Why am I measuring flour in grams? Why not the Pre-Made Mixes? And Why mix different flours?

Why Weighing?

As you work with different flours you find that they have different weights per volume.  A cup of wheat flour does not equal a cup of rice flour.  And a cup of tapioca starch works differently in a recipe than a cup of potato starch. Measuring by weight gives a more consistent result, and when we are removing wheat, corn, soy, eggs, etc. every little bit affects the final result.

Why not the Pre-Made Mixes? 

 I have purchased and experimented with some of the pre-made mixes, there are more and more out there everyday.  Some of them are even enriched in an attempt to improve the quality of your diet.  I still find that too many of the mixes contain ingredients that are not good for me personally.  I have mentioned before that the xanthan gum bothers my tummy, and the tapioca can interfere with egg replacement because it itself can be used as an egg replacement.  Additionally there are mixes that contain corn starch, which also bothers my tummy. 

Besides having ingredients and additives that I can't tolerate, there are missing ingredients as well.  Whenever possible I like to add flours that will give a boost in protein, fiber, iron, or all three.  Most of the mixes you buy will contain white rice flour, potato starch, and brown rice flour as its main ingredients.  All are low in protein, fiber, and iron.  Most will not contain the beneficial sorghum flour, millet flour, quinoa flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour, or teff flour.  

Still, I give you the cup measurements for all of the recipes at the top.  This is so you can use the pre-made flour blends if you absolutely need to. I cannot guarantee that you will get the same result...actually I can almost guarantee you will not get the same result.  Some flour mixes contain xanthan gum to 'condition' the dough, I have found it is unnecessary and I use other ways to improve the end result.  My methods may interfere with the xanthan gum resulting in a gooey mess.  Some of the flour mixes also include flours that give a gummy or uncooked consistency when you are replacing or omitting eggs, not all flours are created equally.  Below are the nutritional differences so when you are purchasing a pre-made mix, or deciding to blend your own, you see why I have varied the flours so much.  I have also included the weight per volume of the different flours so you can see why weighing the flour is important.

Flour Type	Total carbs	Protein	Fiber	Sugar	Fat	Iron % RDA	Calories	Calcium % RDA
Flours Found in Most Pre-Made Gluten Free Mixes OK, but not as good as others
White Rice 40g/ ¼ cup	32g	2g	1g	0g	.5g	0%	150	0%
Brown Rice 40g/ ¼ cup	31g	3g	2g	0g	1g	4%	140	0%
Tapioca flour 30g/ ¼ cup	26g	0g	0g	0g	0g	2%	100	0%
Potato Starch 12g/ 1 TBSP	10g	0g	0g	0g	0g	0%	40	0%
Recommended Gluten Free Flours to Boost Nutrition
Buckwheat 30g/ ¼ cup	21g	4g	4g	0g	1g	6%	100	1%
Teff 40g/ ¼ cup	29g	5g	5g	0g	1.5g	15%	150	6%
Sorghum 34g/ ¼ cup	25g	4g	3g	0g	1g	8%	120	0%
Quinoa flour 28g/ ¼ cup	18g	4g	2g	0g	1.5g	7%	110	1%
Millet 30g/ ¼ cup	22g	3g	4g	0g	1g	5%	110	0%
Arrowroot 32g /  ¼ cup	28g	0g	1g	0g	0g	0%	110	0%
Coconut 14g / 2 TBSP	8g	2g	5g	1g	2g	10%	60	0%
Good - / But Not for Everyone – Check Allergies & Intolerances
Almond four 28g/ ¼ cup	6g	6g	3g	1g	14g	6%	160	6%
Oat flour 40g / 1/3  cup	26g	7g	4g	0g	3g	10%	160	2%
Not Recommended / Inflammatory
Corn flour 29g/ ¼ cup	22g	2g	4g	0g	1g	3%	110	0%
Cornstarch 8g /1 TBSP	7g	0g	0g	0g	0g	0%	30	0%
Not Gluten Free – For Comparison only
Unbleached white all purpose wheat flour 34g/ ¼ cup	24g	4g	1g	0g	.5g	10%	120	0%
Whole wheat flour  38g/ ¼ cup	27g	6g	5g	0g	.5g	8%	140	2%

Why mix different flours anyway?

When baking gluten free, you are still mimicking modern day gluten baking. What we know about making things rise, have the right texture or crumb, and just plain tasting good comes from baking with gluten.  Why doesn't just buckwheat work? why are we using brown rice and white rice flour blended together?  It all comes down to the starch vs. protein in the given grains.  White rice contains more starch, brown rice has more protein, so when blending flours we are trying to blend them to mimic the starch to protein ratio in wheat flour.  This is generally understood as 60% starch and 40% protein.  I say generally, because those things we have come to know and love, like pizza dough, often contain added gluten.  This makes it stretchy and, well, doughy.  Extra gluten is not something we can add, and we don't really have a good substitute for it.  Xanthan gum claims to be the missing link for this, but doesn't really 'rise' to the occasion. So if we were to use just buckwheat, baked goods would be more coarse and dry.  Using just white rice flour will make things gummy.  We need to blend the flours to make them palatable to the modern day expectation for baked goods.  Our ancestors probably did make buckwheat pancakes without adding other flours.  They probably did not have the same expectation for a light fluffy pancake without a coarse texture.

A Final Note...

There are other 'techniques' I use to make a better final product.  When making cakes and cookies the texture can become grainy or rough on your tongue.  This can be improved with extra fine ground flours.  I recommend the Authentic Foods superfine white and brown rice flours for this.  I cannot find them in local stores and must order them online.
   

Authentic Foods also sells a pre-made mix.  I don't use it or recommend it because it does contain cornstarch.  If you can tolerate corn, that's great- but it is still inflammatory and I can not recommend it.

Also, when making 'special occasion' cookies and cakes- remember they are special- so you don't need to boost them with the higher fiber and protein flours.  These are great for everyday baking, but they will also have a coarser texture that will interfere with the end result.