When I started baking with gluten free flours, I learned that it would be necessary to use several different flours in a blend in order to approximate regular all-purpose wheat flour. I researched many different blends and found that I prefered blends with gritty flours, such as rice and sorgum, in a higher ratio than the starches, such as potato and tapioca.
It took over a year of experimenting and a trip to Victoria, British Columbia to find the right final ingredient for my blend. I was enchanted with the baked goods at Origin Bakery in Victoria, where I learned that garbanzo bean flour is essential to round out the ideal gluten free flour blend. It provides fiber and spring that I was unable to find in any other flour.
My flour blend does not contain any xanthan gum or other binder because I find that I want to use different amounts of the gums in different recipes. For instance, I use more for cookies and less for pancakes. It’s nice to be able to be flexible. I also weigh all of my flours. Although you could do it volumetrically, it’s a lot easier and much more accurate to use a scale, once you get the hang of it.
Ingredients:
- 560 grams brown rice flour
- 461 grams sorghum flour
- 372 grams potato starch
- 137 grams tapioca starch
- 198 grams garbanzo or chickpea flour
Step 1: Whisk together the brown rice and sorghum flours.
Step 2: Thoroughly whisk in the potato and tapioca starches, and the chickpea flour. Store in a tightly sealed container.
One batch makes about 12 cups of flour blend.
