What's the knack to baking with gluten free flour?

[Eileen101]

My daughter is allergic to wheat and I've started making some bits with gluten free flour, but everything seems dry and crumbly

Is there a knack?

I'm not a great baker at the best of times, but I'm trying

Are you using specific GF recipes or just adapting normal ones? GF flour absorbs a lot more liquid than regular wheat flour so you may need to compensate for that in the recipe. Maybe have a look at freee or Doves Farm for some ideas

Gluten free is not so good imo.
My favourite type are polenta cakes, soaked in syrup. They have that grainy texture of course. Ground almonds can help texture too imo.

Start with a GF mix like the Doves Farm GF SR flour and follow their recipes. Start off with easy things like brownies which have plenty of fat and eggs to counteract the different behaviour of GF flour and are naturally moist.
Plain sponge with Doves Farm works well - I do equal weights of eggs, flour, sugar, fat but you need more milk than you would normally to acheive dropping consistency, and I usually add a teaspoon of glycerine to help the moistness.
TBH in 23 years, I still haven't made really decent pastry or scones and don't ask about bread. They all rely on gluten to hold them together and are better bought.

I've found using GF bread flour more successful for things like pastry. I also add 1 level teaspoon of xanthan gum and an egg. If it still seem crumbly and dry when you are pulling the mixture together, add a little extra milk (I use dairy free).

Don't over-work the dough, i.e. treat it gentle and don't knead.' Rest' the dough in cling film in the fridge for at least 30 mins. Don't over stretch when rolling out.

I sometimes made an apple cake for a visiting strictly GF BiL, with part ground almonds - about 1/4 IIRC. The apples kept it nice and moist - it was very nice. Just sponge mix but with the almonds, and a layer of peeled, sliced apples in the middle.

I've never got the knack. Everything I've made since going gluten free has been horrible. (Using Asda gf flour.)

Family of coeliacs here - i just sub out the normal flour for gluten free and add a teaspoon of baking powder and xanthan gum to the mixture - also I make sure I don't over work the mix if a cake. - works ok for me

What kinds of things are you trying to bake?

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER could you post a link to the recipe for that please, it sounds interesting.

www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/delicious-gluten-free-victoria-sponge

This recipe is a winner. I usually add a tablespoon of milk and reduce cooking by 10 mins.

@MarkRuffaloCrumble just adapting normal ones. That's interesting about needing extra liquid. I'm using freeee flour so I'll look them up.

@30mph thanks, that's helpful. I tried to make pastry. It was terrible. We're dairy free here too.

@gettinglikemymother, this sounds delicious, I shall definitely try this one! Thanks!

Thank you all for the very helpful advice.

I miss naan bread, and will give it another go.

I haven't had much success with GF flour either, despite being a decent baker. I now tend to go for flourless recipes, as they work better!

I can recommend Felicity Cloake's chocolate cake -- turns out great each time: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Gluten free baking is tricky, I've tried a lot of different things. Nowadays I don't even bother with pastry. For cakes I often buy a doves farm cake mix. There are some good GF baking books, but to do it successfully you need to use lots of different ingredients (mixing different flours, adding almonds etc) it's a bit of a pain.

@libertybonds just things like fruit muffins so far. Apple and cinnamon for example. She's 14 months at the moment, do nothing too involved.

If you are also dairy free I recommend Pippa Kendrick free from foods for friends and family

Google Becky Excell . Her GF recipes are brilliant.

Just a few tips:

• start with recipes that are specifically gf
• don't bother with yeast breads until you have practiced a lot and found some recipes that are specifically designed as being gf
• as you have observed, pastry is tricky. It's easier than yeast breads, but you really do need a specific gf recipe. Jus rol puff pastry is also decent (for gf! It will never be exactly the same)

-

My ds has coeliac and I use a Panasonic breadmaker twice a week to take the labour out of it all. Xantham gum and cider vinegar are the magic ingredients to give it a good texture.

@LegoCaltrops, I haven’t made it for quite a while but I think this was it. I didn’t add cinnamon - it’s a matter of taste but I thought it perfectly nice without.

At the time BiL was strictly dairy free, too, so I used a vegan spread that worked fine.

freefrombaking.co.uk/dorset-apple-cake/

Served warm with cream or custard it makes a v nice pudding, too - I also used to have a (separate) GF sister IL to cater for now and then!

I just use supermarket gf flour but sub some of it for ground almonds so it's not as dry... so if its 200g flour, I use 150g flour and 50g ground almonds... always works for me.... NEVER use coconut flour - delicious but dry dry dry!

Thank you everyone 😌

Banana bread/muffins work well with GF flour.

I use the Allison's teff blend flour that says on the bag 'ideal for banana bread'.

Double the milk and add an extra banana.

Doesn't have that grainy texture and stays together really well.

I also use a recipe that uses honey instead of sugar, I think that probably helps as well.

We bake with Asdas own gluten free flour, we make sure to add Xanthan gum and use GF recipes. Muffins and Lemon drizzle cake seem to come out the best for us.

Gf and df here
I love my coconut flour raisin and walnut muffins with coconut oil instead of butter
Tiana website should have the recipe
They certainly aren’t dry
Don’t substitute coconut flour for ordinary flour in a recipe
You need way less as it really swells