You will find in your cooking and baking that Gluten free is a beast of it’s own. You may even have had your heart broken trying to recreate your favorite dishes. My hope is to give you my hard and fast rules in the kitchen, so we can all stop getting so frustrated with disappointing Gluten free food. When people try my cooking for the first time, they are always pleasantly surprised to find out it is Gluten free, and people can be saying this about your food, too. All of my best advice is here for you in one blog post, all of the most amazing Gluten free tips and tricks.
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Sift your Gluten Free flour
This is an important, and crucial step in Gluten Free baking. I have gotten in the habit of sifting my flour mix before I store it. Then I will sift the flour again for each recipe as I need it. Gluten Free flour is dense and will stick together in clumps, although some Gluten free baked goods appear to be crumbly and disintegrate in your hands. Sifting the flour will help your dishes maintain the light, desirable texture that will more closely resemble gluten filled foods. I notice that when do not sift the flour, the food will have a grainy texture.
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Extra Eggs or Baking Soda
This is the best rule for converting old recipes from gluten filled to Gluten free. I have noticed that if I times the recommended baking soda amount by 1 1/2 that I get a lighter, fluffier biscuit, cake or brownie. If you are good with eggs, adding an extra egg or egg white will give the height, and create the air pockets that most people are accustomed to. Personally, I do not digest eggs as easily, so we use less of them in our baking at home.
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Try it Toasted
An unfortunate side effect of the Gluten free flours is that they usually have less preservatives and the products dry out in no time at all. It is common practice in Gluten free homes to refrigerate or freeze the unused portions to preserve the moisture. The only down side is that when they thaw or reach room temperature, they are hard a rock, the solution; toast it! You will get the crunchy exterior texture and warm soft center. At this point you are at the mercy of toasting rules-letting it get cool will mean it will harden again, so eat it warm.
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Almond milk for warm & Coconut milk for cold
This may seem silly, but I can tell you from experience that almond milk is thick. The almond milk will bind better when baking and creating sauces, where the coconut milk becomes very thin and loose when heated. Personally, I prefer coconut milk, it has a rich and creamy texture that reminds me of cereal milk, so I will use it for just that, or for a glass of milk with cookies!
I am so excited for you to take these tips and use them in your own cooking. I hope they will be the missing puzzle piece to your favorite recipes. Please let me know what you try and how it works. That is all I have for you right now. I will keep coming back to update this post as I think of more tips and tricks. Thank you for reading!
