Mock Better Batter Classic Blend | All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

This recipe for mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour blend works exactly like the original. If you can't buy it, you can make your own.

Use this gluten free blend wherever my recipes call for an “all purpose gluten free flour”

If you've come here looking for all purpose, gluten free flour blends, you've come to the right place. Even though I had long sworn off blending my gluten free flours, I've now come around entirely.

I have even created a bunch of infographics for my best all purpose gluten free flour blends for easy, at-a-glance reference. All the details about those rice-based gluten free flour blends (Yes! Generally, rice is gluten free) are on that page, but here we can spend a bit more time talking about one of those blends: my mock Better Batter gluten free flour mix. The blend is made from brown and white rice flour, tapioca starch/flour, potato starch/flour, xanthan gum, and powdered pectin.

I've tested this blend in many of my recipes, like pizza, cookies, and muffins, and haven't had a single failure. Since I first shared this recipe in 2012, many of you have made this blend your go-to and can use it without worry.

The myth of a “cup for cup” gluten free flour

Even the founder of Better Batter has told me that while it's very, very close to her blend, it's not a true cup-for-cup replacement for conventional flour.

I don't care what anyone says, including the founder of Better Batter—or the makers of Cup4Cup gluten free flour—there is no such thing as a cup-for-cup gluten free replacement for conventional flour in conventional recipes.

Gluten free baking calls for gluten free recipes: they're different, they need different ratios of wet to dry ingredients, different binders, and different methods.

I've dedicated my working life to making everything as “normal” as possible, but it will never be exactly the same. We took out gluten. It's just different.

You must measure by weight to build a gf flour blend

You will need a digital kitchen scale. That's an affiliate link, but please feel free to shop around. The Escali brand scale itself is inexpensive, but it will last and last.

The only reason you see a different scale being used in some of my post photos is because I bake all day, every day, and the scale in the photos is easier to clean. OXO makes it, and the metal plate on top is removable for cleaning.

Without the precision of a scale, you simply cannot build a flour blend. In fact, if you find that sometimes your baking is successful and sometimes it isn't without changing ingredients or recipes, but you're measuring by volume, the measurement inconsistencies are likely causing your inconsistent results.

Why volume measurements are inconsistent

I know that many recipe developers direct you to “scoop and sweep” your flours to measure by volume. Fluff up the flour so it's not compacted, scoop with your dry measuring cup, and sweep off the excess on top with a straight edge like the back of a butter knife.

I promise that your results will still be inconsistent. There are a couple of big reasons why.

First, there is no real standardization of dry measurements. Your “cup” might hold a little bit less, mine more. Even when you fluff, scoop, and sweep.

Second, human error is completely unavoidable. One day, you forgot to fluff, or you fluffed more than you did the previous day. Or you have multiple dry measuring cups, and today, you use the one that's similar to mine, but tomorrow you use a different one.

These small differences accumulate, especially when building a flour blend where the ratio of one ingredient to another is all that matters. That's why the ingredients are listed as a percentage of the whole. The individual gram amounts don't matter. The ratios do.

How to use the formula for making this all purpose gluten free flour blend

To prepare each all purpose gluten free flour blend below in whatever quantity you’d like, apply each percentage listed for each individual flour to the total quantity (in grams) of flour that you plan to make, one by one. Add the amounts together, and you'll have the total.

For example, if you wanted to put together 140 grams of flour (which is the proper measurement for “1 cup” of an all-purpose flour blend by volume in my recipes) using the Mock Better Batter Blend, here’s the math:

30% BRF = 30% (or 0.30) x 140 grams = 42 grams superfine brown rice flour
30% WRF = 30% (or 0.30) x 140 grams = 42 grams superfine white rice flour
15% TS/F = 15% (or 0.15) x 140 grams = 21 grams tapioca starch/flour
15% PS = 15% (or 0.15) x 140 grams = 21 grams potato starch
5% PF = 5% (or 0.05) x 140 grams = 7 grams potato flour
3% XG = 3% (or 0.03) x 140 grams = 4 grams xanthan gum
2% PPP =  2% (or 0.02) x 140 grams = 3 grams pure powdered pectin

If you add up all the numbers, it will equal 140 grams (go ahead and check!). So make as much or as little as you like.

Now, I know that many of you will want to tell me that you buy your rice flour from your local ethnic market, and it's fine for you. Or that you grind your own. Or something else entirely. But if you want consistent quality without making a federal case out of it, you need to buy your superfine flours from Authentic Foods.

All purpose gluten free flour mock Better Batter: Ingredients and substitutions

Superfine rice flours

We have had a long discussion about superfine rice flour, and even how to blend your own. There is no substitute for rice flour in this blend. If you can't have rice, you should check out my Paleo recipes or my flourless baking recipes.

Superfine rice flour is essential to the most basic gluten free baking. If your rice flour has a harsher grind, like rice flour blends and rice flours from Bob's Red Mill flour, your baked goods will be gritty and often won't even turn out properly. I know Bob's Red Mill is well-priced and readily available, and I wish it were better quality.

Gritty rice flours don't combine fully with the other ingredients in the recipe, essentially changing the entire character of the recipe formula. I always buy Authentic Foods brand superfine rice flour.

I'm also okay with Vitacost.com brand superfine rice flour. In a pinch, I've used rice flour from Nuts.com, and as discussed above, I've made my own by grinding it twice.

Tapioca starch/flour

Tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the same thing. Good to know, right? However, tapioca starch is not the same as cassava flour.

Tapioca starch/flour is the starch from the cassava root. Cassava flour is made with the whole root.

For some reason, tapioca starch/flour tends to vary in quality pretty significantly. Luckily, even good quality tapioca starch is relatively inexpensive, so I buy it in large quantities from Nuts.com.

Unfortunately, there is no substitute for this particular ingredient. It has a unique quality that creates a lovely stretch and pull to the blend.

Potato starch and potato flour

The difference between potato flour and potato starch is similar to cassava flour and tapioca starch. Potato flour is a powder made from whole potatoes that have been peeled and ground into a fine powder. Potato starch is simply the pure starch washed out of potatoes and then dried into a fine powder.

Potato starch can be replaced with cornstarch, but potato flour has no substitute. If you can't have nightshades, I recommend you try my mock Cup4Cup or Better Than Cup4Cup blends, which don't use potato flour.

If you can have but can't find potato flour, you can actually grind potato flakes into a flour and use that. It's the same thing, just in a slightly different form.

Xanthan gum

Oh, the “gums:” xanthan gum and guar gum. Xanthan gum is better to use when heated, like in baked goods. Guar gum is better used when cold, like in a smoothie you'd like to thicken.

Since we are using this blend for baking, xanthan gum is the clear winner. If you can't have “gums” at all, you need a different food blogger for your recipes that call for an all purpose gluten free flour!

Pure powdered pectin

I've probably been asked more questions about the pectin in this blend over the years than anything else. I use Pomona brand pure powdered pectin, which comes with a calcium packet which I just discard. You must use a powder that has a single ingredient: pectin.

Pomona pectin typically is sold in pretty blue boxes with packets in them, which you've probably seen in the grocery store. I've bought it in bulk directly from the company's website, and it lasts forever.

You cannot use “Ball” pectin or anything else that has additional ingredients (like sugar) or is in a gel form. Not only do they add ingredients we don't want, but they have less of what we need: pectin. There is no substitute for this ingredient.

How to make mock Better Batter, the all purpose gluten free flour blend