate cupboard from regular ones. This is particularly important if you share a kitchen with others who eat gluten.

However, it’s possible that gluten residue from past uses could still lurk within the gears of your mixer or the seams of your muffin pans even after a meticulous cleaning. If you want to be 100% sure that your food contains no gluten, you may want to consider buying an entirely new set of tools dedicated solely to gluten free baking. Marking your tools with different colored sticky labels can help you easily identify which ones are safe to use and which are not. While this isn’t exactly the cheapest option, it is the safest.

Prep Your Kitchen With the Right Tools

If you’ve ever done any conventional baking before, you probably own most of the tools you need to bake up yummy gluten free goods in your very own kitchen. However, it’s important to remember that gluten free batters and dough tend to be stickier and harder to handle than their gluten based counterparts, so the same tools that work for one won’t necessarily work for the other.

Keeping a roll of parchment paper on hand can help you shape sticky, unruly dough into pizzas, French bread and more, saving your hands from a gloppy mess. It’s also a good idea to stock up on miscellaneous items like ice cream scoops for perfectly portioning muffins, piping bags for forming cookies and rolls, and different colored labels for easily identifying various flours.

The single most important appliance to have in your repertoire is a kitchen scale, preferably digital, that measures in ounces as well as grams and tares (zeroes out). Due to its formulaic nature, baking, especially when gluten free, is notoriously persnickety. A 1-cup scoop of flour can weigh anywhere between 4oz and 6oz. If a recipe calls for 4 cups of the stuff, your finished product could contain anywhere between 16oz to 24oz of flour—a difference of more than 50%! This fluctuation in ingredients is more than enough to derail a recipe’s carefully balanced formula, leading to inconsistent, disappointing, and costly mistakes. Baking by weight practically eliminates this margin for error by ensuring that your measurements are accurate.

Each gluten free flour has a different weight than the other. Using a kitchen scale allows you to swap certain gluten free flours for others without compromising the final result. For example, if a recipe calls for corn flour but you have an allergy to corn, you can just replace the offending flour with the same weight of a different flour, such as sorghum, without throwing off the ratio of ingredients.

Tackling Gluten Free Flours and Other Additives

Back in the day, flour was pretty much one thing—that white, powdery stuff that either had a rising agent added to it or not.

Over time, this narrow definition has expanded beyond traditional wheat flour to include a variety of other gluten free whole grains that are ground or milled into flour. Without gluten, the protein responsible for lending baked goods both structure and elasticity, these flours often need to be mixed with each other or combined with different starches and gums in order to get the best result.

If you’re used to only using conventional all purpose flour, trying to navigate gluten free flours can be both confusing and overwhelming. Luckily, you don’t have to jump in head first. Many companies offer a gluten free flour mix that you can substitute 1-for-1 for conventional flour in muffins and cookies, where gluten is not as critical to the success of the baked goods. While these commercially made gluten free flour mixes are ideal for first-time gluten free bakers, they often fall short for baked goods that require more structure such as cakes, bread, and scones.
This is where combining different flours, starches, and gums comes into play. When you first begin mixing different gluten free flours, it’s important to follow the recipe to a T, weighing each ingredient as you go in order to obtain the best results. A recipe for bread will call for a different mix of flours than a cake recipe, and a cake recipe will call for a different mix than a pie crust.

Understanding the Types of Gluten Free Flour

Gluten free flour can be sorted into three categories: light, medium, and dark, with each group playing a specific role within your final product. Light flours provide smoothness to recipes and consist of starches such as corn, potato, and arrowroot. The medium category lends protein and structure to baked goods and includes grains such as quinoa, oats, sorghum, and white rice. The last category, the heavy flours, provides baked goods with moisture and density and includes brown rice, oat, and corn flour.

In addition to a combination of these three types of flour, most gluten free baked goods require a little structural assistance from a binder of some sort. This is where xanthan gum and guar gum come into the mix. As you get a feel for which flours and additives work best for certain recipes, you can try your hand at creating your own custom mixes.

Embrace Failure

As a newbie to the world of gluten free baking, learn to accept the fact that you’re probably going to end up with a few cakes that could double as bricks. You can read about it all you want, but the best way to get started with gluten free baking is to get your hands dirty in the kitchen experimenting with different recipes, even if it takes you a few tries before you finally nail one.
Even your “failures” can be salvaged. Dry cake? Turn it into a crumble topping for a cobbler. Undercooked pizza dough? Stick it in a bowl with some cheese and sauce to make a “pizza casserole.” Experiment as much as possible and you’ll find that you’ll become a gluten free baking expert in no time.

Start Baking

There are many different brands that offer gluten free ingredients, but Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour tops the chart on our list. Not only is this gluten free flour inexpensive, it creates delicious baked goods. Our gluten free products and recipes are meant to make gluten free baking easier for you, whether you are looking for a specific gluten free flour or need a quick gluten free muffin mix to simplify your morning routine. Check out this recipe for mouthwatering Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Bread.

What are some of you favorite gluten free baking hacks? Share all of your favorites in the comments below!