Gluten free flour: a holiday baking guide to blends, single flours and mixes

Gluten free flour comes in two kinds: single flours like almond, cassava and oat, and ready-made blends that stand in for wheat flour. Holiday baking goes much more smoothly once you know which one a recipe needs, and when a binder or a mix will save you the guesswork.

What is gluten free flour?

Gluten is the protein in wheat, barley and rye that gives bread dough its stretch and holds baked goods together. Gluten free flour is any flour made without those grains: ground nuts, roots, seeds, beans or gluten free grains like rice, oats and sorghum.

No single gluten free flour can replace wheat flour on its own. Each one brings its own taste and texture, so most baking recipes use a few together, often with a starch for lightness and a binding agent for structure. That's exactly what a good flour blend does for you.

Popular gluten free flours and how they bake

Here's how the single flours on our shelves compare. Think of them as ingredients with personalities, not one-to-one stand-ins for regular flour.

Cassava flour

Cassava flour is made from the entire cassava root, peeled, dried and ground. The cassava plant comes from South America and is a staple food across much of the tropics; you may also know it as manioc or yuca. Of all the single flours, cassava behaves most like wheat flour, with a mild flavour and a smooth texture, and it's grain free and nut free.

Don't confuse it with tapioca flour. Both come from the same root, but tapioca is just the extracted starch, while cassava flour is the whole root. Cassava also soaks up more liquid than wheat, so follow a recipe written for cassava flour rather than swapping it cup for cup. Bob's Red Mill cassava flour has one ingredient, cassava, and Ecoideas makes an organic one that's a source of fibre and iron.

Almond, oat and rice flour

Almond flour is ground almonds and nothing else, so it brings healthy fats, protein and a lovely richness to cookies and cakes. It's a tree nut, of course, so a gluten free bake isn't automatically nut free. Our bulk blanched almond flour has the skins removed for a pale, even crumb.

Oat flour gives a soft, tender crumb and is the easiest single flour to start with for pancakes and muffins. Choose oats labelled gluten-free, like One Degree's sprouted oat flour or our organic gluten free oat flour from bulk. Brown rice flour is stone ground from the whole grain, so the whole grain nutrition stays intact, and white rice flour is lighter and milder. Both are workhorses in gluten free baking, best blended with other flours.

Coconut, sorghum and chickpea flour

Coconut flour drinks up liquid like nothing else, so recipes use only a little of it, with extra eggs or more liquid. Use it in recipes written for coconut flour, or let a mix do the measuring: Stellar Eats builds its grain free chocolate chip cookie mix on almond and coconut flour, sweetened with coconut sugar.

Stellar EatsGrain Free Chocolate Chip Cookie MixAlmond and coconut flour, coconut sugar and vegan chocolate chips. Gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo-friendly.Shop →

Sorghum is a mild whole grain flour that shows up in many blends and mixes. Chickpea flour has a nutty flavour that shines in savoury cooking: socca, pakoras, or an egg-free omelette whisked with water and a pinch of turmeric. We carry organic chickpea flour in bulk.

Gluten free all purpose flour and 1:1 blends

If you want to bake your usual recipes, a gluten free all purpose flour is the place to start. These blends combine several flours and starches so you don't have to. The thing to check on every bag is whether a binder is already in it.

Anita's gluten free all purpose flour is milled in Chilliwack, BC, from organic oat flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and arrowroot, in a dedicated gluten free space. It works for bread, cakes, cookies, muffins and pancakes, and when you use it to replace wheat flour, add xanthan gum for structure. If it isn't on the shelf when you visit, ask us when it's due back.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour is a blend of garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, whole grain sorghum flour and fava bean flour, with no xanthan or guar gum, so you add the binder yourself. The bean flours give it a slightly heartier flavour that's great in savoury baking. Bob's 1-to-1 Baking Flour is a different, rice-based blend with xanthan gum already in it, so don't treat the two as the same.

Luminate Co is home to Atlantic Canada's largest all-organic bulk station, and that includes organic gluten free all purpose flour. Bring a container and scoop exactly what a batch of cookies needs.

Read the bag before the recipe: whether a blend has xanthan gum in it changes everything that follows.

Binders: xanthan gum and psyllium

Without gluten, something else has to hold your baked goods together. Xanthan gum is the most common binding agent: a plant-based thickener that adds volume and keeps the crumb from falling apart. You need very little, and too much makes a bake gummy. If your blend already contains xanthan, don't add more.

Psyllium husk forms a gel with liquid and gives gluten free bread a chewier, more bread-like structure. Whole husk and fine powder don't measure the same, so use the form your recipe names. Corn starch isn't a binder, but a spoonful lightens shortbread and cookies, and it's a reliable thickening agent for pie fillings and gravy.

How to replace wheat flour: our swap tips

Can you just replace all-purpose flour with gluten free flour? With a good blend and a binder, often yes, especially for cookies, muffins, pancakes and quick breads. Yeast bread is the hardest swap. Here's what works for us.

1. Start with a blend, not a single flour. To replace wheat flour in a favourite recipe, use a gluten free all purpose flour. Save single flours for recipes calling for them by name.
2. Add a binder if the blend has none. We recommend adding xanthan gum to gum-free blends: roughly ¼ teaspoon per cup of flour for cookies, ½ teaspoon for cakes and muffins, and about 1 teaspoon for bread.
3. Weigh your flour. A cup of almond flour and a cup of rice flour weigh very different amounts. A kitchen scale makes many recipes far more reliable.
4. Add a little more liquid, then rest. Gluten free flours absorb liquid slowly. Let batter or cookie dough sit for 20 to 30 minutes to avoid a gritty texture.
5. Mix in some flavour. Swap a quarter of the blend for almond or oat flour for a richer, more tender result.
6. Cool completely. Gluten free cakes and loaves finish setting as they cool, so wait before slicing.

Gluten free pancake and baking mixes

Mixes are the easy win when the kitchen is busy. The flour, starch and leavening are already balanced, and you add the eggs, oil and liquid.

Namaste Foods Waffle & Pancake Mix is built on sweet brown rice flour, tapioca starch and arrowroot, with a hint of pure vanilla. It's free of the top allergens, including wheat, egg, dairy, nuts and soy, and each box makes two batches. Stonewall Kitchen makes a gluten free pancake and waffle mix that's lovely with butter and real maple syrup. For cookies, Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix has the rice and sorghum flour blend, xanthan gum and chocolate chips already in the bag.

Gluten free holiday baking ideas

A few of our favourite ways to fill the cookie tin and the holiday table, gluten free.

Susie Sans Gluten is a gluten free bakery in Laval, Quebec, and its carrot cake mix is a family recipe handed down by Susie's mother. Lilly Bean's sugar cookie mix is vegan, dairy-free and soy-free, and the dough is easy to roll, which makes it a good project with kids. Farmers Market Foods Organic Pumpkin Pie Mix comes already sweetened and spiced, so you just add eggs and milk or cream.

Questions we get a lot

Which gluten free flour is closest to regular flour?

For everyday recipes, a gluten free all purpose flour with xanthan gum added comes closest. As a single flour, cassava flour behaves most like wheat flour, with a mild flavour and soft texture, though it absorbs more liquid.

Can I just replace all-purpose flour with gluten free flour?

Use a gluten free all purpose blend, add a binder if the blend has none, and weigh your flour. Cookies, muffins and pancakes swap well. Yeast bread works best with a recipe written for gluten free flour.

What is the trick to baking with gluten free flour?

A blend plus a binder, a little extra liquid, and a rest before baking. Then let everything cool completely so the crumb can set.

Is Namaste flour good, and what is it made of?

We think so, especially for families baking around allergies. The pancake mix is made from sweet brown rice flour, tapioca starch and arrowroot, and the mixes are free from the top allergens, nut free and non-GMO.

What is cassava flour called in English?

Cassava flour is also called manioc flour, and the root is often sold as yuca. It isn't the same as tapioca flour, which is the extracted starch of the same root.

Is cassava flour healthy, and how does it compare with almond flour?

They're different. Cassava flour is a starchy root flour, and some are a source of fibre and iron. Almond flour is higher in protein and healthy fats. Many bakers use both, and cassava is the one to choose for a nut free kitchen.

Which gluten free pancake mix is best?

It depends on your table. Namaste suits allergy-friendly kitchens, Stonewall Kitchen makes a light, fluffy stack, and oat flour makes a simple, wholesome homemade batch.

Gluten free flours and mixes are at both stores: 486 Starboard Drive in Bedford and 590 Portland Street in Dartmouth, open seven days. Our gluten free grocery starter list covers the rest of the pantry, and our sourdough and gluten free bread guide has loaves for the days you'd rather not bake. Browse the whole gluten-free shelf online. For vanilla, cocoa and natural sprinkles, see our holiday baking pantry guide. In HRM, order by 11 am with Luminate Express for same-day delivery, or choose pickup. Anywhere else in Canada, orders over $80 ship free.

Sources: Anita's Organic Mill; Susie Sans Gluten; product labels and listings.