Cooking and Serving: 3 cups
Ingredients
See recipe for ingredients
Description
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Servings: 3 cups
Instructions
Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Recipe.
Notes
* Why most blends fail
* Measure * How to use the formula
* Ingredient substitutions
* Storage instructions
* Better Batter Gluten Free Flour Recipe
If you’ve come here looking for all purpose, gluten free flour blends, you’ve
come to the right place. Even though I had long sworn off blending my gluten
free flours, I’ve now come around entirely.
I have even created a bunch of infographics for my best all purpose gluten free
easy, at-a-glance reference. All the details about those rice-based gluten free
flour blends (Yes! Generally, rice is gluten free
but here we can spend a bit more time talking about one of those blends: my mock
Better Batter gluten free flour mix. The blend is made from brown and white rice
flour, tapioca starch/flour, potato starch/flour, xanthan gum, and powdered
I’ve tested this blend in many of my recipes, like pizza, cookies, and muffins,
and haven’t had a single failure. Since I first shared this recipe in 2012, many
of you have made this blend your go-to and can use it without worry.
The founder of Better Batter has told me that this blend is very, very close to
her proprietary blend. However, there is no such thing as a true cup-for-cup
replacement for conventional flour in conventional recipes.
I have a gluten free flour blend of my own that I sell online called Nicole’s
Best —but I don’t claim that it’s a cup-for-cup gluten
free replacement for conventional flour in conventional recipes. That doesn’t
Gluten free baking calls for gluten free recipes: they’re different, they need
different ratios of wet to dry ingredients, different binders, and different
I’ve dedicated my working life to making everything as “normal” as possible, but
it will never be exactly the same. We took out gluten. It’s just different.
A glass jar of mock better batter gluten free flour.
glass jar of mock better batter gluten free flour.
You will need a simple digital kitchen scale
You don’t need anything fancy or expensive. But without the precision of a
scale, you simply cannot build a flour blend.
If you find that sometimes your baking is successful and sometimes it isn’t
without changing ingredients or recipes, but you’re measuring measurement inconsistencies are likely causing your inconsistent results.
I know that many recipe developers direct you to “scoop and sweep” your flours
to measure Dry measurement containers are not standardized, so your “cup” might hold a
little bit less, mine more. Plus, human error is unavoidable, no matter how
experienced the baker—including me.
These small differences accumulate, especially when building a flour blend where
the ratio of one ingredient to another is all that matters. That’s why the
ingredients are listed as a percentage of the whole. The individual gram amounts
don’t matter. The ratios do.
Infographic showing how to make your own mock Better Batter all purpose gluten
showing how to make your own mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour
HOW TO USE THE FORMULA
To prepare each all purpose gluten free flour blend below in whatever quantity
you’d like, apply each percentage listed for each individual flour to the total
quantity (in grams) of flour that you plan to make, one together, and you’ll have the total.
For example, if you wanted to put together 140 grams of flour (which is the
proper measurement for “1 cup” of an all-purpose flour blend recipes) using the Mock Better Batter Blend, here’s the math:
> 30% BRF = 30% (or 0.30) x 140 grams = 42 grams superfine brown rice flour
> 30% WRF = 30% (or 0.30) x 140 grams = 42 grams superfine white rice flour
> 15% TS/F = 15% (or 0.15) x 140 grams = 21 grams tapioca starch/flour
> 15% PS = 15% (or 0.15) x 140 grams = 21 grams potato starch
> 5% PF = 5% (or 0.05) x 140 grams = 7 grams potato flour
> 3% XG = 3% (or 0.03) x 140 grams = 4 grams xanthan gum
> 2% PPP = 2% (or 0.02) x 140 grams = 3 grams pure powdered pectin
If you add up all the numbers, it will equal 140 grams (go ahead and check!). So
make as much or as little as you like.
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS
SUPERFINE RICE FLOURS
We have had a long discussion about superfine rice flour
how to blend your own. There is no substitute for rice flour in this blend.
Superfine rice flour is essential to the most basic gluten free baking. If your
rice flour has a harsher grind, your baked goods will be gritty and often won’t
even turn out properly.
Gritty rice flours don’t combine fully with the other ingredients in the recipe,
essentially changing the entire character of the recipe formula. I always buy
Authentic Foods brand superfine rice flour.
I’m also okay with Vitacost.com brand superfine rice flour. In a pinch, I’ve
used rice flour from Nuts.com, and as discussed above, I’ve made my own by
(also called tapioca flour) is the starch from the cassava root. Cassava flour
is made with the whole root. Tapioca starch is only the starch, and it isn’t
interchangeable with cassava.
Tapioca starch has a unique quality that creates a lovely stretch and pull in
baked goods, and has no exact substitute. I have had some success using
superfine glutinous (or short grain, or sweet) white rice flour.
POTATO STARCH AND POTATO FLOUR
Potato flour is a powder made from whole potatoes that have been peeled and
ground into a fine powder. Potato starch is simply the pure starch washed out of
potatoes and then dried into a fine powder.
Potato starch can be replaced with cornstarch or arrowroot, but potato flour has
no substitute. If you can’t have nightshades, I recommend you try my mock
Cup4Cup or Better Than Cup4Cup blends, which don’t use potato flour. You can
read all about them on the all purpose gluten free flour blends
If you can have but can’t find potato flour, you can actually grind potato
flakes into a flour and use that. It’s the same thing, just in a slightly
Xanthan gum is a binder that helps replace gluten in this blend. It is often
compared to guar gum, which has similar qualities. Xanthan gum is better to use
when heated, like in baked goods. Guar gum is better used when cold, like in a
smoothie you’d like to thicken. Since we are using this blend for baking,
xanthan gum is the clear winner.
You can often replace xanthan gum is konjac powder, which is easy to buy on
Amazon. If you’d like to vary the amount of xanthan gum you use in different
types of recipes, which I highly recommend, leave this ingredient out of the
blend entirely and then add it in individual recipes as appropriate. The
Nicole’s Best usage guide
can help direct your addition.
In gluten free yeast bread, you may be able to replace xanthan gum with psyllium
husk in varying amounts. The usual rule of thumb is about 5 grams of ground
blond psyllium husk per cup of flour, mixed with at at least 1/4 cup of water
per cup. Use the water in the recipe, though. Do not add additional water or
other liquid to an otherwise already well-balanced gluten free recipe.
I use Pomona brand pure powdered pectin, which comes with a calcium packet which
I just discard. You must use a powder that has a single ingredient: pectin.
Pomona pectin typically is sold in pretty blue boxes with packets in them, which
you’ve probably seen in the grocery store. I’ve bought it in bulk directly from
the company’s website, and it lasts forever.
You cannot use “Ball” pectin or anything else that has additional ingredients
(like sugar) or is in a gel form. Not only do they add ingredients we don’t
want, but they have less of what we need: pectin. There is no substitute for
For storage, place the blend in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dark
pantry. It will last as long as the earliest expiration date on any of the
component ingredients. You can extend its freshness freezer, but be sure to let it come to room temperature before using it in a
Go Ad-Free
BETTER BATTER GLUTEN FREE FLOUR RECIPE
Prep Time: 5 minutes mins
Cook Time: 0 minutes mins
large glass jar with white flour inside and metal lid with white label stating
homemade a.p. gf flour
glass jar with white flour inside and metal lid with white label stating
homemade a.p. gf flour
Make your own Better Batter gluten free flour with brown and white rice flour,
tapioca and potato starch, potato flour, and powdered pectin.
* Digital kitchen scale
* 126 g superfine brown rice flour , 30% of total
* 126 g superfine white rice flour
* 63 g tapioca starch/flour
* 21 g potato flour , 5% of total
* 9 g pure powdered pectin , (without the
calcium packet) 2% of total
* Measure using a digital kitchen scale. There aren’t proper volume equivalents
for some of the ingredients.
* Place all ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk to combine well. The pectin
should be used without the calcium packet. Store in an airtight container at
room temperature until ready to use.
* The recipe can be halved or used in multiples easily. Just be sure to whisk
fully in a large enough container.
* Use of lower quality ingredients than those to which I have linked in this
post (including the xanthan gum and pectin!) will result in a markedly lower
quality product, one that does not behave at all like mine. Proceed at your
Sodium: 144mg | Potassium: 458mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU |
Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an
images of infographic showing how to make mock Better Batter and jar of flour
of infographic showing how to make mock Better Batter and jar of flour blend
D.I.Y. All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend Recipe
All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend Recipe
What do I do with the calcium packet in the pectin?
Discard the calcium packet that comes with Pomona brand pectin. Or use it for
another purpose if you have one. Just don’t include it in the blend.
What are the ingredients in Better Batter flour?
Better Batter’s original blend ingredient label lists: rice flour, brown rice
flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, potato flour, pectin (lemon derivative),
What is the trick to using gluten free flour?
Find good, well-balanced gluten free recipes, measure possible, and follow the recipe faithfully. You’ll find all my recipes