Wednesday, October 13, 2010

My Gluten Free Kitchen - Flour Storage

I started experimenting with homemade gluten free foods shortly after I decided to go kick gluten out of my life. I was never a good cook. I still don't consider myself a good cook but I'm much more likely to try a new recipe or experiment with an old favourite.

I quickly realized that not all gf flours are alike. They all behave differently. They all taste different. You find out quickly which ones you use the most. I really like the warm flavour buckwheat flour brings to a recipe and I find it behaves the most like gluten-filled all-purpose flour. But it's not ideal for all recipes. I do use rice flours quite a bit but use them sparingly and try to drown the flavour out with flours like potato starch or tapioca flour.

There are many different brand name gf all-purpose flours on the market. I find most of them taste like rice so I prefer to make my own gf all-purpose flour. I think I'll end up with several types of homemade gf all-purpose flours. One for baking, one for thickening stews and sauces, and one for breads. And if I'm feeling daring, one for pastries.

Since I use my flours a lot in the kitchen, I like to keep them accessible and organized. The ones I use the most are on my spice rack in the kitchen and the ones I used less often are in marked Zip-Loc baggies in a cupboard container.

I buy all of my gluten free flours at the Bulk Barn. Most of the stores have a large selection of flours and mixes (cake, bread, brownies, etc). They also carry a selection of pre-packaged gluten free bread, cookies, pizza dough, etc.

Get to know how you maneuver around your kitchen and what flours you reach for the most. I refer to this list all the time for flour replacements, flavour descriptions, and flour behaviours.

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