Below are some general guidelines for how to convert a traditional wheat-flour recipe to a gluten-free one.
Excerpted from Bake Deliciously! Gluten and Dairy Free Cookbook by Jean Duane, Alternative Cook.
One cup of wheat flour translates into 1/2 cup of grain flour, 1/4 cup of bean flour and 1/4 cup of starch.
Step One
Start with a combination of flours in these ratios:
50% grain flour (brown rice or sorghum)
25% protein flour (navy, fava, garbanzo, soy, gafava flour)
25% starch (cornstarch, tapioca or potato starch)
Use 1:1 for flour called for in the original recipe
Step Two
Add 25-50% more leavening (baking powder, baking soda or yeast) to the recipe dry ingredients
Step Three
Add 1/2 to 1 tsp. acid (vinegar, citric acid, cream of tartar or citrus juice) to the wet ingredients
Step Four
Add 1/2 tsp. of xanthan gum to the dry ingredients,
or
Add 1/2 tsp. guar gum to the wet ingredients for every cup of flour,
or
Add 1/4 tsp. of each the xanthan gum and the guar gum.
(For smaller baked items, gums may be omitted)
Step Five
Let the batter sit for a few minutes before baking to allow the liquids to be absorbed.
Image thanks to fantasticfamilyfavorites
Dr. Stephen Wangen is the award winning author of two books on solving digestive disorders, and a nationally recognized speaker on IBS. He has been on ABC, NBC, and Fox as well as public radio. He was recently named one of Seattle’s Top Doctors by Seattle Magazine.
