Hi, Mary Fran,
I am planning to try all the flours in all the same recipes. Each of the 4 flours in each of 4 recipes. Next, I will post the results of making this same cake (same exact recipe) with Cup4Cup. And on and on like that. Sorry if that wasn’t clear!
xoxo Nicole

Hi, Anneke!
Sometimes, “the” looks strange to me. So I think I understand your “bulk” issue. ;)
Yes, by bulk I mean the 25 pound bag. I am judging price based upon the most economical way to order each flour, whatever that way is. Even if I haven’t purchased the largest size, that is how I am judging the cost aspect – to keep it comparable. I hope that makes sense. There is a lot of math lurking just beneath the surface of this one. And a lot of language! bulk bulk bulk. It’s very awkward to type. But then again so is “awkward.”
So glad you like the different directions! That means a lot to me, Anneke. :)
xoxo Nicole

Hi, Jen,
Thanks for coming to the party. So glad I could help, and happy birthday to your son. :)
xoxo Nicole

Hi, Vanessa,
Great question! Yes and no. They don’t pay me anything, so they’re not technically a “sponsor.” We work together often, but no money has changed hands yet. And even if I were, Better Batter actually encouraged me to do this blog series. They know that not everyone will buy their product, and they want people to make an informed choice.
xoxo Nicole

Hi, PK,
I explain the attributes in a list closer to the top of the post. It’s the cup for cup replacement claim followed by the cup for cup replacement result. I gave it a 9, because the recipe wasn’t exactly as it would have been had it been a gluten-containing recipe, but it was very, very close.
xoxo Nicole

My pleasure, Stacy. :)
xoxo Nicole

Hi, Jeff,
I understand what you’re saying. When I was formulating this challenge, I thought of many of the issues you address. I will try to respond to each of your points:
I don’t personally believe that it is truly possible for any gluten-free flour blend to be a true cup-for-cup replacement for gluten-containing flour. In any conventional recipe. If I wanted to test my theory scientifically, I could do what you suggest. But I don’t aim to test the theory of cup-for-cup replacement. I’m aiming to test the flours themselves. I compare the results to gluten-containing foods. And I don’t anticipate that the failings, if any, of any one particular flour that I am going to encounter are going to be due to a relative difference in the behavior of the component flours, but more likely due to the science behind each particular blend.
I don’t develop my recipes “for” Better Batter. I develop them beginning with a ratio, one that I have adjusted to account for the eccentricities that most of the gluten-free flours I have worked with seem to possess. I use Better Batter as my everyday gluten-free flour, but I am always mindful of the fact that the recipes should work with any high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour.
One more point about conventional recipes. For some of the categories you mention, like the cooking recipes, you should be able to replace gluten-containing flour cup-for-cup. But for much baking, especially bread, most often you cannot replace gluten-containing flour cup-for-cup with an all-purpose gluten-free flour – at least in my experience.
I have chosen to conduct the test this way for the same reason that I chose the 4 flours that I did. I expect them all to work. I expect them all to have merit. I expect that each will work better in some categories, and worse in others. I am not testing any blends that I don’t believe are high enough quality, or any that I don’t believe are well-suited to the claim of “all-purpose” flour. All-purpose flours, gluten-containing and otherwise, are imperfect in many respects. They’re meant to be good for most things. Not great for everything.
I hope that helps you understand where I’m coming from. Interesting questions!
Nicole