My Go-To GF Flour Mix

Well, it's the end of a 4-day weekend (one of the perks of working for the government - you get every other Friday off, so Monday holidays sometimes result in 4 day weekends!), the kitchen is clean, there's bread rising in the oven, and I just opened up a bottle of wine. Seems like a good time to get caught up on the blog. 

I actually didn't do too much baking (or cooking) this weekend. Friday was a simple butternut squash and sweet potato soup - we were watching a friend's dog for the night, and trying to cook and patrol the cat/dog interaction can be a little overwhelming. Saturday night we grabbed a quick bite at the Coop before going to Beautiful Creatures (it was just okay - I wouldn't really recommend it), and then last night, we went to one of our most favorite places ever...Tesuque Village Market down in Tesuque, which is about 2/3 of the way to Santa Fe from Los Alamos. 

Scott and I love TVM - they are a very local, sustainable restaurant that serves only local stuff and returns all of its organic waste back to the farms. Very cool! It can be a bit of a challenge to eat out as a vegan, but TVM has a few viable options - a homemade black bean burger, veggie tamales, and then a wide variety of burrito/taco/enchilada options that can be made with beans and/or veggies. But most importantly, they have AMAZING margaritas! I have a mild obsession with their blood orange margaritas, but the prickly pear margs are quite tasty as well. Since we were sitting at the bar, we got to watch the margs being made, and I was surprised to see how many grapefruit margs the bartender was churning out. We've been making homemade margs with grapefruit for quite some time now, I guess we were ahead of the trend! 

So, back to the bread that's rising in the oven - this is a variation on my most recent favorite bread recipe called the 'Egg-free Bean Bread'. It doesn't sound very exciting, but this was the very first recipe that I made from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread cookbook, and it has turned out wonderfully every single time. I have been adding pepitas and walnuts to it for a little extra nutrition and crunch, and it really is delicious. Even non-GF friends love it! 

The main flour mix that is used in this bread is a mix of garbanzo-fava bean flour, sorghum flour, cornstarch, and tapioca starch. I have been making up a double batch of this flour whenever I start to get low, as it has become my go-to flour mix for all things GF. So, here's the recipe (copied from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread by Bette Hagman): 

Garbanzo-fava bean flour: 2 cups
Sorghum flour: 1 cup
Tapioca starch: 3 cups
Cornstarch: 3 cups 

Makes 9 cups total. 

A word of caution - starches seem to go EVERYWHERE when you are mixing these up, so I would suggest mixing the garfava and sorghum flours together, and then slowly adding the starches, whisking gently as you go. If you dump all 6 cups of starches into the garfava/sorghum mix at one time, odds are you'll lose at least a cup of it! 

I would recommend buying these flours in bulk if you have the room to store them. They really should be stored in the fridge or freezer, which can be problematic if you already have a packed refrigerator! But, it is significantly cheaper to buy in bulk from Amazon or your local Coop market as opposed to buying each flour individually. So, our freezer currently has a whole shelf that is full of various GF flours.

This is what our freezer looks like - GF flours and Tofutti cuties!

I have had really good luck with substituting this blend in to any recipe that calls for all-purpose flour. The only trick is that you need to add the correct amount of xanthan gum as well, but beyond that, you can follow a recipe as-is with no other adjustments in order to make it gluten-free. The basic guidelines for xanthan gum use can be found on the back of the xanthan gum package from Bob's Red Mill. I have used this blend in brownies and muffins so far, and they have both turned out quite tasty! I also recently made a lava cake with this blend, which didn't turn out quite as well, but I think it was more a matter of undercooking and recipe adjustments (I was trying to only make half the recipe) as opposed to the use of the GF flour blend. 

I plan on experimenting around with some of the other flour blends, but this one seems to be the best so far, especially since it is a 1:1 substitution for all-purpose flour. A lot of GF mixes are not a 1:1 substitution for non-GF flours, which can be a pain. 

In the meantime, here's a picture of the bread the last time I made it. 

It actually turns out really nice and springy, and the pepitas and walnuts are a great addition for some added texture. I'll get the recipe printed up soon!