Ok, so those of us who are familiar with, or even those who are new to this diet, know that every recipe seems to call for several different flours, and they are ALWAYS different. Brown rice flour, white rice flour, sweet white rice flour, sorghum flour, quinoa flour, millet flour, coconut meal, coconut flour, almond meal, almond flour, potato starch, potato flour, and the list goes on and on and on... This is just a list we've thought about, that are our favorites... You know.. the ones we use the most often and the brands we like! When it comes down to it, you can almost always just use your favorite flour mix, and it will turn out about the same. So, when it comes down to it, find your favs and stick to the! Hope it helps.
We'll start off with a standard needs...We use Bobs red mill Brown Rice flour, and Bobs red mill sorghum flour. We have always been really pleased with Bobs red mill products, and though they tend to be a little more expensive, if you are planning on stocking up,
www.Vitacost.com is the best place to get stuff, as they have competitive prices and they ship free after 49.00. We did stumble on a great deal through Amazon.com for Bobs red mill brown rice flour. (4) 48oz bags for 18.43 (if you do the subscribe and save)... Click
HERE if you want to take advantage of that, but make sure you check the price as it does change from time to time on there.
Brown rice flour is our go to flour. It's much healthier for you than white rice or sweet white rice, and tends to be less grainy than either of those as well. It doesn't leave an odd taste in your mouth, and tends to no affect the flavor of baked goods! In several recipes that I have for bakes goods like muffins, I tend to just use straight brown rice flour, instead of the flour mix they recommend, as it is the least expensive of the gluten free flours (aside from corn flour/masa-harina), and turns out great still!
Sorghum Flour is another great go-to for us. It's sweet, and tastes great in bakes goods. We really enjoy the added flavor that sorghum flour brings, but it also brings added price as well. Again, we use Bobs red mill for sorghum.
Masa-Harina/Corn flour is wonderful. It's very inexpensive, and can be found at nearly ANY supermarket, including the bulk section at winco for about .70/lb! It's great for in breads that you're making that need to be more like a regular sandwich bread. Though sandwich breads that are allergy free tend to have a different texture than regular wheat bread (not as dry and fluffy), we manage to get a bread that tastes yummy for sandwiches that are meat based (turkey, chicken, tuna, salami etc). If you are more of a fan of PB&J's than you will want a recipe that uses fruit juice instead of water, and that doesn't have a lot of yeast.
Coconut Flour & Coconut meal are such a treat. It is very expensive comparatively to the previous flours, and doesn't work in all recipes. Because coconut flour has a hint of coconut, I wouldn't use it in anything but cakes/muffins or things that are sweet. It is WONDERFUL in a cake, especially when coupled with coconut milk, and is a real crowd pleaser for me! Coconut meal /shavings/flakes are GREAT for making homemade chicken nuggets, coconut fried shrimp, or teriyaki meatballs, especially the sweetened ones.
Millet Flour is a great filler flour. We have found several flour mixes that have called for it, and we've never been disappointed. It doesn't add any flavor, so it is great for things like dinner rolls,sandwich breads, or anything that isn't going to be sweet. You can find it online quite easily, and it costs about the same as brown rice flour, sometimes a little less or a little more, but in the same ballpark. We buy the arrowhead mills millet flour, and have been very happy with it. You can find it
HERE on amazon in slight bulk (4, 32oz. bags).
Almond Meal is a go to for us for meatballs, meatloaf, and the like. Anytime you need to do something that calls for bread crumbs this is what to use. We make homemade chicken meatballs and they taste great with almond meal. This can tend to be a little pricey if you don't know where to get them. With some flours, online is best, but it is not the case with almond meal. Trader Joes is, hands down, the best place to get it. 16 oz. for 3.99! :) Anywhere online is about 7.00/lb or more. In any event, get some. You won't regret it!
Though this isn't a complete list of all the flours available out there, it's a start. If there are any flours you want to know more about, let me know, and I'll do my best! Thanks for reading, and come back soon! :)
This new treat recommendation goes out to all my Mommy friends, with little kiddos on limited diets, that need a yummy snack to help get their tummies from one meal to another. Now, I'll be honest here. I'm not typically a fan of Gerber. It seems like a lot of their snacks and foods have LOADS of unnecessary crap (ahem!) in them, and I am NOT a fan of processed food. With how sensitive my youngest is, this snack was a SERIOUS gold mine when she can only have very small amounts of fructose, in addition to the no soy-no dairy-no gluten/wheat- no egg issues. Well, gerber FINALLY managed to pull through for me this one time, and I am beyond grateful for it. My little one LOVES these new snacks, and they get her a wide variety of fruits and veggies in tiny bite size amounts, that are super easy to control.
