December 1, 2023
Should you buy a gluten free flour for baking, or make your own?
When it comes to Gluten Free Flour Blends there are two primary options to consider — making your own flour blend (from one of my recipes), or purchasing a pre-mixed blend that's been battle-tested for Cookies, Cakes, Breads, and more.
Making your own blend will require some speciality ingredients, time, and math. I've done the math for you in the Excel-based calculator linked below. Buying a pre-mixed flour blend for baking will save you time and wasting ingredients, with the biggest bonus being that all the guess work is removed from your gluten free baking.
Make your own blend
If you'd like to take the DIY approach, here's a downloadable Excel file with a calculator for each blend! All the information explaining the blends, their usefulness, etc. is on this webpage. The link below is only to an Excel spreadsheet to do the math for you.
Download the Calculator →
Buy a Blend
You can purchase Nicole’s Best multipurpose gluten free flour only on our new Nicole’s Best sales website, Bestgfflour.com. It’s the best blend available, but it’s not yet widely available. Don’t worry, Better Batter (linked below) works in all my recipes that call for an all purpose gluten free flour blend!
Buy Nicole's Best Blend →
Everything you need for making Gluten Free Flour blends
Table of Contents
- Everything you need for making Gluten Free Flour blends
- Don’t Want To Build Your Own Blend?
- What If I Only Want To Use One Blend?
- How Do IUse the Infographics Below?
- Mock Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Blend
- Mock Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
- Better Than Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
- Basic Gum Free Gluten Free Flour Blend
- The Myth of a Cup-For-Cup Gluten-Free Flour Blend
- Better Batter as Cup4Cup Hack
- Gluten Free Cake Flour
- Gluten Free Bread Flour
This article has all the information you need to know about gluten free flour blends. From simple, easy-to-use step by step instructions for how to build your own all purpose gluten free flour blend from scratch for baking at home, to copycat versions of popular ready made blends. It’s all here!
Before we begin, let's answer a few common questions
1. Can I just use gluten free flour instead of “regular” flour in conventional recipes?
The answer is no! Gluten free baking requires gluten free recipes (See8. The Myth of a Cup-For-Cup Gluten-Free Flour Blendbelow).
2. Is gluten free flour better for you than regular flour?
No! Not unless you have to avoid gluten for other health reasons. Gluten free flour isn’t naturally better for you than wheat flour.
3. Can you buy gluten free flour?
Yes, you can! I recommend my new flour blend, Nicole's Best, Better Batter classic blend all purpose gluten free flour, or Cup4Cup gluten free flour. (See1. Don’t Want To MakeYour Own Flour Blend?below).
4. What types of gluten free flour are there?
Well, I’m glad you asked. That’s what we’re talking about. Read on!
5. How do I make your Gluten Free Bread Flour blend to make the bread recipes inGluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread?
Per 140 gram cup, it’s just 100 grams Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour + 25 grams whey protein isolate + 15 grams Expandex modified tapioca starch. Scroll to the very bottom for more information!
It all starts with rice flour
Rice is one of the most basic staples in the gluten free diet (yes! rice is gluten free). All of my all purpose gluten free flour blends are rice flour-based blends.
It’s incredibly important to use a very finely-milled rice flour, or your baked goods will be gritty and the flours will not blend into the other ingredients properly.
Typically, I recommend purchasing Authentic Foods superfine rice flours. Recently, I have discovered that it is possible to mill finely ground rice flour at home with some special equipment.
Please see the full discussion of making your own rice flour here on the blog, including price comparisons. You decide what’s right for your family and budget!
Choosing an All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend
Choosing an all purpose gluten free flour recipe blend can be pretty intimidating. Don’t worry!
Each all purpose gluten free flour recipe below can be used in any of the gluten free recipes here on my blog and in my cookbooks that call for an “all purpose gluten free flour.”
They’re easy to make. All you need is a simple digital food scale and the simplest calculator you can find.
The recipes are expressed in percentages, and you cannot make these blends accurately with volume (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons) measurements, as measuring by volume is incredibly imprecise, and each flour has a different weight/volume.
NOTE: There are affiliate links on this page. If you click one of the links and purchase products, I earn a very small commission on your purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for making this blog possible!
Don’t Want To Build Your Own Blend?
1
What Gluten free flour blends to use for & for what purposes
Use Nicole’s Best multipurpose gluten free flour for all of my recipes, except those that call specifically for my “gluten free bread flour” blend. Use it without adding xanthan gum when a recipe calls for my “gum-free gluten free blend,” and with the designated amount of xanthan gum when a recipe calls for an “all purpose gluten free flour blend.”
Use Better Batter gluten free flour everywhere my recipes call for an “all purpose gluten free flour.” You can purchase it on their website (betterbatter.org), and you’ll get the best price when you buy in bulk. I'm afraid you'll have to find it in stock, though, and sometimes it goes out of stock.
You can also use Cup4Cup gluten free flour blend anywhere my recipes call for an “all purpose gluten free flour.” It's relatively high in starch, though, which is why I have a “Better Than Cup4Cup” flour blend, which I believe it the best there is. Cup4Cup won’t produce ideal results in every category of my recipes, but it will still work in everything other than gluten free bread.
Nicole's Best Multipurpose Gluten Free Flour
Simply the best. This is my own blend, newly for sale. Made with premium ingredients, it has a smooth-flowing texture that can be used in breads, pastries, sauces, and pancakes.
Shop Now →
Better Batter Original All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend
Perfect for gluten intolerant, vegetarian, and vegan lifestyles. Make sure you purchase the “classic” blend only!
Shop Now →
Cup4Cup Multipurpose Gluten Free Flour
Neutral flavor that won’t change the taste of your favorite recipes. This blend is lighter than Better Batter and has more starch, but it also has milk powder which adds great texture and some additional structure. It’s best as a pastry flour, but it works in all my recipes that call for an all purpose gluten free flour blend. Just some better than others!
Shop Now →
1
Other packaged gf blends that I’m afraid I don’t care for:
- King Arthur Gluten Free Flour Blends: Their rice flour is relatively grainy, and the blend is simply too high in starch; avoid their blends at all costs when making gluten free yeast bread! I haven’t tried their new “bread flour” blend, but it’s made with psyllium husk and I don’t use or recommend that ingredient.
- Jules Gluten Free (it’s made with a very, very high percentage of Expandex modified tapioca starch, so it’s very starchy and also rather gummy);
- Tom Sawyer blend (too starchy);
- Namaste (unbalanced);
- Krusteaz (unbalanced);
- Bob’s Red Mill (their bean flour blend is simply unpleasant; their 1:1 rice flour blend is unbalanced, grainy, and of inconsistent quality);
- Pillsbury (grainy);
- Betty Crocker Rice Flour Blend (grainy);
- Trader Joe’s Blend (I reviewed it here);
- Better Batter’s “Artisan Blend” (it does not work properly in my recipes as it’s rice-free and contains psyllium husk, and ingredient I don’t bake with and don’t recommend).
If you use any of these blends, especially Bob’s Red Mill or Namaste, your recipe simply will NOT turn out.
King Arthur Flour multi-purpose gluten free flour blend is perhaps the most widely available blend, and I would give anything (a bit of an exaggeration) to be able to use and recommend it. Unfortunately, it’s very high in starch so it’s unbalanced, and the rice flour in it is grainy. *whomp whomp whomp*
What If I Only Want To Use One Blend?
1
If you only want to use one blend, I’d purchase my newly available Nicole’s Best Multipurpose Gluten Free Flour that you can learn about and later purchase on the Nicole’s Best website. It doesn’t contain xanthan gum, so it’s appropriate for everything, even pancakes, with varying amounts of xanthan gum, which you can also purchase on the site.
If you only want to use one blend that you can make yourself, for everything but bread, I’d make it my Better Than Cup4Cup.
You’ll still need a Gum-Free Gluten Free Flour Blend, though, for some applications. So … two blends? Oh, and to make bread flour, I suggest you buy Better Batter. So … just 3. That’s all. :)
How Do IUse the Infographics Below?
To prepare each all purpose gluten free flour blend below in whatever quantity you’d like, simply apply the various percentages listed for each component gluten-free flour to the total quantity, one by one.
For example, if you wanted to put together 140 grams of flour (which is the proper measurement for “1 cup” of an all-purpose flour blend by volume in my recipes), using the Mock Better Batter Blend, here’s the math:
30% BRF = 30% (or 0.30) x 140 grams = 42 gramsSuperfine Brown Rice Flour
30% WRF = 30% (or 0.30) x 140 grams = 42 gramsSuperfine White Rice Flour
15% TS/F = 15% (or 0.15) x 140 grams = 21 gramsgood quality Tapioca Starch/Flour
15% PS = 15% (or 0.15) x 140 grams = 21 gramsPotato Starch
5% PF = 5% (or 0.05) x 140 grams = 7 gramsPotato Flour
3% XG = 3% (or 0.03) x 140 grams = 4 gramsXanthan Gum
2% PPP = 2% (or 0.02) x 140 grams = 3 gramsPure Powdered Pectin
If you add up all of the numbers, it will equal 140 grams (go ahead and check!). So make as much or as little as you like. I generally make 10 cups at a time of my favorite blend (which at this point is the “Better Than Cup4Cup Flour Blend”).
For the math-phobic: Reader Ryan Hunt also provided us with this handy Excel document that does the calculations for you for most of the following blends!
Click “download” and save it to your own computer, then use it to do the calculations for you:DOWNLOAD HERE
Mock Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Blend
Mock Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Blend
This blendbehaves just like Better Batter itself in recipes:
What’s in the blend?
This mock Better Batter flour blend is a dairy free, gluten free blend made of equal amounts superfine white rice flour and brown rice flour (30% each), equal parts tapioca starch and potato starch (15% each), less potato flour (5%), 3% xanthan gum, and finally 2% pure powdered pectin.
It’s super important to use superfine rice flours, as otherwise your blend will be gritty. The rice flours, potato flour, tapioca starch and powdered pectin simply cannot be substituted for anything else.
The potato starch can be replaced with corn starch or arrowroot, and the xanthan gum with an equal amount of guar gum.
What is theblendgood for?
Better Batter is what I use when I need a bit more structure (likecut out sugar cookiessince it’s avery simple doughs and I don’t want itto fall apart at all) and/or a bit more chew (likegingerbread cakeandmorning glory muffins).
Mock Better Batter is also good for recipes like thedevil’s food cakesince I want them to rise evenly, and a lower starch blend is very helpful in that endeavor. Higher starch blends don’t usually hold together as well or rise as evenly.
Finally, with sturdy cookie recipes like thesoft batch chocolate chip cookies, the butter in the blends tenderizes the heavier Better Batter flour perfectly. This is my go-to blend for standard drop cookies.
One more important thing about (Mock) Better Batter:It is the flour that I use to build my High Quality Gluten Free Bread Flour for alllll the amazing breads inGluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread.
But when I make that bread flour, I use Better Batter itself. I don’t build a mock Better Batter for that.
It’s actuallymore economical to buy Better Batterthan to blend it yourself, and way easier. It cuts the bread flour down to 3 components: Better Batter, whey protein isolate, and Expandex.
Mock Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
This blend behaves just like Cup4Cup in recipes.
What’s in the blend?
Cup4Cup has much more white rice flour than brown rice flour, it’s quite high in starch and it contains nonfat dry milk. The two ingredients present in the largest quantities are superfine white rice flour (31%) and cornstarch (25%).
It has almost equal amounts of tapioca starch (15%) and superfine brown rice flour (14%), with 10% nonfat dry milk, a wee bit of potato starch (3%) and finally, and 2% xanthan gum (slightly less than Better Batter has). The rice flours, tapioca starch and nonfat dry milk simply cannot be substituted for anything else in this blend.
Although I haven’t tried this, the cornstarch and/or potato starch may be able to be replaced with arrowroot, and the xanthan gum with an equal amount of guar gum.
What’s the blend good for?
Cup4Cup is really a pastry flour. High in starch, lower in protein, it’s just a dream for pastry. Light and airy, it does just what pastry flour is meant to do: surround the cold butter in a recipe smoothly, and then puff effortlessly when the cold butter hits the heat of the oven and gives off steam.
Cup4Cup does have enough protein and structure to trap the steam given off in the oven, which is important. If you just use a high-starch blend that doesn’t have the other attributes of Cup4Cup (notably, dry milk powder and xanthan gum), it won’t trap steam and you won’t get the flaky goodness of the beautifulbiscuits,scones,pie crustsandpuff pastry.
Better Than Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
Better Than Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour Blend
This is atweaked version of Cup4Cup, which I affectionately call the Better Than Cup4Cup Flour:
What’s in the blend?
As the name implies, I think it’s even better than Cup4Cup, as it corrects what I believe to be the imbalances in that blend. It contains almost 1/3 superfine white rice flour, similar amounts of cornstarch (18%), superfine brown rice flour (17%), tapioca starch (15%) and nonfat dry milk (14%).
A small amount of potato starch (3%) and even less xanthan gum (2%) round out the blend. Like the mock Cup4Cup blend, the rice flours, tapioca starch and nonfat dry milk simply cannot be substituted for anything else in this blend.
Although I haven’t tried this, the cornstarch and/or potato starch may be able to be replaced witharrowroot, and the xanthan gum with an equal amount of guar gum.
What’s the blend good for?
This isgenerally my favorite all purpose gluten free blend. It’s just light enough without being too starchy, never tough, and it’s particularly good for doughs that you have to roll out since it rolls out really smooth (likepierogi). It’s not my favorite for pastry, since my mock Cup4Cup is just the perfect pastry flour—low in protein, high in starch.
Better Than Cup4Cupisgreat for recipes that are a little bit more delicate, but not fragile (likechurros), and recipes that I want to lighten up a little (likechocolate pound cake). I also really like it for lighter cookies, likesnickerdoodles,chewy sugar cookiesanddrop sugar cookies. It’s just a great all-around blend. Love it!
Basic Gum Free Gluten Free Flour Blend
Finally, my basic, xanthan gum free gluten free flour blend, for recipes that do best without any xanthan gum at all, or a reduced amount:
What’s in the blend?
This blend has only 3 simple ingredients: two-thirds superfine white rice flour (66%), nearly one-quarter potato starch (22%), and the remaining 12% is tapioca starch. The white rice flour cannot be substituted with brown rice flour, or anything else. It is essential to the blend.
The tapioca starch cannot be substituted either, but the potato starch can likely be substituted with corn starch or even arrowroot.
What’s the blend good for?
I like to use this blend in delicate things like and gluten free pancakes. This gum free gluten free blend serves two really, really important purposes: (1) allows us to make the lightest most delicate recipes likecrêpes,pancakes,puddings(without resorting to using cornstarch as a thickener, since that ‘leaks’ liquid as it cools) andsuper crispy cookies), and (2) equally important, it allows us to really control the amount of xanthan gum in a more delicate cake recipe, likesponge cakeorchampagne cake.
Youdoneed some xanthan gum even in cakes, though. They will rise and hold together reasonably well without xanthan gum, but they will crumble too easily (do we really want to perpetuate the myth that gluten free baked goods are crumbly?!) and they will get stalereallyfast.
One more thing a gum-free blend is necessary for that isn’t pictured here isgraviesandsauces. You cannot make a good rouxwith xanthan gum, so don’t even try.
Trust me, you want to stock these 3 component flours to have this blend for when you need it. It isn’t needed all the time, but it’s important to a completegluten free pantry. I usually keep a few cups of it already blended, but since it’s so simple that really isn’t strictly necessary.
The Myth of a Cup-For-Cup Gluten-Free Flour Blend
The Myth of a Cup-For-Cup Gluten-Free Flour Blend
Gluten-free baking calls for gluten-free recipes. Plain and simple.There is no such thing as a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend that mimics conventional flour enough to be used in all of your conventional recipes.
Even though some commercial blends may call themselves a cup-for-cup replacement for all-purpose wheat flour, a cup for cup replacement for all purpose flour is a myth. I’ve tested so many gluten free flour blends. I took note of each flour blend’s cup for cup claim – and then ignored it.
That’s why I have been using my gluten-free recipes for the each test, rather than using conventional recipes.You see, they’re different.
Gluten-free recipes and conventional recipesare different from one another.Gluten-free food should taste so great it makes your toes curl.
It shouldn’t be “good, for gluten-free.” And I will not rest until not a single soul ever again tells us to “c’mon,” since “no gluten-free pizza is going to be any good.” The heck with that!
But that doesn’t mean that our path toexcellentis exactly the same. We have to get there another way. We have to make our own way. Gluten-free baking is still relatively new. No one can claim to know everything about it.
Most gluten-free flour companies that make an all-purpose gluten-free flour tell you that all you have to do is just replace an equal amount of their flour in your favorite recipes, and that’s that. Some of those companies sell amazing gluten-free flour blends, and I’m a fan offrom way back.But that claim? It’s not even interesting to me.
We took out gluten! When we did that, we removed the essential protein in wheat-based flours that gives baked goods their texture and mouth feel.
No matter what we replace it with, it’s just not going tobehaveexactly the same in the process of baking. Same result, different route.
What I’m expecting is anall purpose gluten free flour.One that performs well forall purposes.But that doesn’t mean it performsthe sameas gluten-containing flour. And it doesn’t have to.
For some recipes, likeany dough that must be rolled out, the ingredients in a recipe are going to be different (more moisture, more and varied protein sources, sometimes more fat). Even more importantly, theprocess is going to be different.
To makeGluten Free Puff Pastry, both the ingredient proportions and the instructions in a conventional recipe just aren’t going to cut it.To makeGluten Free Rainbow Cookies, a conventional recipe would probably get you a cookie that looks just about right, in many ways.
But it would probably be a bit dry, maybe not hold together like it should. I don’t know about you, but for me? That’s not good enough. That’s how we end up hearing “it’s good—for gluten-free.”
My mostbasicadvice? Go into gluten free baking with your eyes wide open. It takes experience to know how to modify a conventional recipe to make it a gluten free one.
Start with good gluten-free recipes, and move on from there. Don’t expect magic from an all purpose gluten free flour blend. Expectgreatfood, made just a bit differently. But don’t worry. I’ll be there with you, every single step of the way.
Better Batter as Cup4Cup Hack
Nothing compares to the light and flaky pastry that you can make with that Cup4Cup makes. Since it’s such a spendy blend, I found a way to hackBetter Batter gluten-free flour into a pastry flour, as another Cup4Cup alternative:
- 113 grams Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour
- 12 gramsgluten free nonfat dry milk
- 15 gramsgluten free cornstarch
Since Cup4Cup is a dairy-containing flour, I also created adairy-free way to hack Better Batter into pastry flour:
- 104 grams Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
- 18 gramsgluten free blanched almond flour
- 18 gramsgluten free cornstarch
Gluten Free Cake Flour
Gluten Free Cake Flour
Gluten Free Cake Flour can be made by combining an all purpose gluten free flour and cornstarch in specific proportions. Those proportions are:
- 82% all purpose gluten free flour (I like Better Batter best here)
- 18% cornstarch
If you cannot use cornstarch, try using arrowroot as a substitute.
Gluten Free Bread Flour
Gluten Free Bread Flour can be made by combining all purpose gluten free flour (which contains superfine white rice flour, superfine brown rice flour, tapioca starch/flour, potato starch, potato flour, xanthan gum, and pure powdered pectin) with whey protein isolate and Expandex modified tapioca starch in specific proportions.
We do have a complete discussion ofgluten free bread flourfor you to read. Here are the highlights. The proportions are:
- 100 grams all purpose gluten free flour (I like Better Batter best here)
- 25 gramswhey protein isolate
- 15 gramsExpandex modified tapioca starch
Expandex modified tapioca starch can be replaced with Ultratex, another type of modified tapioca starch that is sold online at amazon.com in two strengths: Ultratex 3 and Ultratex 8.
Ultratex 3 is not as strong as Ultratex 8, but both are considerably stronger than Expandex modified tapioca starch. You can also try purchasing the same product, Ultratex 3,here.
Since Ultratex 3 is approximately 3 times as strong as Expandex, I’ve arrived at a formula for building Gluten Free Bread Flour to use in the recipes in Bakes Bread. It is as follows (please pay careful attention, asall 3 percentages have been changed):
1 cup (140 g) Gluten Free Bread Flour Using Ultratex3
105 gramsMock Better Batter all purpose blend(or Better Batter itself)
30 grams unflavored whey protein isolate
5 grams Ultratex 3
For comprehensive information about the elements of this bread flour, please see ourBread FAQs.
For more information on how to begin baking with your gluten free flour blends, see ourBeginner’s Guide to Gluten Free Baking. You’ll be baking in no time!
