Hi all, I'm a bit fed up,I don't mind begin gluten free and have found some good products in the shops,which although expensive are ok to good. BUT I do like to do my own baking and I am having a problem with that. Today I was trying to make biscuits for my g.daughter coming tomorrow. I wanted to make swirly ones,half plain half chocolate rolled up and sliced. I used standard g/f flour but the result was crumbly and very amateurish and cut thick to stop them falling apart. Is there any hope ,what am I doing wrong???
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beaton
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I react badly to xanthan gum, so would stick with egg. When you have a chance you might try experimenting with different flours, if you haven't done so before.
Hi, you can buy a product from Orgran called gluten replacer to use instead of Xanthium gum.
You may not have added a binding agent to replace the gluten. I prefer to use xanthan gum, but many use guar gum. You add about 1 teaspoon of binder to 1 cup of flour. There are also some flour combinations that work better than others: equal parts rice, millet and tapioca should be easy to acquire and give pleasant tasting results. It you need more help you are welcome to visit my web site for free advice at foodchallenges.ca or join our Facebook group... the link is on the home page of the web site... and open things up for discussion.
Hi there. You need to add a gluten substitute to your recipe - guar gum or xantham gum, or look for gluten-free recipes that use a binding agent like egg.
You give yourself a challenge by starting with biscuits. There are some good baking g/f books in the discount bookshops. You can use g/f flours that are ready made or make your own using recipes such as described by Phil Vickery.
The problem is that g/f flours are not as forgiving as wheat flour. I started to be more successful when I went back to basics.
Always sieve dry ingredients together because any type of binder must be mixed all the way through the flour.
Work quickly but do all processes such as whisking or beating for long enough - I have started to use an electric mixer.
Best of all some of the nicest looking baking is naturally g/f eg macaroons. Choux pastry my latest conquest uses the wheat recipe with a g/f flour - first I made with commercial flour but then added a small amount of gram flour to give a bit more colour.
The recipes work - the victoria sandwich is as fab as it looks on the cover.
Xanthum gum, if you plan to use it, it only takes a small amount and needs to be sieved through the flour. I find I can usually not use it. Some bakers use glycerin putting a teaspoonful in the wet ingredients. It makes the cake stay a bit moister and is found near the icing stuff at the supermarket.
Master cakes then move onto biscuits and pastry. Our quick bake is little pancakes - often just mix an egg with any kind of flour and possibly sugar and cook in a frying pan. Peanut flour is good for little savoury pancakes to eat with cheese etc. Get best range of flours at chinese supermarket.
Hi Mrs Pepperpot, (nice name.) I'm so embarrassed because I was a professional cook. It's the G/F I'm having so much trouble with. Thanks for the advice some good points there. I'm also looking at sugar free,that needs fillers also. Guess I shall have to invest in moor books. I can see Amazon are going to make money out of me. We don't have many specialist flour shops in my area so back to Amazon again. Thanks again.xx
We use Stevia as a sugar replacement (sometimes half and half) and the supermarkets tend to do a cheaper version. Really weird to use as it is so lightweight.
For flours if you live in a big place I find that the chinese or indian supermarkets are very good and offer some new naturally g/f foods. If you are somewhere smaller you might find that the chinese takeaway could help find where to get flours.
Hi Beaton, you mentioned fillers before. I sometimes use apple puree or mashed banana. Still fruit sugar but they will add bulk and some other nutrients. Good place to use a bit of Stevia to increase the sweetness if necessary. Can use mashed potato as well, not sweet, but a filler for Stevia.
Get hold of the allergy GF CF cookbook book by Marilyn Le bretton - it's on kindle or amazon have cheap second hand copies. In it you will find the work of Barbara Powell of the now defunct Barbara's Kitchen - she did the best ever work on GF Flour & baking
Definitely try google - there are lots of great GF baking websites that have great tips on how to manage with GF and especially grain free flours. Try againstallgrain.com or elanaspantry.com. Both are great sites for grain-free baked goods which will taste fantastic and not spike your insulin.
Libraries have many gluten free cook books,………... I am not the best cook , but I used to make much better biscuits than I do now and I wonder whether ingredients have changed, I almost can't be bothered to eat anything like cakes or biscuits any more,….. not much help I'm afraid, just comment
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chestnut flour and pasta!
just wondering how long the itching can go on for after starting G/F diet? 
Sorghum flour pancakes - success!
