GF Tips and Tricks

Gluten free

Gluten Free Tips and Tricks Starter Guide

Gluten Free Starter Guide and Tips


Fresh fruits and vegetables, Non- processed meats, etc.














Trouble Shooting Tips For Gluten Free Bread


Trouble Shooting Tips for Gluten Free Bread


If your bread sinks in the center.

  1. Possibly your dough is too wet.

For more tips check out my GF cook Book, Jan’s Gluten Free Cook Book

More Gluten Free Baking Tips


More Tips and Tricks for Gluten Free Cooking

Gluten Free flours have gotten a lot better over the years, but there are still some tips that will help you a lot in exchanging regular wheat flour for Gluten Free flour.

  1. Right off the bat, NO I have not found a GF flour that you can just exchange in the same amounts that you would use in wheat flour. It just doesn’t work the same.
  2. There are so many different blends of flours, some use corn starch, or potato starch, or tapioca starch, (none of them are the same) and they do not react the same to the other ingredients in the recipe. That is why so many Gluten Free recipes fail. When you figure out the positive chemical reaction for each GF flour. Then you will have a successful recipe! That is why I name each Brand of flour I use in all my recipes.
  3. A lot of the Gluten Free Flour blends have a rice base. Some are bean flour. Rice and Beans are both hard when they are dry, so in order for them not to have a gritty texture, you must let the dough or batter set for a while and soak up the liquids before baking or cooking. Except fried foods, when fried at high heat the rice flours become crisp not grainy. Also the flours absorb oils better than it does butter, if the butter gets cool. But you also give up a lot of flavor when using oil.
  4. Because Gluten Free flours are heavier than wheat flour, it takes gluten free flours longer to rise than wheat flour. So I add more baking powder and more yeast than I did for wheat flour. I also let most of my dough set longer in a warm place to rise. (Except my sour dough, it doesn’t need the extra time) The warmth of steam, seems to help activate the yeast so it can rise. So when I start to bake a loaf of bread, I will start a pot of water to boil on the back of the stove.
  5. When baking Gluten Free yeast breads, you should not try to punch down the loaf for a second rise. Most Gluten Free dough will not rise a second time. When it rises, it is ready to bake. If it does not rise, the yeast you used may be bad or out of date. I always keep my yeast in the fridge. If you let it set in the cabinet,it could possibly get too warm and ruin the yeast.
  6. Baking times usually will be at a lower temperature setting, but they will need to bake longer. Most of the time I will use 325*F. setting and about 10 -12 minutes longer baking time. It depends a lot on your type of oven, and the thickness of the item you are baking. For instance, bread dough will always take longer to bake than a cake batter.


Fats & Oils

When baking with Gluten Free Flours, it helps to use at least 2 different fats or oils. There are some recipes that I have only used oil, but that is to keep the bread from turning brown. Most of the time, I usually use butter and oil. Unless I’m baking a squash bread or any kind of fruit bread, such as banana bread. Then I just use butter and fruit, the fruit acts as an oil. I don’t know the scientific reason for this but the rice flours fluff up better when you use 2, rather than just butter or oil by themselves.

G F Binders

If you are new to Gluten Free baking, the first thing you need to know, is check the GF flour ingredients. If it does not have xanthan gum or guar gum, then you have to add it if the recipe does not call for it. Gluten is a protein in wheat, barley, or rye, etc. that holds the dough together. Since there is no gluten in rice, or other GF flours you have to add a binder, such as xanthan gum or guar gum. In the premade cookie, or cake mixes, and GF Bisquick, the binders are already added, but most GF flours do not have them. So far most of the All-purpose GF flour blends that I have tried do have xanthan gum in already added. Betty Crocker GF does have guar gum, but it isn’t enough and you must add xanthan gum to help it along. The single rice flours or almond flours, etc. usually don’t. Please be sure and check the label.  Otherwise you will have mush come out of the oven instead of a cake, the Betty Crocker GF rice flour just doesn’t have enough binder to hold the cake or bread together.


2 thoughts on “GF Tips and Tricks

  1. These are very good tips. I have been cooking with gluten free flours and ingredients for 15 years and you’re right about the xanthan gum it is definitely needed. Its almost better if the flours don’t included it in the mix. You then have control how much goes in it. I have tried a couple mix flour packs with xanthan gum added and sometimes it wasn’t enough and other times it would have too much. Great website I like it!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you. Right now I am using mostly Tom Sawyer GF & Betty Crocker GF mixed 1/2 & 1/2. They seem to be the most consistent I’ve tried. I try to make recipes as simple as I can to follow.


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