When I first started my journey into gluten free baking, I was clueless as to what it meant. All I knew was that I couldn’t use wheat, barley and rye flours. There was a lot of trial and error experimentation in the first few months. At the beginning, most creations ended up in the garbage. But pretty soon I started getting the
feel for it. I wasn’t yet at the stage where I was happy enough with the product to sell it, but it was pretty good. Good enough for us to enjoy it at home, and better yet, good enough to be enjoyed by diners at the local soup kitchen where I donated all these cakes.
The most important thing I learned during this time was that there is no one gluten free flour mix that is good for everything. Even with regular flour you have all-purpose flour, cake flour, bread flour, whole wheat, and so on, that are used for different purposes. I knew that I could not rely on any of the ready made store bought mixes to get the results I wanted with my cakes . Every cake and cookie needed its own combination of flours in order to come out perfect. So I needed to create my own blends.
After months of learning about the traits and qualities of each gluten free flour, and trying dozens of flour recipes that I found online, I came up with two four mixes that are the basis to Tali’s Artisanal line of products – Tali’s Gluten Free Rustic Flour and Tali’s Gluten Free Tart Flour. To that I add other flours that together make each of my products unique and different in texture and flavor.
There are many recipes out there for gluten free flour mixes, and you may have already found some that you like to use more than others. You are welcome to give the following recipe a try, as well. I like to use it to make tart shells, butter cookies and fluffy cakes.
1½ cups (240g/8.5oz) superfine rice flour
¾ cup (90g/3.2oz) potato starch
½ cup (80g/2.8oz) superfine sweet rice flour
½ cup (60g/2oz) tapioca flour
The amounts here are given in cups as well as in grams and ounces. If possible, it is better to measure in grams, because it gives a more accurate ratio of the different flours. In baking this may be crucial to the success of the baked good.
For better results, make sure that the rice flour you use is superfine, not fine. Superfine rice flour can be found in Asian grocery stores. I get my superfine rice flour online from Authentic Foods.