Method Monday: all-purpose gluten free baking mix

More Method Monday

---

This mix is my favorite mix
Cookies, cakes, scones, crepes, pancakes, muffins, fritters, quick breads...really any baked good that naturally wants to be tender and moist without any gluten development. When I first started playing around with gluten free flours I went the regular route of rice flours and tapioca starch, or variations thereof. The results were grainy, or chewy, but not what you’d expect from a cake or muffin. Then one day the light bulb went on, because these are all recipes, where it’s stressed over and over, don’t over mix, or you’ll develop the gluten.

Second epiphany was that I actually didn’t want to, or have to mimic wheat flour! I just wanted to create a mix that’s exactly suited to whatever type of baking I’m doing.  

So I left behind other flour formulas, and set out to discover a flour combination that would equal a mild, soft cake flour-- and hit upon sorghum flour, potato starch and xanthan gum as the perfect combo.

• Sorghum flour is a nutritious, sweet yet mild whole grain flour
• Potato starch is renowned for it’s ability to hold moisture and tenderness
• Xanthan gum is made from the outer layer of a tiny, inactive bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris and is an excellent all purpose thickener. Those with sensitivities to it can use ground flax seed instead = 2 tablespoons per 3 cups flour. 

These ingredients fit my criteria for superior nutrition to white wheat flour, so even if gluten isn’t an issue for you this flour mix is the way to go for prebiotics
low glycemic load, mineral and vitamin and protein content.

When I bake with this mix the results are always superior in taste and texture to white wheat flour. Another breakthrough: alternative flours don’t have to be substitutes for wheat flour, they can actually significantly outperform them in various circumstances. 

This mix can be used in exact ratio to white wheat flour recipes with the same baking times. Best of all it’s easy to make and store.
Here’s how to do it:

• Two 1 lb (ish) packages of Bob’s Red Mill Sweet Sorghum Flour

• One 1 lb (ish) package Bob’s Red Mill potato starch ( not flour!) 
• I use NOW brand Xanthan Gum 6oz bottle 

1. Open the packages into a big mixing bowl
2.  Add 2 level Tablespoons (which is 6 teaspoons) of Xanthan gum 

Mix it all thoroughly together with your clean hands, while adding blessings and good thoughts for everyone you will be baking for, and gratitude for the flours, grains and millers-- very important part of the process.