Just finished taking a gluten-free baking class and I thought this was very informative. The other interesting thing was seeing how mixing varied the results of the product.
www.livingwithout.com/flourblend Click ingredient substitutions on right side.
That was a great link. There are also so many options you can choose, and you'll find similar information in most gluten-free cookbooks.
I would caution relying on the high-glycemic flour and starches as flour substitutes for all your gluten-free baking. I prefer low-glycemic nut flours and coconut flour so they don't contribute to rising blood-glucose issues. You will also find milling your own gluten-free flours will provide you a much fresher product that is higher in nutrition than commercial flours - plus you can save a LOT of money by milling your own. Many of the gluten-free flours that you purchase pre-milled will have been exposed to oxygen long enough to degrade the oils and nutrients --- fresh-is-best. Rancid oils don't have to smell to be rancid, and these oxidized oils are damaging free-radicals best avoided in your diet. You can use a coffee/spice mill for many of the gluten-free grains/seeds to mill into flour. However, it takes a quality mill to mill beans into flour. I sprout many grains/seeds/beans first, dry, and then mill into flour, which makes them easier to digest and increases the nutrition. You can also make your own nut flour and coconut flour.
If you have a chance to read America's Test Kitchen's The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, you'll learn even more things. They compare a large number of products so we don't have to. Unfortunately, they use so many of the high-glycemic flours in their recipes, I've only found a few recipes I can use, but the information was well worth the price of the book.
A tip when making rice flour and using it in baked goods: use medium- or short-grain rice instead of long-grain rice. Long-grain is okay for a thickener or dredging meat in, but it's not the best choice for baking. I sprout rice and dehydrate the sprouted grain before making rice flour to help remove the arsenic, and limit the amount of rice in all forms in our diet due to the arsenic. There is rice flour in nearly everything that is gluten-free, so that's an ingredient I try to control myself as much as is realistic.
I have the America's Test Kitchen's The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook on my counter waiting to go back to the library right now. I didn't glean too much more out of it. I did learn a lot in the class that made me realize that I probably won't be using as many grains as I thought. We were able to sample breads and baked goods with different grains. That was helpful. I have been looking in some of my old health food cookbooks and am surprised to find easy, GF recipes there. Also, learned how to adapt some of my recipes, so..... we shall see? Thanks for the info lessisbest!
The America's Test Kitchen's cookbook does a lot of comparisons between different all-purpose mixtures from different companies as well as the ATK blend, and that was good information, but those are the flours I use the least. If you are into the "science" like I am, it's a good reference book.Originally Posted by frugal-one
I've been using whole grains/beans/seeds and milling my own flour for decades, so those were easy exchanges for me. I developed cookie recipes for a local sorghum mill that was certified gluten-free, and those are some go-to recipes for me. I also used almond flour (and other nuts) and coconut flour for their low-glycemic impact long before I went gluten-free.
Don't forget to look at low-carb and Paleo recipes. You'll find LOTS that are also gluten-free.
I was fortunate, hubby went gluten-free with me, so it's a lot less work.
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