New Ingredient: Bob's Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Flour

 

I am so far from gluten-free it would be a disaster if I had to go GF for medical reasons.  I actually feel malnourished during Passover from the lack of gluten in my diet.  But I had a coupon, and decided to pick up some free GF flour to learn a new skill.  It may be useful some day if I'm hosting someone who's GF.

Unfortunately, the flour is largely rice, meaning I can't use it for Passover.  Anyone who does not observe the kitniyot rules and sticks to the wheat-oat-barley-spelt-rye basics is good to go.

Bob's website makes it clear that this product is meant for cookies, quick breads, and other products that use chemical leaveners.  It is not intended for use with yeast.  They have a different GF flour for that.  One helpful thing you can use it for is any kind of chiffon cake that is raised by egg whites or one that gets tough easily through over-mixing.

Because this is cup-for-cup equivalent to A.P. flour, you can sub it into any non-yeast recipe without making adjustments.  If gluten isn't a dietary issue, you could also swap out only part of the wheat flour for a tender product that still has some structure.

The free bag was only 22 oz, so I won't be able to make much with it; probably just two recipes.  Still, it's a nice experiment that didn't cost me $5.99.  Wow, GF foods are expensive.