Here are 6 good flours to have in your gluten free pantry:
- Millet flour:
Millets are a group of small seeded grasses grown around the world. It has been a staple in the human diet since over 7000 years. Asian and African cuisin showcase Millets in a lot of local dishes. Millet flour has a slight nutty flavour and creates a lighter texture when added to your baking.
https://www.yettemoosh.co.nz/products/millet-flour-500g
- Buckwheat flour:
Even though of its name, Buckwheat has nothing in common with wheat as it is not a grass but a relative of sorrel, rhubarb and knotweed. It is a pseudocereal as its seeds are used in a similar way as normal cereal due to its complex carbohydrates. Buckwheat has an earthy, nearly mushroom like taste. Use it in combination of other flours if you want your baking to rise as Buckwheat flor is quite heavy.
- Rice flour:
rice flour can be made both as brown or white rice flour. Glutinous rice flour is milled from cooked glutinous rice. White rice flour has a pretty neutral flavour compared to brown rice flour, which has a more earthy, nutty flavour similar to white rice vs brown rice. Rice flour can make dough and batter sticky and heavy so use it lightly when adding it to your flour mix.
https://www.yettemoosh.co.nz/products/healtheries-gluten-free-rice-flour-400g
- Cornmeal flour
Cornmeal flour is made from maize (corn) and can come in fine, medium and coarse ground flour ( never as fine as wheat flour though). It has a sweet flavour and is quite a heavy flour to use. Corn flour (or corn starch) is very finely ground maize. Corn flour is made from the whole kernel while the starch is been made from the ground endosperm.
https://www.yettemoosh.co.nz/products/healtheries-gluten-free-cornmeal-flour-500g
- Almond flour/ Almond Meal
Almond flour is the finer ground of the two and is made from skinless sweet almonds while almond meal can be made with or without the skin. Almond flour will give you a lighter texture in your baking than almond meal. It has reasonably low amounts of carbohydrates but baked goods with almond meal/flour are most likely calorie-dense. Almond flour and meal give your baking a lovely nutty flavour and keep the baked goods moist.
- Coconut flour:
Coconut flour is a soft flour like product made from the pulp of the coconut and is a by-product from making coconut milk. It is very high in fibre and low in carbohydrates, making it popular in the keto diet. Use this flour sparingly until you have a better understanding on how it will affect your baking. It has a strong coconut flavour and is quite sweet.
