Gluten Free Baking Tips

Last nights class on the Gluten Free Diet was packed full of great information on how to eat healthier gluten free foods. In addition, class members received tried and true recipes and many wonderful baking tips. For those of you who couldn't attend, I want to include the baking tips that work for my family in hopes that it will ease the transition to gluten free baking in your own home.  Please feel free to share your experiences in the comment section, and provide your own tips to help others.

Laura's Gluten Free Baking Tips 

1)  Shallow pans-wider, shallower pans will help with overall even cooking.  Instead of an 8” round cake, make smaller cupcakes or stretch that cake out into a larger pan, and layer it. 

2)  Egg replacer:  1 tablespoon milled flaxseed + 3 tablespoons hot water = 1 egg

3)  Coconut:  Add ¼ cup coconut milk or finely shredded coconut flakes to quick bread items to add dimension, texture, moisture

4)  Don’t over mix, over beat, or over rise. For baking GF breads in a bread machine, use the short cycle

5)  Remove the hole at the bottom of your bread – when bread is mixed and rise cycle is about to start, use clean hand to remove mixer from dough pre bake cycle

6)  Check early:  Some gluten free baked goods will dry out before they look completely done, so check your products for doneness a bit early and pull them out as soon as they done, knowing they will cook a bit longer in the pan   

7)  Add eggs – if a mix calls for L, XL, or jumbo eggs, use 2 regular eggs for each 1 jumbo egg (or flaxseed egg replacer) 

8)  Cut back on sugar: if a recipe calls for 1 C sugar, cut back to ½ cup of sugar (or honey) and use ½ teaspoon of stevia – Or use Erythritol Crystals or Lakanto for equal sugar substitution ratio

9)  Add fiber!  Increase the fiber in your gluten free foods by adding 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed or chia seed to a meal

10)  Add booster flours to your gluten free baking such as Amaranth, Sorghum, Bean Flours, Buckwheat, Montina and others to boost minerals, fiber, and protein

11)  Stone pans work beautiful for gluten free baking to help products cook through without burning on the bottom. Try Pampered Chef stone cookie sheets, or other similar product

12)  Parchment paper to line a loaf pan will make easy removal of bread, without tearing  

13)  Sneak in vegetables: 

–Add 1 cup of shredded spinach and ½ cup chopped carrots to a 1lb turkey meat loaf

–Add 1 cup of raw spinach or kale to a mango smoothie 

–When eating scrambled eggs, wilt a large handful of greens on the side, top them with salsa and enjoy

–Serve a main protein with 2 vegetables at dinner instead of 2 grains

–Add 1/2 cup of cooked squash, carrots, sweet potato, mashed banana, blueberries, shredded zucchini, pumpkin or other vegetables to any quick bread such as pancake, muffin, scone