[Closed] Some Gluten Free Baking Advice Please

That's a cool thought! Some standard baking powders aren't gf, but it should be pretty clear on the packaging.

There's a lot of variety in flour, some of it just doesn't handle or rise at all like normal flour, tbh there's generally a bit of a learning curve (leading to useful inventions like the Flatscone and Victoriaspongebread). I wasn't a good baker before, but I kind of started over from scratch with gf. Which unfortunately means I largely can't help other than warn you that it can be a wee bit tricksy.

If I have one really useful contribution- it's hard to get results that look, taste, smell, feel and bake exactly like normal flour products, so sometimes it's just best to abandon one or two. And often with commercial gf stuff, they abandon the taste, so that it looks exactly like the real thing in the shops. **** that. My bread looks weird, my cakes are funny shapes, they taste good though.

Something i have noticed is that you cant really just adapt regular recipes by subbing in gluten free flour. They dont work the same without the gluten so normally require other things too.

Best to find an actual gluten free recipe.

IMHO only one cake works well
Make a carrot cake and you can use GF flour and its better with ground almonds instead of flour. IME proper GF flour makes cakes that are so dry that they are not that nice to eat tbh and stick to the mouth.
Carrot cake is so nice it can fool folk that its not GF and it is moist and not cloying.
Please note my cakes have to be GF and vegan so this makes it even trickier to make them

Most baking powder and bicarb is fine but you can buy special stuff to be sure its ok if you want to.

Also a number of chocolate brownie type thingies that you can do that are lovely that I can provide recipes for

[i]would like them still to be able to have some[/i]

well, they can't can they?

It's a nice thought an' all, but substitute ingredients are properly shit, and the point of cake, is that, well, its cake...y'know? So you'll end up making a shit "thing" that no one will be happy about.

Just make a cake, and apologise.

The Dove Farm GF flour works well for Victoria sponge cakes, and fruit cake can work well (my mum makes Christmas cake every year with GF flour which is lurvely)

Pastry doesn't work that well, and things that require a batter mixture cooked at high temperature (like Yorkshire puddings - which I realise isn't a cake!) don't do well either.

And as Yunki said, ground almonds do good chocolate brownies and other stodgy type cakes.

Normally more success if you use gf recipes, just swapping the flour out is a bit hit and miss.

I can recommend

Nigella's flour free brownies

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/flourless-chocolate-brownies-with-hot-chocolate-sauce-22

Magic bean chocolate cake

http://forkingfoodie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/magic-bean-cake.html

Mash potato lemon drizzle cake

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5870/glutenfree-lemon-drizzle-cake

Carrot cake muffins

https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/carrot-cake-muffins

Recipes always seem to specify gf free baking powder but I've never come across any that isn't.

Nigella's flour free brownies

Offhand that reminds me, Nigella does a polenta cake which is tremendous. GF, I don't know.

Basically, baking is science (cooking isn't), so you can't just substitute normal flour with gluten free flour.

Lots of GF recipes around. Cakes and loaves with ground almonds tend to be really tasty.

I'll second the recommendation up there for Nigella's flour free brownies - proper yum and you definitely wouldn't know they were necessarily "different" (and they don't give you gut ache!).

If they are wheat intolerant then just taking the gluten part out is a waste of time.

How about a nice flapjack? We're not GF, but vegan-lite and Mrs J makes a fantastic Flapjack with banana and EVOO.

MrOvershoot - Member

If they are wheat intolerant then just taking the gluten part out is a waste of time.

Sorry but this is toss! Gluten free is by definition wheat free, although it doesn't hold in the other direction.

I have a great recipe for chocolate cake which includes apples. Like the carrot cake above, the apples give the moistness which is lacking in the non-gluten flours. It is incredibly simple (4-y-o makes ours!)and a family favourite in our house.

4 medium apples
240g wheat free flour blend
220g caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
4 eggs lightly beaten
250ml veg oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all dry ingredients. Add all wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly, pour into a tin and bake for 45 mins on 180-200.

Ice with icing sugar (4:1) cocoa powder mixed with a tablespoon or so apple juice.

Scoff within a couple of hours, more if you actually let it cool.

Matt

imo doves gluten free self-raising flour is a good substitute for normal self-raising. But you need to add a dab (1/8-1/4 teaspoon) of zanthan gum to give it a bit more bind. Works well in standard sponge recipes.

Also the recipes in the Honeybuns cookbook are great too. Lots use sorghum flour and ground almonds so make very rich tasty cakes.

Nigella does a polenta cake which is tremendous. GF, I don't know

Will try that chocolate cake one. The apple should be enough to bind without any egg ....he said hopefully.

Sorry but this is toss! Gluten free is by definition wheat free, although it doesn't hold in the other direction.

eh? You can get gluten-free wheat flour so you can be gluten-free and still have wheat. If you're wheat intolerant, it doesn't help you.

Also, wheat without gluten isn't going to have the properties of gluteny wheat as the gluten is responsible for the a lot of that.

[url= https://www.coeliac.org.uk/glossary/codex-wheat-starch/ ]Linky[/url]

You should try some recipes using ground almond instead of gluten free flour, I sell a lot of gluten free products and don't rate gluten free flour at all for cakes. The ground almonds add moisture and you can get gluten free baking powder to give the lift to the sponges. If you split the eggs and whisk the whites and fold in at the end this also helps to keep cakes light.

For a brownie you can directly replace the quantity of flour with ground almonds and gluten free baking powder for normal and it works really well, for cakes you need to alter the recipes and method.

I apologise, I wasn't aware that anyone had bothered to remove protein to <20ppm from wheat flour.

Unless they can get wheat really really cheaply, I really don't see the advantage over other sources of starch.

Matt

Usually I find adding an egg or two helps. And more liquid than you would normally use.

Just bookmarking for later use. Oh, +1 for Nigella cake.

Nigella's lemon polenta cake is one of the best cakes ever. Head and shoulders above any other gluten free cakes, and actually many cakes too

matt_bl - Member

I apologise, I wasn't aware that anyone had bothered to remove protein to <20ppm from wheat flour.

I'm not sure what your trying to say? Having worked in flour milling for 25 years I think I know my Wheat/Protein & gluten characteristics and having extensible gluten is not great for cakes.

well, they can't can they?

It's a nice thought an' all, but substitute ingredients are properly shit, and the point of cake, is that, well, its cake...y'know? So you'll end up making a shit "thing" that no one will be happy about.

Just make a cake, and apologise.

http://www.glutafin.co.uk/recipe/coffee-and-walnut-sponge/

I think Mrs P has used this with Doves Farm White Mix (available in many supermarkets) successfully too.

Your friend will really appreciate the extra effort you've gone to.

The glutafin select mixes are the business- got to be a little bit careful as they're not wheat-free, they contain wheat starch but the gluten content is low enough to still be classed as gluten free. Anyway, they're very good, better imo than Dove's Farm which is also good.

nickc knows nothing, incidentally. But personally, we have a bunch of bakers in my office, when they ask I say "Just don't worry about me"- it's expense and hassle for them and generally tends to lead to substandard cakes for all. It's totally possible to make first class gf cakes, just, it's also very easy to make terrible ones. And I've choked down enough disasters while trying to be polite, to be a bit over it 🙂

As has been said, recipes with ground almonds or polenta are really good. Courgette is also surprisingly palatable.

There are some great cakes that just don't use gluten, rather than substituting it for something with disappointing results.

IMHO Spanish orange and almond cake is one of the best cakes ever, it's also gluten free. It uses whipped eggs and ground almonds and gives a light fluffy sponge texture.

This:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/orangeandalmondcake_72383

[img] https://s.yimg.com/ea/img/-/121002/orage_almond_cake_05_186kqqg-186kqqj.jp g" target="_blank">https://s.yimg.com/ea/img/-/121002/orage_almond_cake_05_186kqqg-186kqqj.jp g"/> [/img]

And I've choked down enough disasters while trying to be polite

That Spanish orange & almond cake is flipping gorgeous.

You don't have to use gluten-free flour necessarily, you can use other gluten-free ingredients as an alternative (you are more likely to have these in your cupboard or re-use them when baking something that doesn't have to be gluten-free).

For example these Gluten-Free Soft Amaretti Biscuits are delicious, they use ground almonds or desiccated coconut: http://www.braxtedparkcookery.co.uk/cookery-school-blog-detail.cfm?page=2&post=191&title=Try%20Gluten-Free%20for%20Allergy%20Awareness%20Week

This Almond and Clementine cake is ace, made it twice now. Keeps moist for ages.

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/clementine-cake-2559

Things that require a batter mixture cooked at high temperature