We have been on a gluten-free diet since March of this year. Thank goodness I cook and bake however, I am having a terrible time converting recipes. I'm polish and we use alot of noodle and bread recipes. I used to make biscuits, pierogi, and such and I tried recipe after recipe with no luck. Is there 1 gluten-free flour that I can puchase in bulk that will substitute for the real deal or will I have to continue to combine flours? Also, can someone explain xanthum gum and how do you measure for the recipes. I appreciate any and all help!!!!! I bake alot at Christmas but this year I'm not looking forward.

I think the ratio for xanthan gum is 1 teaspoon per 1 1/2 cups flour.

I always mix my own all-purpose flour, and I use Betty Hangman's blend- 2 parts rice flour, 2/3 cornstarch/potato starch, 1/3 tapioca starch. I go to that effort because it's less expensive.

But I've also had excellent results using Gluten Free Pantry's Beth's All Purpose Flour Blend. I have seen it available in bulk.

I use this recipe(the same one ridgewalker uses):

Bette Hagman’s Featherlite Rice Flour mix
Makes 9 C

3 C rice flour
3 C tapioca flour
3 C cornstarch
3 T Potato flour

This works great in recipes that call for "flour". I also use 1 tsp xanthan for every 1.5 C flour!

Thanx It would be nice to be able to just buy 1 bag of flour instead of mixing but whatever works the best then I'm there. I'm tired to trying recipes only for them to fail. I will try this combo in my next batch of cookies.

Maze, it's kind of a given that a lot of hte gluten-free stuff you make at first will be scary and inedible. Someone actually made a joke about having a perfect score tossing things from the oven to the trash. Don't worry, things will get better. Maybe you could share some of the recipes that haven't worked out for you and we could take a gander at them?

Personally, I like the Land O Lakes version. It works nice in almost every recipe I try.

And adding the xanthan gum when using yeast.

Of course, last week I mixed Teff, white rice and tapioca and corn starch and it worked GREAT! Almost had a "wheat" taste to it...and on the first two days a wheat texture too.

You can buy bags of mixed flour. That's usually what I do. Would LOVE it if I could find a Pierogi recipe, but it would also have to be dairy and egg free.

Personally, I have hated anything that is mainly rice flour. Unfortunately, that means a combo of several flours.

I now use a combo of sorghum flour, potato starch and tapioca starch as a base for most yeast recipes, and it's more wheat-like than rice. I also use Bob's Red Mill mix or Pamela's Baking Mix for non-yeast recipes. I add almond flour (meal) or hazelnut meal to things for extra fiber and I add flax meal to baked goods. I've started to experiment with teff flour and would like to use amaranth too.

Good luck and happy baking!

I too am fairly new and a baker at heart (bakingbarb!) so this does take some getting used to. THere is a thread on baking tips, read that. Lots of people give really good advice.
The thing I have learned the best is use your cookie recipes but sub the gluten-free flour and add the xanthan gum BUT most importantly freeze the cookie dough it works the best.
Someone posted a recipe for flourless peanut butter choc chip cookies, it comes from Epicurious.

I am looking at recipes that naturally call for small amount of flour such as many cake recipes, the best to sub out I am thinking are the ones that call for cake flour.

There is much out there for info, so good luck. But I will say, we have lots to learn. This baking isn't the same and you have to relearn much.

I like the basic recipe of 3 C Brown Rice flour, 1 C Potato Starch, 1/2 C Tapioca Starch and 2 tsp. Xanthan Gum. Sift together 3 times to get the xanthan gum evenly distributed. I use this for just about everything. (Sometimes I add more xanthan gum, like for Pelmini, or use a bit of bean flour, like for pizza crust.) I mix up 3-4 batches of this flour and store it in a gallon container in the refrigerator, then use it cup for cup for all-purpose flour. It's way cheaper than buying bags of pre-mixed flours.

Here's my recipe for Pelmini dough. Pelmini are the Russian equivilant of Pierogi.

1-1/4 C Brown Rice Flour
1/2 C Potato Starch
1/4 C Tapioca Flour
generous 2-1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 Tbs. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2+ C Water

Sift dry ingredients 3 times. Add oil and water. You will probably need to add a little more water, but do it slowly. Stir until dough forms a ball. Make sure it is not dry! It should be smooth and almost creamy. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out on board dusted with Tapioca flour.