Week 99er

If you've been reading along for a while, you know that I'm a gluten free baker. I have to eat gluten free for my health, and the rest of the house does because I cook that way. I have a counter of different flours, they range from White Rice flour, Oat Flour, Fava Flour and more. 

So when Bob's Red Mill told me I could do a review of some of their products I was excited. They told me to select three items, I chose two items I use a lot in recipes - White Rice Flour and Xanthan Gum, and one I had never used before - Coconut Flour. 

Because I had never used Coconut flour that was the first one I worked with. I actually opened the bag and tasted a little, I know it sounds silly, but what would you do? Of course, it tasted like Coconut! It was more coarse than regular flour, so I wanted to see how it would work. 

Immediately I craved something sweet and the first thing that came to mind was Coconut Cup Cakes. I had never made coconut cupcakes before but they sure sounded tasty! I found a recipe for regular white cake, adapted it to be gluten free and then adapted it to include coconut. You can find my recipe for Coconut Cream Cupcakes Here. 

Since the coconut flour was more dense and coarse than regular flour, the cupcakes were more dense. This however does not mean they were dry. When I first pulled them out of the oven I worried about how they would taste, since the tops looked more like bisquits. Their initial appearance reminded me of some of the horrible first attempts at gluten free baking I did 7 years ago. 

But appearances can be deceiving! Yes, they were dense but they were moist and tasted great! The frosting and coconut shavings on top were the perfect addition. And the fact it was al gluten free was even better! 

Like I said before, I chose two products I use a lot of. White Rice Flour and Xanthan Gum. My normal gluten free mixture is white rice flour and a tapioca starch, it seems to work great for baked goods like cupcakes -but it doesn't work for every recipe. 

If you do gluten free baking, you'll begin to see Xanthan Gum in your recipes. Actually, if you're not into gluten free baking look at your ingredients in candy, pop, store bought cookies - you'll still probably see it there. It's everywhere. What doe sit do? It sticks stuff together - it gives your recipe that sticky consistency that you may not get without gluten. 

When I first started baking gluten free everything I did tasted like saw dust. I couldn't spit it out fast enough. It was dry, not doughy. When I started adding Xanthan gum things started to work better. Now, I'm not a fan of using it in every recipe like some other gluten free bakers. I never have - but one of my staple recipes uses it: Gluten Free Flatbread. If you're new to gluten free baking this is a great starter recipe. It's not the only one I use it in - half of my Christmas cookies have Xanthan Gum in their recipe. But that is the easiest way to use it and get some tasty results! 

Why was I excited to review Bob's Red Mill's gluten free products? They're an employee owned company, which I think is pretty cool. But their products are all stone ground products, they take the time to make sure that the ingredients are high quality. And since I went gluten free 7 years ago - their products are ones I could trust! 

Do you want to try out some of Bob's Red Mill's products? They are letting me give one reader a bag of the Coconut Flour, White Rice Flour and Xanthan Gum! Even if you're not gluten free you can use these and experiment with other flours. My mom swears rice flour makes better gravy and sauces than what flour anyhow! So make sure you enter below! :) 

How can you win?
Enter to win with the form below. The mandatory entry is leaving a comment on this blog post telling me what you would make with the flour- if you don't do this, you will not win! So make sure you leave a comment and then enter using the form linked below!    

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