A New Blog Series: Gluten-Free Flour Hacks
Some things must be impossible. Everybody says so. You can't do this, or you can't do that. The thing is, I'm still looking for the line of demarcation between gluten-free possible and gluten-free impossible. Since I haven't found it yet, I'll just keep pushing ahead.
When I started testing gluten-free flours, I found that Cup4Cup made amazing gluten-free pastry. The whole experience was dreamy, from the way it behaved raw to the way it baked up. So light and flaky. And I rather enjoyed the whole thing.
But I'd prefer not to buy different gluten-free flour blends for different purposes—too complicated for me. Instead, I figured I'd just hack Better Batter all purpose gluten-free flour to make it into pastry flour, cake flour, bread flour, self-rising flour. You get the idea.
It's a new series, here on the blog. I think I'll call it Gluten-Free Flour Hacks.
A Mock Cup4Cup Gluten-Free Flour, With Better Batter
This go-round, I made Better Batter into a mock Cup4Cup gluten-free flour. It's cheaper than buying Cup4Cup, which costs a pretty penny, and it's easier than keeping different flour blends on hand all the time.
It worked a treat.
Most of what you see here is just my basic recipe for gluten-free pastry crust, not puff pastry. And these blueberry mini pies were incredibly light and flaky, and the dough was smooth and incredibly easy to work with.
I did use this flour to make gluten-free puff pastry, too (I used some for these cheese straws), and it behaved just as I remember Cup4Cup had.
Here's how to do it.
| Better Batter Pastry Flour Hack: Mock Cup4Cup |
- 12 grams gluten-free nonfat dry milk
- 113 grams Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour
- 15 grams gluten-free cornstarch
- In a blender or food processor, grind the nonfat dry milk into a fine powder.
- To make 1 cup of mock Cup4Cup gluten-free pastry flour, combine the finely ground nonfat dry milk, Better Batter and cornstarch in a large bowl and whisk to combine well. Store in an air-tight container until ready to use.
- Can be halved or used in multiples (doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc.) easily.
I can only be certain that this will work with Better Batter flour as a base, as I used its particular protein and starch constitution as a guide.
As of the time of this post, Carnation Nonfat Dry Milk Powder is included in Nestle's gluten-free products list. To ensure a gluten-free product, always check the label and the manufacturer's website for current information.
Love,
Me
P.S. A blog is more work and a lot more expensive than it may look! I really appreciate your buying a copy of My Cookbook to support my blog habit.
P.P.S. I hope you had a happy Mother's Day. I really do. And I hope someone baked for you. Or at least bought for you. Or at least gave you some peace and quiet. Oh how I love a nice big slice of peace and quiet!
