Alternative flours - sorghum, teff etc

[Adster]

Just wondering if anyone on a restricted diet could share the less common flours they might be having success with. I currently can tolerate buckwheat flour(not a real grain) and rice flour, but I would love to add something else. Quinoa and amaranth are too strong tasting for my palette to use in breads etc. Has anyone tried teff or sorghum? Cheers.

 

[xchocoholic]

Ethiopians make a flat bread called injera from teff. The vegan Ethiopian restaurant I went in the LA area said to specify gf injera if you didn't want wheat mixed in. They had a good handle on gf food tho and I never got sick. Going to an ethnic restaurant will give you an idea of how it should taste.

I was making teff pancakes with walnuts and maple syrup on top for awhile. Yum. I can't remember my recipe tho. There should be recipes for teff on the web. I think I bought the grains and ground them up in my coffee bean grinder so they were fresher.

Using little quinoa or amaranth flour can enhance a recipe.

 

[Adster]

Cheers xc - I saw injera being made on a cooking show the other night actually - but I think they were using sorghum. I will see if I can track down some teff.

 

[South]

Sorghum is actually my favorite of those you listed, no aftertaste. I have found Amazon to be a pretty good source for these odd types of flours.

 

[JAM]

I use oat flour for pastries and breads.

 

[NK17]

Unlike you @Adster I can eat and tolerate white rice flour, which normally I mix with almond meal and coconut flour to make a banana bread that can be vegan (coconut oil) if you can't have butter/dairy and is egg free.
The same gf flour mix works well for gf cookies.
Recently I've been looking for a simple recipe for gf bread, but I give up because the complexity of most recipes calls for an awful amount of energy, which of course I don't have.

 

[SOC]

@Adster, as you probably already know, no one flour makes a good substitute for wheat flour. Mixes are best if you are trying to substitute for wheat flour. The gluten-free homemaker discusses different gluten-free flours and mixes. I've had good luck with her GF french bread. I also use her GF flour mix in muffins with fair success. Sorghum is a large part of her mix. I've had no trouble with it.

If you're trying to make breads, you'll want to put together a mix of grain flours, starches, and gum/gelling agents. At my house we sometimes use the Arrowhead Mills GF flour mix. It contains bean flour, which is good for added protein, but the flavor is not great, imo. The Arrowhead Mills brand seems to have the least beany flavor of any commercial mix we've found so far.

For replacing flour as a thickener, I use starches -- cornstarch or potato starch.

 

[Gingergrrl]

@Adster, My husband uses potato flour, rice flour, almond flour and some kind of yam powder/flour that you can buy at Asian markets.

 

[NK17]

I agree with @SOC that any substitute for wheat flour is still a substitute .
In my gf heaven they would serve gf focaccia bread soaked in olive oil and sea salt flakes (sorry if I summon up this culinary souvenir of my past, but I grew up in Italy where focaccia is still one of the most popular snacks you'll eat in school at recess).

Bob's Red Mill Gf mix is way too beany for my taste, haven't tried the Arrowhead one yet.

@Gingergrrl I also use potato starches that I get at the asian market and the rice flour.

I guess we'll keep on looking and reporting and dreaming about delicious gf bread.

 

[SickOfSickness]

There are legume flours if you eat those: mesquite flour, pea flour, garbanzo bean flour, and lentil flour.

The asian flour mentioned could be cassava or yuca (they are kind of like yams). Tapioca is another one that comes from a tuber.

Besides almond flour, you can make flour from sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, and maybe others.

Some bad things about almond flour
http://empoweredsustenance.com/avoid-almond-flour/

 

[Gingergrrl]

@SickOfSickness Thank you and I forgot that we also use pea protein, lentil flour and tapioca flour. There are glass noodles and other stuff made from yam flour but I don't know the exact names!

 

[SOC]

Bob's Red Mill Gf mix is way too beany for my taste, haven't tried the Arrowhead one yet.

I agree Bob's Red Mill GF flour mix is far too beany. Arrowhead Mills is the only commercial GF flour mix we can stand (so far). Maybe someday I'll find one without bean flour. Generally I mix my own in 2-5 lb batches, which isn't that much work. Then I use it in place of wheat flour in pretty much everything, although I'm going to try a different blend for muffins this weekend -- one with rice flour -- to see if it improves the texture.

 

[Adster]

Thanks for the replies folks, much appreciated. I'm going to order some Sorghum and Teff for a start and see how it goes. Cheers

 

[Valentijn]

Thanks for the replies folks, much appreciated. I'm going to order some Sorghum and Teff for a start and see how it goes. Cheers

A decent mix really needs at least 4-5 flours to get a good neutral flavor and a balance of fiber versus starch. I like teff, millet, rice, arrowroot, and tapioca for a basic mix. A couple tablespoons of chia seeds soaked in 1/4 cup of water help make a nice texture and hold the bread together, as does some xanthum gum (usually gluten holds it together).

 

[perchance dreamer]

The Smart Flour brand of All-Purpose Smart Flour has tapioca flour, amaranth, teff, and sorghum. I haven't tried cooking with it, but had GF bread made from it at a restaurant, and it was really good.

http://www.smartflourfoods.com/?q=smartflourblends

Our local Whole Foods has Smart Flour products.

 

[Sea]

Millet is another alternative too

 

[Adster]

Thanks folks. I have to try things one at a time rather than in a mix as I'm intolerant to so many things. Teff and Sorghum on the way!

 

[xchocoholic]

Thanks folks. I have to try things one at a time rather than in a mix as I'm intolerant to so many things. Teff and Sorghum on the way!

Hopefully you ordered teff whole grains and not teff flour. Teff is known to go rancid quickly once it's ground. I forgot why just now but if you google teff rancid you'll find it. I think it's either from it's high fat or protein content.

I used to grind mine in my coffee bean grinder every time I used it. Now I'm missing those teff pancakes. Lol.

 

[Valentijn]

Hopefully you ordered teff whole grains and not teff flour. Teff is known to go rancid quickly once it's ground. I forgot why just now but if you google teff rancid you'll find it. I think it's either from it's high fat or protein content.

It should be fine as long it's in a sealed container, versus staying in the original bag and/or box after opening it. I keep teff and all of my other flours in clear plastic boxes with lids that have a bit of rubber sealing around the lid, and haven't any spoilage after a couple years so far.

 

[xchocoholic]

It should be fine as long it's in a sealed container, versus staying in the original bag and/or box after opening it. I keep teff and all of my other flours in clear plastic boxes with lids that have a bit of rubber sealing around the lid, and haven't any spoilage after a couple years so far.

Hee hee. I'm used to the weather in south Florida, USA. It's much too hot and humid here to keep flours fresh except in the frig. Very few shipping facilities use refrigerated vehicles too. So in FL we're always getting warm boxes in the mail.