by Miranda Kohout
Gluten-free flour replacers have advanced by leaps and bounds since their infancy, and there are many instances in which replacing conventional wheat flour with a flour replacer can yield excellent results. However, there are just as many instances in which this results in baked goods with an odd texture, appearance or flavor.
Chefs don’t often have time to experiment with gluten-free ingredients, so the appeal of convenient, efficient flour replacers is clear. However, playing with flavor, exploring textures and delighting guests is at the heart of what pastry chefs and bakers do. This does not change with the removal of gluten.
Non-wheat flours offer a wide range of colors, textures and flavors. A deeper understanding of gluten-free flour options can free a chef to create unique and exceptional gluten-free desserts and baked goods that make the most of every ingredient.
What is Gluten?
Before we get bound up in how to work without gluten, it’s essential to understand what, exactly, we are trying to replace when we seek to create a gluten-free recipe. Bear in mind that while the conventional route is to duplicate a beloved item sans gluten, the best approach is not to start with a standard recipe and adjust it, but rather to start from scratch, building a new recipe using standard pastry principles and ingredient knowledge, without the inclusion of conventional wheat-based flours.
Gluten consists mainly of protein. The two particular proteins in flour that form gluten – gliadins and glutenin – bond among themselves and with each other to create an interconnected network of proteins, giving our doughs both elasticity and plasticity. These characteristics are not desirable in every pastry product, and bakers will take great care to avoid gluten development in applications such as scones, sponges and pie and tart doughs. However, gluten still plays a role even in the most tender baked goods.
An elastic mass of dough, such as we might create for breads or puff pastry, or a batter or lighter dough, as for cakes or scones, traps air and expands, then sets to form an airy structure. These same elastic strands are present in almost every item containing flour, even those in which we avoid over-mixing to ensure as little gluten development as possible. Without gluten or a similar structure, breads and even cakes would not rise, or might rise, but then collapse.
Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder, the practical result of which is a patient’s inability to digest gluten. This can lead to a host of related medical issues such as IBS, lactose intolerance and, in children, failure to thrive. Definitive diagnosis of Celiac disease requires both a serologic test and at least one intestinal biopsy. Its prevalence can vary by age, sex and global region.
Until fairly recently, the medical and scientific communities asserted that non-Celiac gluten intolerance did not exist. However, given the barriers to a definitive diagnosis, it would not be surprising if many people with Celiac disease go undiagnosed. There is a growing number of people who seek to avoid gluten due to experiencing adverse health effects or out of a belief that gluten negatively affects overall health, regardless of one’s ability to digest it. There is no evidence that gluten should be avoided by individuals who do not exhibit an intolerance.
We are not in the business of medical diagnoses, and this information is presented merely for your education. We, as chefs, cooks and bakers, are here to make our guests feel comfortable and welcome, and to create and serve items they enjoy and feel safe sharing with their friends and family. Considering the growing number of individuals seeking gluten-free options, it is in our best interest to adapt our recipes, offerings and techniques to serve our customers.
As with any other allergy or food sensitivity, avoiding cross-contamination should be top of mind during production, storage, and serving. Read labels carefully, switch out equipment and clean surfaces thoroughly.
To Blend or Not to Blend?
When you create a dessert or baked item that is “free-from” in some way, it is often necessary to use several ingredients to fill the role of the one we are replacing. When looking for a substitute for conventional wheat flour, we must consider its starch content and water-absorption capacity, as well as the functions of different proteins. Non-gluten flours may have higher or lower sugar content, be higher or lower in protein or starch, and often have distinctly different flavor profiles. To balance the effects and flavors of different flours, many chefs create flour blends. It is very common to add a gum for extra structure.
Combining a gluten-free flour that contributes elasticity and lightness (as a starch would) with a high-protein gluten-free flour for structure is a good starting point, as those are the two crucial functions of wheat flour. Xanthan gum can be incorporated in the blend or added to individual recipes as needed. Balancing the flavor of a more assertive flour can also be part of your goal when creating a gluten-free flour blend.
Once a chef or baker has dialed in their blend, it can offer much of the convenience of a purchased blend without the risk that the formula will change or that the product will be discontinued. Adjustments can be made to accommodate changing costs or to take advantage of how a particular flour’s flavor pairs with seasonal produce.
A blend of flours isn’t always required for successful baked items. When testing recipes for her book “Flavor Flours,” Alice Medrich found that it is not always necessary to blend flours or use gums to enhance structure. Several of the recipes in her book use a single flour and no gums, and in many cases, the results did not compromise on taste or texture. Often, she embraced, rather than fought, flour-specific peculiarities and adjusted other aspects of the recipe. Baking time, oven temperature, mixing method and pan size all affect our final products; adjusting these variables can turn a recipe that doesn’t quite work into one that performs beautifully.
Gluten-Free Flours and Their Properties
This is by no means a comprehensive list of gluten-free flours. Rather, it serves as an introduction to the different considerations necessary when working with alternative flours, including water absorption capacity, flavor, origin and function.
White Rice Flour has a fairly neutral flavor, but it can be quite noticeable in some recipes if other ingredients also have mild flavors. Rice flour can have a very gritty, off-putting texture, so be sure to choose a finely ground variety. There are several different types of rice flour, and while they are similar, they are not interchangeable. Glutinous rice flour is milled from “sticky” rice. It cannot be substituted for regular rice flour in equal measure. Thai rice flour is available in glutinous and regular varieties and is always wet-milled, resulting in a very smooth flour often used for noodles. White rice flour functions as a starch in gluten-free recipes and helps to create elastic batters and lighter baked products.
Brown Rice Flour offers the flavor of white rice flour with additional toasty notes of caramel and cereal grains. The bran and germ in this whole-grain flour contribute to a greater perception of grittiness, and bakers can achieve better results if products containing brown rice flour are allowed to hydrate before baking. Like any whole-grain flour, brown rice flour is best stored in the cooler or freezer if you do not use it very often. Brown rice flour contributes protein to a flour blend.
Oat Flour pairs well with brown sugar, berries, dates, pears, maple syrup, cream and just about anything else that sounds like a good topping for your morning bowl of oatmeal. Oat flour is simply whole rolled oats milled into a powder, and it is possible to make your own. Toasting the oats before grinding them can enhance their flavor. Oat flour has a high protein content and can absorb considerably more water than conventional wheat flour.
Corn-based Flours can cause some confusion, depending on where your kitchen is located. Generally speaking, cornmeal refers to ground, dried corn. It is available in a relatively fine, powdery format, coarse stone-ground versions and everything in between. Cornmeal offers a hearty corn flavor and exceptional crunch. Corn flour (two words) refers to very finely ground cornmeal. It has a very slight grittiness, much less noticeable than that of cornmeal. With either format, the grittiness can be mitigated by allowing the corn flour or meal to hydrate fully, which can take several hours. Cornflour (one word) is called corn starch in some parts of the world. It is a fine white powder made from just the endosperm of the corn kernel. While cornmeal and corn flour possess a buttery, nutty flavor that pairs beautifully with summer fruit, corn starch’s flavor is entirely neutral. The three different ingredients are not interchangeable.
Buckwheat Flour, despite its name, is not a type of wheat. It is related to rhubarb and sorrel. Buckwheat flour tends to be bitter, which can make it a complementary addition to chocolate or coffee-based pastries. It can also overwhelm delicate flours. Buckwheat is a good candidate for inclusion in a flour blend where other flours can help balance it. When creating your blend, keep in mind that buckwheat flour contributes mainly protein. Note that buckwheat flour can produce dense, gummy results if overmixed.
Nut Flours add both fat and flavor to our recipes. In flour form, nuts don’t contribute to a batter’s elasticity as a starch would. They offer some bulk and can absorb a high amount of water, but do not contribute to structure as protein flours do. For these reasons, nut flours are best left out of our all-purpose blends and used on their own. While most nut flours perform similarly, chestnut flour is the outlier. It is incredibly smooth and starchy and contains only 1% fat.
Teff Flour has a natural sweetness reminiscent of hazelnuts or cocoa. Teff is best used in combination with other flours, such as nut flours, because it tends to produce gummy baked goods. Teff is not a grain but a grass, so it has a natural flavor affinity for seeds, in addition to the aforementioned nuts and cocoa.
Sorghum Flour typically offers a neutral flavor, though some find it to be bitter and avoid using it as a solo flour. Sorghum syrup’s molasses-like sweetness can inspire many different pairings for the flour; nuts, dates, figs, apples and warm spices all work well with sorghum flour. This flour absorbs a great deal of water.
Coconut Flour is another outlier, like nut flour. It can absorb an astonishing amount of water. While it has a high protein content, it does not contribute elasticity to a batter or dough. It can be tricky to work with, but its tropical flavor notes can be worth the extra R&D.
Chickpea Flour packs a nutritional punch that can add an attractive “health halo” to gluten-free desserts. High in protein and fiber, chickpea flour can give sweet snacks a functional spin. However, its assertive flavor may be better suited to savory applications unless used in combination with other flours that can balance its “beany” flavor.
Gums are often added to gluten-free flour blends or recipes to provide a little boost to the batter’s elasticity and structure. Xanthan gum is by far the most commonly used hydrocolloid for gluten-free baking, but guar gum is another option. Psyllium husk, available whole or in powder format, can work especially well in recipes that aim to replicate the texture of traditional bread. A tiny amount of xanthan or guar gum is needed to achieve the desired results in gluten-free baked goods. Psyllium husk is used in slightly higher amounts, about five percent of the weight of the recipe’s flour.
Trivia:
Gluten as a stand-alone ingredient (such as for seitan) was discovered by Chinese noodle makers around the 6th century.
(This article appeared in the Winter 30 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)
You must be logged in to post a comment.