No Gluten, No Problem

Gluten? Fuggedaboutit.

Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend

by

UPDATED: 4/13/11

A fundamental component of many of our recipes – especially baked goods – is our Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend. Those of you who own a copy of our cookbook, Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking, will already be familiar with it (the recipe is on page 15). We’re also continually developing new recipes for the NGNP blog, and use the Artisan GF Flour Blend there as well. So…it only made sense to post the recipe here on NGNP so it’s readily accessible.

Single Batch (about 3 cups)

1 1/4 cups (156g) brown rice flour
3/4 cup (88g) sorghum flour
2/3 cup (90g) cornstarch
1/4 cup (37g) potato starch
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (14g) potato flour
1 tsp (3g) xanthan gum

Quadruple Batch (about 12 cups)

5 cups (625g) brown rice flour
3 cups (350g) sorghum flour
2 2/3 (360g) cups cornstarch
1 cup (148g) potato starch
1/3 cup (57g) potato flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (14g) xanthan gum

Common Substitutions

If you have a sensitivity to one of the components in the flour blend, not to worry. True to our blog title, that’s no problem! Try these straightforward substitutions:

Sorghum – omit the sorghum, and substitute additional brown rice flour
Corn – omit the cornstarch, and substitute arrowroot flour (use about 2/3 as much arrowroot as you would cornstarch)
Potato – omit the potato starch and flour, and substitute 1/3 cup tapioca starch (or 1 1/3 cups tapioca for a quadruple batch)

Measuring Flour

By cup measure… Use the spooned flour method of measuring. Use a spoon to stir and lightly aerate your master batch of flour. Then use the spoon to scoop flour into your measuring cup. Lastly, use a straight edge, such as a knife, to level the cup of flour. Voila! (For more background on differences in volumetric flour measuring, check out this post.)

By weight… One cup of Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend weighs 125g. ‘Nuff said.

– Pete

Comments

  2. I recently used your blend to make corn muffins – used your corn bread recipe AND the muffins were superb! No onw would ever believe that they were gluten free! GB

  3. THANK you for showing the recipe for your gluten free flour mix on your blog. Your book looks really good and I WILL buy it. You make me want to go out West and also to cook and bake great food! Thanks again, Kay Guest

  4. Hi Stephanie… Glad to hear the potato sub worked well!

    Hi Anonymous (#1)… So glad you enjoyed the corn muffins! Thanks for the compliments.

    Hi Anonymous (#2, AKA Kay)… Very happy to share the recipe! Cooking and baking great GF food is much easier than people think! =)

    Cheers, Pete

  5. ok, I am math challenged. lol but when you say substitute about 2/3 arrowroot for what you would sub for cornstarch what would that be? Do you mean 2/3 of the 2/3 ? lol I am sure this is very straight forward, but I am not getting it. I am thinking for the quad batch it would be about 2 cups to sub the arrowroot, but I don’t get the single batch. Am I following that right? I’d like to try the single batch first, but flours are expensive and I don’t want to mess it up at that price. Thanks! Kelly

  6. Hi CooperKelly4… You’d use 2/3 as much arrowroot flour as you would for whatever base quantity of cornstarch you’re talking about. So, for a single batch of flour, you’d use 2/3 of 2/3 cup. This works out to just less than 1/2 a cup arrowroot flour for a single batch, and 1 3/4 cups arrowroot flour for a quadruple batch.

    Cheers, Pete

  7. I just bought your book, and am in the process of tagging recipes. Does the GF flour blend substiture 1:1 for a non GF recipe calling for all-purpose flour?

  8. Hi Budger… Yes. Our Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend works great as a 1:1 substitution for all-purpose recipe. Some recipes will require modification (either more or less flour than a 1:1 ratio, and possibly supplemental xanthan gum), but 1:1 is a great place to start with any recipe.

    Cheers, Pete

  10. Hi MerrySunshine… We personally have never made a substitution for the xanthan gum. It’s one of those magic ingredients in GF baking that’s almost irreplaceable, at least in our experience. The most common substitution would be to use guar gum. However, guar gum’s thickening properties don’t hold up well with heat, hence xg tends to be overwhelmingly preferred for baking. If using guar gum, us about 1.5 times as much as you would xanthan gum to account for this difference in performance.

    Cheers, Pete

  11. How about some weights for the various ingredients? I weighed 3 different carefully measured cupfuls of brown rice flour and got weights ranging from 125 to 133 grams. However the standard conversion for rice flour is 1 cup = 160 grams. There’s a substantial difference in volume between 125 grams and 160 grams. It would be really helpful to those of us who weigh our ingredients to know how much your cupfuls weigh.

  12. Hi Molly… Thanks for your comment. So far, we haven’t taken the time to work out weights for the components of our flour blend for two reasons. First, only a small handful of people have requested it. And secondly, when it comes to measuring ingredients at the level of teaspoons and tablespoons (as for the xanthan gum), we don’t own a kitchen scale that sensitive (and we’re betting that most of our readers don’t either). However, we do know that there are folks like you who would like the weights. At such point as we have a scale that will work for that purpose, we’ll record the weights and update the post. Until then, the spooned flour method of measuring has never failed us – stir your flour with a spoon, spoon the flour into a measuring cup, and use a straight edge to level the cup. I get consistent results every time. Your three trials were within 6% of one another. If you get that kind of consistency using the spooned flour method of cup measuring, I’d say to trust those numbers…

    Cheers, Pete

  14. Hi Anonymous… I’ll be honest. We’ve never frozen the bread. It just doesn’t last that long in our house – we eat it too soon! But, I don’t see any reason why it would freeze well. Slice it first, freeze it, and then thaw and lightly toast slices as you would any other frozen GF bread.

    Cheers, Pete

  15. Thank you so much for posting the weights for your blend! That makes substitutions so much easier for me, since the different kinds of flours and starches have different weights.

  16. I noticed that in your flour blend substitution list, you had substitutes for all but the rice flour. I can’t have rice. Is there a substitute for the rice flour?

  17. Hi Anonymous… The brown rice flour is the fundamental basis for our flour blend, making up the highest portion by both volume and weight. As such, we currently don’t have a substitution for it. However, you can try using a rice-free GF all-purpose flour blend with our recipes. Other readers with rice sensitivities have taken this route to good effect. Hope this helps!

    Cheers, Pete

  18. Pete,

    When you state that the weight of your flour is 124g, how did you come by that number?

    I have found that if I use that weight to convert your recipes in your book, I end up needing a bit more flour (specific recipes are the pizza dough and the sandwich bread).

    Just now I measured a cup of the flour mix using the scoop and level method (as per recommended), and it was 132g. Now I know why I have more success doing volumes in the recipes vs. weight.

    I guess I should also note that I use the arrowroot substitution (can’t have corn) which makes everything a bit lighter.

    Anyway, I would be interested in comparing notes. Have you had any issues using 124g as a weight replacement for the recipes?

  19. Hi Susan,

    The short answer is that we arrived at 124g per cup by two different methods: a) finding the average weight of our flour blend, when the master batch was measured out by volume, and b) finding the average weight of the flour blend, when the component flour ingredients were measured out by weight, and then weighing cups of the mixed flour blend. I took the average of 10 individual cup measurements, and no single cup deviated from the average by more than 2 grams.

    The longer answer is that, for recipes developed by cup measure, prior to our conversion to baking by weight, 124g per cup is a close approximation, but an imperfect one.

    For example, when measuring by cup volume, although Kelli and I use the exact same method, our respective cups of flour weigh slightly different, because of subtle differences in how we level our cups of flour.

    For another example, while 1 cup of flour might weigh 124g, 1/2 cup of flour does not equal 124g divided by 2, nor does 1/4 cup flour equal 124g divided by 4. That’s because 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, and 1 cup flour all have slightly different densities. (Said another way, if you measured 1 cup flour, and if you measured 4 quarter cups of flour, in both cases, you’d have one total cup of flour. But they’d weigh differently, because the four individual quarter cups had a different density than the single 1 cup.) Thus, if you’re making a recipe that, say, calls for 1 3/4 cups flour, you’d volumetrically measure out 1 cup plus 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup, for example. That result will be different than measuring out 124g x 1.75. Make sense?

    So…that’s a long-winded way of saying, for our older recipes, 124g is pretty darn close, but not always perfect. We personally haven’t had much trouble using it in our older recipes, but feedback such as yours is helpful.

    Thanks!
    Pete

  21. I can’t find sorgham (sp?) or potato flour, though stores here do have potato starch. I replaced the S flour with brown rice flour per the recipe, but used home-ground oat flour instead of the potato flour. I’m new to G free baking, but a blog I read said potato flour is “gummy” and so are oats. It seemed to work.

    CAUTION TO THOSE WITH TRUE CELIAC (rather than those like my husband with a mild intolerance): only use certified gluten-free oats if you try this. Quick cooking works best if you have to use a coffee grinder to grind them.

  22. Hi MK… Thanks for sharing your substitution. As we note, you can also always omit both the potato starch and flour, and use tapioca starch instead.

    Cheers, Pete

  23. I can’t have tapioca flour (despite having just bought a 2 kilogram bag.. D’oh!), is there anything you recommend to substitute it?

    Thanks!

  24. This is a great blend – thank you so much! Your book is on my holiday list this year 🙂

    Quick question – once I make the big batch of the flour mix, should I store it in the freezer? And how long would it keep well stored in an airtight container, not frozen?

    Thank you for all your hard work that we are benefiting from!

  25. Hi Gabs… I’ll admit, I’m confused by your tapioca question. Our flour blend doesn’t call for it, unless you’re specifically substituting tapioca for one of the ingredients, such as potato. All the substitutions are listed in the post.

    Hi KarenTaylor… Many thanks for your compliments! If you use the flour blend regularly, there’s no need to store it in the freezer. Kept in an airtight container, it should be good at room temp for weeks. If you don’t use it often, keep it in the fridge.

    Cheers, Pete

  26. I have an allergy to rice flour, tapioca flour and am finding it hard to find a recipe for a flour mixture without those two. I bought almond meal/flour and quinoa flour. Could I use those instead of the rice flour, and if so, in what quantity? I found potato starch but not potato flour and I also couldn’t find sorghum flour. Is there anyway you can help?

  27. Hi Nicole… Almond flour, Coconut flour, Potato starch and flour, Bean flours (garbanzo and fava), Quinoa flour, and Buckwheat flour are all options for you to create a blend. You’d want to use some, but not all. We don’t use some of those flours regularly in our own baking, so I’m reluctant to suggest quantities and ratios. In general, you’ll probably want to have a good amount of whole grain / high protein flours, plus some starches to help texture. You might also try checking some paleo and/or grain-free blogs, since they’ll stay away from the rice flour. Hope this helps!

    Cheers, Pete

  28. I am beyond excited to find this recipe and I just put your book into my cart at chapters.ca.

    We are recently gluten free due to our daughters allergy and sensitivities and this is going to help us out a lot.

    thanks again!

  29. Hi Annie… Welcome to No Gluten, No Problem! We’re honored to be a resource for you as you adjust to your daughter’s gluten sensitivity. Happy gluten-free cooking and baking!

    Cheers, Pete

  30. Is there a way to make this without rice flour? I am allergic to wheat, rice, soy, grains, seeds, etc… I have been experimenting with corn flour, almond flour, and potato flour…

  31. Hi Melaney… Whole grain brown rice flour is the main ingredient of our blend, and we don’t have a convenient substitution for it. Many readers have had good success using other all-purpose GF flour blends with our recipes. Given your dietary restrictions, you might consider blends that use nut and bean flours. Also, I noticed you said you are allergic to grains AND that you are experimenting with corn flour. These would seem to contraindicate, so be careful.

    Cheers, Pete

  32. Hi! I left a message a while back about being allergic totapioca – i meant i’m allergic to tapioca AND potatoes. Any suggestions?

  33. I’m new to the site and I’ve already learned a lot. I have a friend that needs gluten free baked goods (especially cookies) and he doesn’t bake, so I’m doing my homework here.

    In your flour recipe you indicate that you can replace the potato flour and potato starch with tapioca starch (I assume you mean starch and not flour). If you replace those two with tapioca starch the cost differnce is considerably more expensive. My friend isn’t allergic to potato so would there be any other reason (better taste, better consistency, etc.) to replace the potato with the much more expensive tapioca starch?

    By the way, I love the fact that you give the precise weight measurements rather than just cup measurements. This makes a lot more sense! (by the way, you didn’t give weight measurements for the tapioca starch).

    Rather than worrying about sifting vs. spooning, wouldn’t it be easier to just use a proper weight as a “cup” measurement equivalent? Would the sifted weight of 4 ounces be the best choice…. whether you actually sifted it or not? I have gram scale that I use for cooking.

    Thanks for all your research!

  34. Hi Gabs… If you’re allergic to both potato and tapioca, omit them and use additional cornstarch. That’s probably your best bet. Good luck, and happy baking!

    Cheers, Pete

  35. Hi Anonymous… Glad you’ve found our blog, and that it’s been a good resource for your gluten-free baking! The primary flour blend recipe is one we recommend. We provide alternatives, such as tapioca in lieu of potato, for people who may have additional sensitivities to ingredients in the blend, such as potato. We only recommend making those subs if you need or want to. We do offer a “proper weight measurement” as you note, for one cup of flour. It’s all there in the post. Happy baking!

    Cheers, Pete

  36. My husband and I are new to eating gluten-free and so far I’ve had great success with your recipes! Unfortunately some of the health food stores we’ve gotten ingredients from don’t list much information on their packages. I was just wondering if you happened to know the nutritional information on your flour blend, either per cup or for a batch? Thanks so much!

  38. I recently bought Gluten-Free Cupcakes in order to accommodate my granddaughter’s allergies to wheat and corn. I substituted the cornstarch and xanthan with arrowroot starch and guar gum. Taste and texture were very good. Husband really like the Chocolate cupcake, however, I started noticing a slight bitter after taste. As I am new to GF baking, is this generally the case or is it something I’m possibly doing wrong? Thank you.

  40. Hi JeanneW… Glad you’ve enjoyed the taste and texture of the cupcakes! You shouldn’t be getting a bitter aftertaste from the chocolate cupcakes. Two possible culprits come to mind: 1) some brands of guar gum will impart an aftertaste, and 2) depending on the chocolate/cocoa you’re using, some darker chocolates will naturally have a more bitter flavor.

    Cheers, Pete

  41. I love the flour blend as is when I want a “whole wheat” taste. For more of an “all purpose” taste, I replace 2/3 of the sorghum with millet. This lightens the flavor and provides an almost malty character just like regular all-purpose wheat flour!

  43. THANK YOU! My sister gifted me your recipe book and the bread turned out fantastic on my first try! I even subbed milk with almond milk, butter with coconut oil and sugar with raw honey. I am so happy to be eating delicious again! – thanks chelsea

  45. How does your flour blend do without xanthan gum or guar gum substitute? I prefer not to use either when cooking gluten free but wanted to know if it would affect the end product. Thanks!

  46. Hi Sam – I accidentally left xantham gum out of our flour once and the flour was a complete flop. The cookies I made spread so thin that I had to scape them off the pan, so although we have not tested it extensively we do not recommend removing the xanthan gum.

    Thanks!
    Kelli

  47. I’m new to gluten free and look forward to trying your flour blend. I’ve collected most of the ingredients, but I’m confused about potato starch and potato flour. I’ve found the starch and products labeled “potato starch flour.” Nothing that says just “potato flour.” Is potato starch flour the same as potato flour? Thanks.

  48. Hi Anonymous – Potato starch and potato flour are different ingredients. The potato starch is very white and the potato flour is yellow and very fine. If you cannot find the potato flour you can leave it out of the mix. It impacts the texture, but the flour blend will still work without it.
    Thanks,
    Kelli

  49. I am very new to eating gluten-free, by choice, not medical necessity. My husband is type 2 diabetic, and I’m just over weight, but hopeful this lifestyle will be helpful. I have bought your awesome cookbook, revised edition, and made your pancakes this morning. So good, and I don’t particularly like pancakes! I’m really looking forward to trying more of your recipes, although we’re going to try and limit the amount of “bread-like” items because of the CHOs. But with what little I knew about gluten-free products before I found your blog had me doubtful about enjoying food from here-on out, I’m thinking that now I may actually be able to do this! Thanks to you both for your dedication.

  50. Hi – I am wondering if white rice flour would work the same as brown rice flour in this recipe? Thanks so much for all the helpful information. Our family recently went gluten free for my daughter and I am very excited to have found your website and plan to purchase your book! Thanks so much!!!!

  51. Hi Kasey – We have not tried white rice flour in our blend, however, it should ok. Have fun cooking and it is wonderful your family is embracing this process for your daughter. It make such a difference when the whole family eats the same food.

    Cheers,
    Kelli

  52. Just want to say thank you for all your hard work…it is really great to have such an awesome resource! I love your book and am looking forward to purchasing the cupcake book too!!!

  53. I can’t believe how i’ve never found this link before!!! It’s the holy grail of flours and I substitute the arrowroot starch option for the corn. You guys literally have saved my sanity and my cooking skills going to gluten free. Thank you so much and everyone I share it with agrees, it’s better than anything out there. xoxo

  55. Hi!! I’m supposed to be on a gluten-free and also blood group B diet, so anything with corn in it is a no-no. Is there a gluten-free/corn-free flour recipe that you have that will still allow me to make decent tasting muffins or bread? Thanks for your help!!

  56. Thank you Allison and Lindsey!

    Hi Karen,
    If you cannot have corn, omit the cornstarch from our flour blend and replace with a shy 1/2 cup of arrowroot flour for a single batch or 1 3/4 cups for a quadruple batch.

    Cheers,
    Kelli

  58. Not looking for brand plugs here but…. are there any specific brands of each of the ingredients that you have consistent luck with? I am lucky in my area that I can pick from multiple kinds of brown rice flour, potato flour, etc and wanted to get your opinion before I stock up again.

    After making the small batch of your flour blend dozens of times I need to just make the big batch and call it a day! Yours is the only flour blend I use now (except one for chocolate chip cookies that turns out like toll house) and so appreciate your expertise.

    Thanks as always for your wonderful work and sharing it with us!

  59. karentaylor28 – We use Bob’s Red Mill for all of our flours as they are most readily available. We are so glad you love the flour blend. It lasts for a long time when you mix it up so go ahead and make the big batch! It makes life so much easier to have one canister of flour to use for everything.

    Cheers,
    Kelli

  60. chana – We have not made the flour blend with white rice flour as we prefer the flavor, texture and added protein from the brown rice flour, however, white rice flour should work just fine as a substitute.

    Cheers,
    Kelli

  61. i can’t do rice, as i’m one of the odd folks who’s allergic. perhaps tapioca as a sub? will have to play around with it and see – thanks fer all ya do!

  62. Thanks for posting the flour blend online. I’ve bought both editions of Artisanal GF Cooking as well as the cupcake book, but gave to my daughter and one of my daughters-in-law. Don’t cook much anymore, but needed for holiday meal.

  63. Great cookbook! I make the pumpkin and the banana bread in a loaf pan, slice, freeze and take right from freezer and toast!!! Yummy!!!!

  64. Just found your blog-very nice and very informative!
    I am wondering if I could use sweet potato flour in place of potato flour in the Artisan Flour Mix?
    Would it work for the potato starch as well?
    Sweet potatoes are much healthier than regular potatoes so I use them wherever possible.
    Thanks, Laurie

  65. Recently went gluten free, and through that process found out I am intolerant to Brown Rice. I’m saddened that it is a big part of your all purpose flour mix.

    The substitution for brown rice flour is usually recommended as another medium weight flour, either sorghum or oat flour. Since Sorghum is already an ingredient in your blend, I’m wondering if omitting the brown rice and using 2 cups of sorghum would be too overwhelming.

    I essentially have to replace the 1 1/4 cups brown rice flour with something, either just sorghum or I could try some oat flour. White rice flour is ok for me, but would you recommend against that as it is more starchy than the brown rice?

    I am going to experiment, but I’m also soliciting advice from anyone who has been this route!

  66. Anonymous – I have never baked with sweet potato flour so I do not know the answer to your question. Give it a try and see if you like the results! If not the potato portion of the flour blend is rather small and the change in using sweet potato would not impact the overall nutrition content very much.
    Kelli

  67. Colleen,
    I would not substitute sorghum for the brown rice as that would be too much sorghum. If white rice flour is ok for you I would give that a try first and see if you like the results.
    Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
    Kelli

  68. Hi,

    Thanks, I assumed it would be too much sorghum, as your ingrediant all seem in the mix for a purpose. I would prefer to leave the brown rice in, but I have Chronic Lyme Disease, so I have shifting food allergies, this month brown rice is a no on! I will sub in the white rice, and may try varying amounts of oat flour to see how that works, perhaps it will be more whole-grain with the oat? I appreciate the help, and I love the book!
    Colleen

  69. Hello ~
    I’m so excited to have found your blog! It’s such an encouraging place. I enjoy the life stories — they give such relevance to living gf — I find myself rooting you on in your races, new births, all your endeavors!

    This sounds like a dumb question, even to me, but when I see xanthan gum in recipes, do I leave it out when using your flour, since yours already has it, or do I reduce it some? Leave yours AND the recipe’s in?

    Thanks,
    Isa

  70. Isa – We are so glad you enjoy the blog. Thank you for letting us know!

    The amount of xanthan gum in the flour blend is enough for basic quick bread recipes such as muffins, pancakes, fruit breads like banana bread and brownies.

    We add supplemental xanthan gum to all yeast breads, cookies and cakes.

    I would follow the recipes you are looking to try and not worry about the small amount of xanthan gum in our flour blend. Just add the amount the recipe calls for and see how it turns out!

    Happy cooking!
    Kelli

  71. I’ve used your cookbook for years as my husband is gluten free. He was diagnosed as a baby with celiac disease and back then there weren’t a whole lot of alternatives that we are fortunate enough to have today. The flour blend is the best I’ve tried (and I tried many!). Your flour blend enabled us not to abandon the foods and recipes we loved. I also like the recipe collection – well thought out and a nice diversity of dishes, we’ve tried the majority of them and enjoyed them all!

    • We’re so glad our flour blend and recipes have been good resources for your family! Thanks for taking the time to write!

      – Pete

  72. This is my favorite gf flour blend! I find it to be the ONLY one that produces not just passable, but EXCELLENT, yeast recipes. I make stuffed breads with it and non-gf guests didn’t even know it was gluten free. The Italian in me is so happy to have real pizza again 🙂 Thank you!!
    PS… substitution note: I did not have potato flour. In a pinch I substituted with extra potato starch. It worked fine. Even better substitution… instant mashed potato flakes! I measure by weight.

  73. Can you explain about corn starch ? Is this the same as corn flour as we know it in the UK

  74. Been a fam since the “rally” days. Love everything you do, but bewildered because the substitution list has shrunk. We’re moving, and I want to batch various blends out all these individual flours I have into mason jars. So I came here. Where else am I gonna get inspiration for using that way too much arrowroot I bought?

    …. ho-hum. use to be able to sub. cornstarch with so many others, and sorghum with more than just gritty brown rice flour.

    Wonder if I can find an archive page, since I never saved your page as a pdf. Or… you could send me the expanded version.