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As a regular Trader Joe's shopper, I'm happy to tell you that they now sell an all purpose gluten free flour! My unbiased review so far? It's complicated. See below for product details, the product in use and detailed ratings.
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Product Details
Price: $3.99 for 16 ounces (1 pound)
Ingredients: “whole grain brown rice flour, potato starch, rice flour, tapioca flour”
Manufacturing Practices: There are no warnings listed on the package about possible cross-contamination with other allergens. I have sent an email to the company through their website asking those questions. Stay tuned for an update.
*UPDATE*: This is the response I received from Trader Joe's when I contacted them through their website to ask if the product was made in a dedicated facility and/or on dedicated equipment, and whether it was nut-free:
Dear Nicole,
Thank you so much for contacting us. Our new Gluten-Free Flour is made in a peanut and tree nut-free facility and on dedicated gluten-free equipment. The facility does process wheat on other equipment, but the facility's allergen control program is so strict that the flour tests at well under 20 ppm of gluten. Please know that we would never actually label a product with the words “Gluten Free” unless it tests at under 20 ppm of gluten or is made in a dedicated facility.
Best regards,
Rachel
Customer Relations
Trader Joe's
My guess of the source of this gluten-free all purpose flour: King Arthur Multi Purpose Gluten Free Flour. Trader Joe's almost always purchases products like this from companies that specialize in the niche, and puts their label on the product (a totally legitimate practice called white labeling). Based upon the ingredient list, and the product performance so far, I believe that it is King Arthur's product. **UPDATE: King Arthur Flour has contacted me and indicated that the Trader Joe's gluten free flour is NOT their flour. I take them at their word, so I stand corrected!
What Gluten Free Recipe I Tested With Trader Joe's Flour
Since I knew you'd be anxious to hear the skinny on this flour blend, I jumped right into the deep end and made yeasted gluten free pizza dough. I used the Trader Joe's flour to make 4 batches with my gluten free pizza dough recipe.
I used it in gluten free calzones. Notice anything? Almost no matter what I did, they simply wouldn't brown. This blend has waaaaaaay too much starch in it.
The Test Results
The dough was very, very easy to handle, though, but frankly that is mostly due to my crackerjack recipe (I know – so sorry I can't share it now!). And the rice flour does not seem superfine to me, but that doesn't matter very much when you're making yeasted dough since the proofing time softens and expands the grains. But when I tried baking the dough until it browned, it baked up like a pale cracker and I literally had to toss it in the trash. And there's olive oil in the dough! Not cool. My children complained about the texture, saying that it was chalky, and the pizza itself dried out very quickly and easily. I experience none of those things with my favorite gluten free flour blends.
A Comparison with My Blend
I then made the same super secret recipe for gluten free pizza crust with my Better Than Cup4Cup Flour Blend, changed absolutely nothing else, and it browned beautifully and tasted great. The pizza was also much, much more fragrant as it baked. It tasted … like great pizza.
What's Next
I will test this flour in other recipe categories (cookies, cake, pastry), and report back. I was really pulling for this flour. I am a regular Trader Joe's customer (in fact it's my first shop, every week), and although the price isn't as good as other blends are when you buy them in bulk, I love seeing basic, important gluten free products in mainstream markets. Especially markets with the vast reach of Trader Joe's. I think the flour will do just fine in muffins, cakes and cookies (although it will likely be gritty – I so wish they used superfine flour), but I think it will make dry pastry that is difficult to work with. All that being said, I'm thrilled to have something there for when you're in a pinch and need something to work with.
Hi,
A friend just told me there was a review of this same product, including results of baking cookies, cakes etc. on the Baking Bites blogspot.
have your cookbooks they are great ,keep then coming
So glad you tried it out for us all, but the photos of your new pizza recipe are making me drool! I have yet to find a gf mix at T Joe’s that I like, and they are my first grocery stop as well. Same with King Arthur. I want to be supportive of their efforts, so I have tried several mixes from both of them and they just aren’t very good. I tell my local guys all the time that I would buy more of their gf mix-type stuff if it was any good, and their low sales have more to do with the quality of the product than lack of interest in gf items. This just makes me even happier that I stumbled on your blog, so I can have yummy baked goods.
I take your high standards as a sign of real progress, Michelle! I don’t want your local guys to suffer, but they should do some research. There are much better products out there!
xoxo Nicole
I steered a lady away from the Ener-G section (far away, while making the sign of the cross at it) at the local Whole Foods-ish place today. The fact that I had a better place to steer her to is huge sign of progress! My celiac neighbors who have been gf for 20+ years have told me horror stories of the state of gf food even 10 years ago. I love that we can be gf food snobs and don’t just have to accept crumbly cookies and dry, dense bread as our lot in life.
I would think that it’s the dairy in the C4C blend that helps with the browning. We can’t use C4C because of the dairy.
I have made my recipe with Better Batter, my “mock” Better Batter, Cup4Cup and my Better Than Cup4Cup. It browns just as well with all 4. It’s not the lack of milk powder in Trader Joe’s that is the culprit. It’s the incredibly high level of starch.
Nicole
Nicole, I can’t wait until your December 2013 cookbook comes out! You are a goddess and I am obviously a big fan. Please keep on experimenting. And thanks for bringing baking back into my life. Gush…gush…gush…
Aw, shucks, Eileen! Thank you so much for the support! It’s an honor to bake with you. :)
xoxo Nicole
I haven’t seen this flour yet at my local trader joes, but I did pick up a big bag of gluten free oats that I was happy to find! They are a great addition to my baking and are much more affordable than the other GF oats I’ve seen :)
we actually didn’t like the TJ’s GF oats — as much as I really, really wanted to! They just didn’t have the same nutty taste I wanted in a good slow-cooked oat (we eat them pretty much every day for breakfast). Bob’s Red Mill GF Oats seem to fit the ticket and are the ones most often in our bowls (and baked goods) but often I find myself reacting to them too … anyone know if Bob’s is a decent GF oat source?
My solution to non-superfine flours isto whirl them around in my vitamix (might work with other blenders) for a bit before I use em. Not as good as superfine, but, not bad.
What do you love about your Vitamix, Larissa? I have always been way way way too cheap to buy one, but have always been intrigued. :)
xoxo Nicole
I have a coffee grinder that I use to do the same thing. Works like a champ to get things superfine.
Where do you get the ingredients for your Better than cup4cup flour blend?
Authentic Foods, usually, for the rice flours. The other ingredients don’t matter as much, Teri.
Could also be Bobs Redmill. Same ingredients and looks the same.
Doesn’t bobs have garbanzo or garfava?
Yes, you’re 100% right, Larissa. It is not Bob’s. That is a bean flour blend, and although they call it an “all purpose” flour, it is anything but all purpose.
xoxo Nicole
I cannot digest Bob’s Red Mill products at all, yet people keep gifting me with Bob’s they found on sale.
Okay, Tiffany, that is hysterical. Bob’s stuff always shows up in discount stores! Years ago, well-meaning friends of all kinds would buy pretty much anything they saw in a store with a “gluten-free” claim, and it was so hard to dissuade them from spending $7 on a 3 ounce bag of cookies for us! Their hearts were in the right place, for sure.
xoxo Nicole
Nicole, I can’t wait to see what you’re experimenting with next! Thanks for testing the Trader Joe’s flour, now I know not to buy it. You saved me money and aggravation trying to make it work in my recipes. You go Girl!
I’m so glad, Sara Jane! I am definitely going to test TJ’s flour in the other categories to see if it’s worthwhile as a backup (and I’m really really hoping it is). I just really wish TJ’s had picked a better blend. It’s not like blending GF flours is so out of reach any longer, you know?
xoxo Nicole
Reading through all these comments makes me wonder: how about blending Trader Joe’s GF Flour with TJs almond meal to balance their GF blend that is too starchy. Almond meal would add color as well as increase the nutrition. The dry blend jar of a Vitamix would be great for this, Nicole:-) I use mine every day. I add 3-1/2 cups organic baby spinach to my morning smoothie. The Vitamix makes the spinach disappear and with a half grapefruit or some frozen pineapple cubes or banana, the spinach taste is masked!