What is the best combination of gluten free flours to bake light and fluffy muffins?
I am on a diet that also excludes corn and egg whites
Best Answer
First, the good news: the right flours can indeed make a difference. The optimal one I have found for a light texture is corn starch. As you say that you can't have that one either, the second best is non-glutinous rice flour. Try to find a mix with a high proportion of it.
Flours you should avoid for light muffins include:
- dark flours, e.g. from teff or buckwheat
- whole grain flours
- large-particle-size flours
- nut flours
Sadly, the third one is not something you can find written on the packaging - so if you want to develop a mix on your own, you will have to buy flours from different producers and see which one is ground more finely, then stick to that provider.
Also, when developing a mix, you should try to have a high ratio of amylose to amylopectin - so use lower amounts of waxy/glutinous starches such as tapioca starch of potato starch.
From there on, there is no single "best mix" for lightness, different mixes will be optimal for different recipes. If you have an existing recipe in mind, you can optimize a mix for it through trial and error - and notice that you will also have to optimize other things like the choice and amount of binders, and tweak the recipe a bit. This is so complicated that dedicated gluten-free recipe designers usually go the other way - they settle on a mix they like, then engineer their recipes until they work well with that mix. If you want to dedicate your time to this process, looking at existing "preferred" mixes and some rounds of testing should let you settle on a mix you like.
If you don't want to spend the time needed to engineer your own combinations of recipes and mixes, you have two options:
- Buy a commercial mix. Try to find mixes which are formulated especially for muffins and similar batters, this will be a bit better than trying an "all-around" mix. The resulting texture will never be optimal, but if it is good enough for you, it is the least work.
- Stop baking random recipes, find authors who have engineered their recipes to be gluten-free, bake these recipes only and follow them to the letter (this is much more important in gluten-free baking than in standard baking, because you have almost no leeway).
- Stop baking muffins, completely. Muffin recipes tend to produce a rather heavy texture when done with wheat flour, and when you make them even more stody by going gluten-free, there may not exist a gluten-free muffin that you enjoy. If you want something this size, orient yourself towards baking cupcakes, which give you many more options to achieve a light texture.
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What makes a muffin light and fluffy?
Having eggs, butter, and milk at room temperature helps them form a smooth mixture that traps air and expands when heated in the oven. That expansion makes your muffins fluffy and light.How do you make gluten-free more fluffy?
Some ingredients that may help to create that fluffier and more elastic end result include: unflavored gelatin, xanthan gum, guar gum, and eggs. NFCA's website has a page listing gluten-free cookbooks and magazines.How do you make gluten-free muffins less dense?
Bake, Then Bake Some More Gluten-free baked goods often benefit from extra liquid to hydrate the flour blends, eliminate grittiness, and achieve a less dense or dry texture.How do you make gluten-free muffins rise?
Follow these tips to get the BEST gluten-free muffin rise: Wait for the oven to fully preheat. The first 5-10 minutes of baking is where most of the rise happens and high heat is needed for maximum rise! Bake at a higher temperature at the beginning for a rapid rise cycle.6 BEST GLUTEN-FREE FLOURS ‣‣ for all your baking recipes!
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Answer 2
Hi welcome to seasoned advice. I don't know if this will help but I have been gluten free since birth. The best combination of flours for muffins are:
- 3oz polenta
- 50g quinoa flour
- 1 1/2 tsp guar gum
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1tsp baking soda
Some of these ingredients are not sold in supermarkets so order at a specialized gluten free flour company online. I hope this helps :)
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