I am so excited! After a long time of trying many recipes, combinations, concoctions and other gluten-free ideas – I think I have finally found the winner! The best of the best when it comes to gluten-free flour!
You see, at our home, one way that we live frugally, but live life to the fullest, is by creating our own homemade versions of store-bought products.
We make our own breads, our own pancake/waffle mix, our own bulk muffin mix and all are wonderful – except for a relatively recent discovery of two members of our family with gluten issues.
There was “sticker shock” on gluten-free products and mixes. They are seriously an arm and a leg when you have a $125 weekly grocery budget for a family of 7, who tries to using their budget for natural, organic and whole living.
Well, this recipe has been the answer and I am so excited to finally share a gluten-free flour recipe,that is not only gluten-free, but nut free too (we can’t use almond or nut flours due to nut allergies too!). In addition, the flours we are using are organic, corn-free, dairy-free, soy-free and non-gmo.
You really can’t get much better than that and for a decent price too!
Not only does it have all of these (or rather lack of these) ingredients, but this mix actually does make very fluffy and tasty foods! So good in fact, my hubby and kids turn their noses up at anything gluten-free and leave it for the GF members.
Well, when I cook now, I make two of something – the regular and the GF version – and my family members, especially Alex, have preferred the gluten free versions. That is AMAZING to me!
Now that I have finally found the perfect recipe, I finally feel great about sharing many GF recipes with you too! So along with our traditional, money-saving, taste bud-pleasing recipes, you will start to find a GF collection that is just as tasty (or better tasting)!
I found this recipe from A Little Sanity site, where Erika claimed this was the “Best Gluten-Free Flour Mix” and if you are like me… you are like..”yeah right” until you try it! Right? Well that was me! And I was impressed to say the least!
Just like my homemade cleaning recipes and other recipes, I try and try until I find what I consider to be the best combination of ingredients to do a good, natural job!
Here’s what you need:
- 4 1/4 Cups Brown Rice Flour
- 4 1/4 Cups White Rice Four
- 4 1/4 Cups Sweet Rice Flour
- 4 1/2 Cups Tapioca Flour (aka Tapioca Starch)
- 2½ TBSP Xanthan Gum
As a note, the xanthan gum comes in a several sizes, but most commonly 6-8oz. This means you will have tons left over and be able to use it for a very long time. This is a very important ingredient as it is the gluten replacer.
The bags are plastic/paper flour type bags, which are not great for longer term storage and so I just put all of the remaining xanthan gum in a recycled spaghetti sauce jar to store for longer term.
How To make the Best Gluten-Free Flour Ever
It’s so easy, that I am not even going to break it down – just mix all of these in a big bowl until well mixed and then store in a glass container.
Then use this mix as a replacement in recipes for the flour.
I picked up these at Hobby Lobby during a common sale where they will have glass storage for 50% off. This sale happens about once a month and they have teeny tiny glass storage to giant glass storage for a great price with the common sale! The other place has been Walmart. In addition, I recycle all of my glass food jars, we’ve also used the giant Costco/Sam’s Club pickle jars for dry pre-mix storage solutions.
Where to get the best prices on the ingredients for the Gluten-Free Flour Mix
So, I wanted to talk about the price of this mix. It is actually quite affordable, especially when compared to many pre-made gluten-free products, or baking mixes. This still fits in our budget, unlike many products.
I purchased all of the products from one of my favorite sites: Vitacost. I had to also buy products that were totally peanut and tree nut free due to other allergies – so this can affect prices. However, even with that, it was still a fantastic deal! This is a big batch of bulk mix and it will last a while.
When I made this, I used these exact products, but there are lots of options, including Bob’s Red Mill (which we love, but not nut safe and it makes it even cheaper).
You can head to the Vitacost site for all of the ingredients at a discount. If you get these exact sizes and packages, here’s how this works:
- The Tapioca Flour (2.5 lbs) and Sweet Rice Flour (3 lbs) will make for 2.5 batches.
- The Brown Rice Flour (2 lbs.) and the White Rice Flour (2 lbs) will be about 1.5 batches.
- Xanthan Gum will last for around 12 -14 batches (haven’t used it all yet to know for sure!).
Each batch of this mix is a large bulk amount that usually lasts me 3-5 weeks of regular use. So this is a few months worth of mix for a much better price than buying already made flour.
You get free shipping with orders for $49 or more OR if you are a first time customer to Vitacost…. you can get $10 off your total order of $30 or more if you use this link HERE for the $10 coupon!
Returning Customers: Head to Vitacost HERE to see the current sale prices on these ingredients
First-time Customers: Use this link HERE to check sale prices and get a $10 off coupon on the Vitacost site!
If you use the $10 coupon for first time customers to Vitacost, it is even that much better of a deal!
You can probably also find these at various health food stores in your area. Kroger will often have a decent health foods section too!
I hope you have as good of results as we have had with this recipe. It has been a huge help to the budget and makes GF living a bit more enjoyable!
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Jerre McCullough
Thanks for the tips!
Kristi
Sounds like a great combo. Just wondering if you know……I’ve heard that it’s better to use guar gum not xanthan, because guar is the natural option where xanthan is the lab-made. Have you researched that?
Karen
Xantham Gum is made with chemistry and can be synthetically processed.
Xantham Gum is a substance produced by bacterial fermentation or synthetically and used in foods as a gelling agent and thickener. It is a polysaccharide composed of glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid.
Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan. It is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum. It is typically produced as a free-flowing, off-white powder.
CD
I use psyllium husk as I am sensitive to all the gums, and tapioca. It binds very well in my gluten free bread recipes.
MacKenzie
please please help me to understand how to substitute this in place of Xanthan Gum!
michelle
I’ve been told not to eat anything with any of the GUMs in it because they come from mold. What could be used insted ?
Karen
Xantham Gum is made with chemistry and can be synthetically processed.
Xantham Gum is a substance produced by bacterial fermentation or synthetically and used in foods as a gelling agent and thickener. It is a polysaccharide composed of glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid.
Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan. It is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum. It is typically produced as a free-flowing, off-white powder.
Alix
I’m so happy to find this! Thank you so much for sharing! Do you find that there is a grittyness with this gluten free flour sub that can be common with a lot of other ones?
Saundra
can I use this cup for cup in my regular recipes? I ordered it through your link!
Dennis
Can this mixture be used in frying foods? (Like chicken and cube steak).
Cassie
Yes, absolutely!
Barbara Gregoire
Xanthan Gum is made from Corn, not sure if you knew this. Guar Gum is from the guar bean. A better choice for people who have corn intolerance.
Gina
I heard great things about physillium husk powder to replace xanthan gum in recipes do you think this would affect the overall taste?…
Genny
Hi 🙂
I’m curious in love baking and resently have had to switch to gf for my son do our whole house is switching. Can I do 1 for 1 with my favorite recipies I allready developed or do I need to change that ?
Thanx do much
Stephanie
Just wanted to let you know if you hadn’t discovered already – buy your sweet rice flour and tapioca starch at an Asian market! They are DIRT CHEAP I was so shocked. I make this same mix from Erika’s site…. and it now only costs me $8 to make the whole batch (including xanthan gum)
Scott Siegel
Do you know the nutrition breakdown of your flour mix, e.g., protein, calories, etc.?
Janet
Xanthan gum is pure evil. It is worse than gluten. We call it ‘fart food’.
Rosy
Can this mix be used for bread making
Alex
YES! Absolutely. 🙂
kathy
Can this be used as to ‘batter’ or or to dry coat food like fried chicken?
Theresa
Hello,
What flours can be used if you’re allergic to rice?
Thank you for your help!