I often have trouble finding fully Emily-friendly dessert recipes… it’s no wonder really, since most baked goods contain about 75% Emily-unfriendly ingredients such as wheat, sugar, eggs, and/or dairy. I’ve gotten pretty good at veganizing recipes, and it’s even getting easier to translate cane sugar to maple or agave. The last bastion, though, has proven to be replacing wheat. It’s become all too frustrating finding a great vegan, sugar- and soy-free recipe only to find the wheat content to be my only barrier. To jump this hurdle, I took to finding a gluten-free flour mix recipe that I could sub for wheat easily across the board.

Interweb surfing came up with a few really great gluten-free baking resources. Here are a couple sites that divulged some much appreciated insight into the careful dance of gluten-free baking:

The Gluten-Free Lifestyle’s “Solving the GF Flour Mix Mystery”

Karina’s Kitchen: Baking Substitutions for GF and More

Karina’s Kitchen: Cooking & Baking GF Tips from Karina

As for a mix, I haven’t tried all of the suggestions listed in the above links, but one that’s worked well so far is from the “Solving the GF Flour Mix Mystery” article…which came from a Carol Fenster’s book, Gluten-Free 101 – Easy, Basic Dishes Without Wheat. I’m including it here in hopes that I am not infringing on copyright:

• 1 ½ cups sorghum flour
• 1 ½ cups potato starch or cornstarch (I used potato starch)
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• ½ cup corn flour or almond flour or bean flour or chestnut flour (I used almond flour)

Since gluten is what makes cakes/breads hold together, you’ve got to add xanthan gum or guar gum to help the flour bind to itself. Otherwise you will get the infamous crumble-in-your hand effect that GF baked goods can be known for. I’m partial to Xanthan Gum and add the following amounts per cup of GF flour when making baked goods:

• ¾ teaspoon per cup of flour for breads
• ½ teaspoon per cup of flour for cakes
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon per cup of flour for cookies

Hopefully those nuggets are helpful for those of you exploring DIY Gluten-Free baking. If you’re looking for an example of how I put the above flour mix to the test, check out my post for a vegan gluten-free sugar-free Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (with frosting!).