Gluten-free all purpose flour by Krusteaz, made from a blend of gluten-free grains. A good substitute if you need it!
I don’t “do” gluten-free at my house. I don’t have celiac and neither does anyone in my house. But when my aunt called me to say she’d stumbled on a deal to buy a 5 pound bag of gluten-free Krusteaz brand “all purpose” flour for $2, I jumped at the chance to try it. For research purposes, of course! Even though I’m not gluten-free, I certainly work with clients who are. I do want to say that I don’t recommend a gf diet without a need – and a need means either celiac disease or a documented sensitivity to gluten. Gluten-free does not necessarily equal weight loss and it sure doesn’t necessarily mean healthier.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit…I have exactly zero experience using gluten-free flour like this. Of course, I’ve worked with buckwheat, chickpea flour, and peanut flour and I love the different elements they bring to cooking. For baking, they benefit from being blended with other gf flours to get the right texture for gf baked goods.
Here’s my review and a couple of recipes you might give a try if you are eating gluten-free. In both cases the recipes were adapted from the recipes on the back of the bag.
In general, this gf flour performs very much like regular all-purpose flour made from wheat in both the pancake and the cookies. I did find that I missed the structure/denseness of wheat flour, but I also use almost exclusively whole wheat, so that’s part of it. Flavor-wise, it’s a good product, but I did find it to be a little “floury” in both the cookie and pancakes, but it wasn’t so off-putting that it kept me from a second cookie. =) Nutritionally, it’s not significantly different from all-purpose wheat flour, but a far cry from whole wheat. Still, if you’re using it to make your occasional batch of gf cookies and pancakes, it has a place.
Gluten-free pumpkin pancakes were a hit with the hubs, but my toddler wasn’t impressed. I thought they were light and tasty.
Gluten-free Pumpkin Pancakes
Yield: 15 pancakes
- 1 1/2 cups gf AP flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 Tbs butter, melted
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl – flour through spices. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, buttermilk through pumpkin. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until blended completely. Measure out 1/4 cup scoops and cook on a hot griddle until little bubbles begin to show around the edges of the pancake and the flip. Cook just until completely cooked.
My husband may have eaten half a dozen of these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies right off the cookie sheet while giving me his review.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 42 cookies
- 1 1/4 cup gl AP flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheets with parchment. Mix together dry flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Using a mixer, blend butter with sugars until creamed, then add egg and vanilla. Scrape down as needed. Slowly add the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and cook for about 10 minutes. Don’t overcook.
What do you think? Do you have a favorite gf all-purpose flour mix? Have you tried this brand?
