Gluten Free Flour Tutorial

Making your own gluten free flour is easier than it sounds. Here’s a list of the one’s I’ve personally tried along with my own tips for use or substituting when you don’t have the right kind on hand.

To preface, I do tend to buy a lot of bulk grains from the store. I fill re-purposed jars with millet, amaranth, and buckwheat, so I always have something on hand when I’m ready to bake. I’ll cover as many as I can, and hopefully one of these will be convenient for you too.

Oat Flour

• Certified gluten free quick oats (most oats are lightly coated in wheat flour!)(dry)
• Food processor OR high-speed blender

1. Measure and blend until they reach the consistency you want. That’s it!
2. Store in a sealed container in the pantry.

Uses: Great for muffins and breads. Easy to blend with other flours, especially buckwheat.

Not ideal for pancakes. Not recommended for cakes.

*Old Fashioned oats are a substitute, but will come out grittier.

Millet Flour

• whole uncooked millet
• High-speed blender

1. Measure and blend until they reach the consistency you want. A food processor will not work here. My food processor did a great job of mixing, but the blades were too large to actually break down the millet. I switched to a high speed blender and that worked perfectly.
2. When blending smaller amounts, make sure your container is proportionate, or the millet will rise into empty space and avoid blending.
3. Store in a sealed container in the pantry.

Uses: Ideal for bread or muffins, even pancakes. Also blends well with amaranth.

Not recommended for cakes.

Amaranth Flour

• uncooked amaranth (technically a seed!)
• high speed blender

1. Measure and blend until they reach the consistency you want. That’s it!
2. Store in a sealed container in the pantry.

Uses: Since it has a slightly crunchy texture, ideal for pan-cooked flatbreads or combining with other flours to use in bread.

Not recommended for cakes.

Quinoa Flour

• Uncooked quinoa (any color)
• High speed blender

1. While I have not personally blended quinoa, the process is the same as millet and amaranth. You need smaller blades to cut the tiny grains.
2. Store in a closed container in the pantry.

Uses: Honestly, I’m not a big fan of quinoa flour. It tends to leave a strong after-taste. You could use it like amaranth, but I would recommend making sure your recipe has a strong enough flavor on it’s own to cover the quinoa.

Not recommended for cakes. (Noticing a pattern?)

Buckwheat Flour

• uncooked roasted buckwheat (kasha)
• High speed blender

1. I don’t make my own buckwheat flour because I can buy it in bulk at Winco. However, the process would be the same as with the small grains above. The advantage here is that buckwheat is flakier and softer, so it will break down more easily.
2. Store in closed container in the pantry.

Uses: Ideal for muffins, breads, pancakes, brownies. Buckwheat looks like whole wheat but has a much subtler flavor, so it won’t ruin your desserts. It also has a flaky texture, so it’s easy to substitute 1:1 for other GF flours. However, I recommend blending it with other flour for light flavors and chocolate, otherwise you’ll have a funny background taste. Banana bread has spices to cover this up.

I haven’t tried it in a cake, but of the above, this would be my first choice. Chocolate is probably safe, but not lemon or vanilla. You would want to use a starch to create a cakey texture.

Rice Flour

• uncooked white or brown rice
• high speed blender

1. Even though rice breaks down very finely, it’s quite tough to begin with. This is why I recommend a really high quality high speed blender, or else you will need to strain your flour. This is why I haven’t done it! My blender is from college.
2. Once you reach the texture you want, store it in a closed container in the pantry.

Uses: rice flour is the best for cakes and delicate baked goods. It is also easy to blend with other flours. I don’t recommend using it on it’s own, however, since it is slightly gritty. Add a tiny amount of a starch like tapioca or mix with other flours. You won’t be able to taste the rice once it’s cooked, so it won’t clash.

Best GF flour for cakes! Use white rice for cake and pastries.

Starch

It’s important to note that gluten is the starchy shell of many grains. Removing it also gets rid of the elastic property that both makes bread chewy and keeps cake moist. You will need to add a starch (corn, tapioca, potato, arrowroot) or gum (xanthan gum or psyllium husk) to compensate. For any given baking recipe, I usually add 1-2 teaspoons. Any more, and your end result will be gummy.

Read my post about about starches here.