The BEST simple gluten free flour recipe
Look no further, this is just the easiest and best gluten free flour recipe. It works cup for cup in most recipes, tastes delicious (thanks to no garbanzo bean flour), and only takes four ingredients. It is the simplest gluten free flour blend that is so much cheaper than buying a premade flour blend!
When you think of gluten-free baking, do you think the word simple?
Is that the word that comes to mind?
Or is it more like “overwhelming,” “complicated,” “flippin-disastrous”?
I’ve been in the place of wanting to throw in the towel with gluten-free baking.
But, you guys, this gluten free flour blend is simple.
Gluten free baking has become simple.
If you’re stuck in a place of overwhelm, put down all the other complicated mixes and blends. This is the only all-purpose gluten-free flour recipe you need.
Here are three reasons why this is the best gluten-free flour recipe:
1. It’s simple (wait, did I already say that?).
2. It’s inexpensive (like, waaaaaaay cheaper than buying pre-made blends).
3. It only takes 4 Ingredients.
You can dump all of these flours into a large container, shake it up, and you’re done! One recipe lasts my family of six 2-3 weeks depending on how many baked goods I make.
Cup for cup gluten free flour
Here are the types of regular recipes where you can replace all-purpose or whole wheat flour cup for cup with this gluten-free blend and have great results:
DO NOT use it cup for cup in these recipes
This gluten-free flour does not work cup for cup in bread or pastry recipes. These rely on gluten to make traditional recipes work, which isn’t present in this blend (obviously).
Things that won’t work are:
- Yeast breads
- Pastry
- Doughnuts (I know it’s a yeast bread, but worth repeating)
- Pizza dough (again, worth repeating!)
Yeast breads are still possible with this flour, though!
You’ll just need to follow a gluten-free specific recipe like these ones:
The Best Homemade Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
Gluten Free Fluffy Dinner Rolls
Best Gluten Free Pizza Crust (that happens to be vegan)
Where to buy the ingredients you need
I purchase my flours in bulk from Azure Standard. This is the most cost-effective way. They’re high quality and cheaper than nearly every other place.
You can also find all of these flours in most grocery stores now or online.
You can follow the links to find the kind of brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum I buy.
This recipe makes 9 cups of homemade gluten free flour for cheap. The total cost of this recipe is about $4.82.
Mine technically costs less than this because I buy brown rice flour in a 25 pound bag, and the starches in five pound bags, so they’re even cheaper.
Yours may cost a little bit more if you aren’t able to purchase in bulk.
Many brands of these gluten free flours and starches are good, but my favorite brands that are consistently great are Azure Standard, Bob’s Red Mill and Anthony’s Goods.
Read next: Mastering gluten-free flours
Simple Gluten Free Flour Recipe
The best gluten free flour recipe: cheap and simple homemade gluten free flour to replace cup-for-cup in your favorite recipes.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a large container and shake well to fully combine
- You can also whisk ingredients together in a large bowl and then transfer to a large container
- Store in an air-tight container in a dry place
See? Simple.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
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Try out these recipes that utilize this fantastic, easy gluten-free flour blend!
The Best Homemade Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
Heya, thanks for this wonderful recipe! You mentioned that this recipe doesn’t work 1:1 for bread and pastries, does it work with a different ratio or not at all (I was planning to use it in my sourdough starter)?
Thanks a bunch!
I’m so glad you reached out! Thanks for a great question. It can absolutely be used for a gluten free specific bread or pastry recipe, but just doesn’t work in a regular bread or pastry recipe as a direct substitute. This flour blend would be perfect in a sourdough starter though! And if you follow a gluten free sourdough bread recipe, it will be great in that, too. Gluten free bread has very different measurements and needs. It tends to be more like making muffins where regular bread requires kneading to work the gluten. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. Man, sourdough bread sounds delicious now 😉
That makes so much sense! Thank you so much!
Hi! Thanks for the information! I, too, am discovering that gluten causes me issues. I was wondering, can arrowroot starch be subbed for potato starch? Thanks again!
First of all, I’m sorry you’re having issues with gluten–but I’m so glad you’re here!
Arrowroot should work great as a substitute for the potato starch. I’ve never actually tried it myself (arrowroot is more expensive where I’m at) but from what I’ve read, it sounds interchangeable. Just replace the potato starch with equal amounts of arrowroot.
Hi,
For your cinnamon bread recipe, if I use your gluten free flour blend, do I still need the xanthan gum on your recipe ?
Thank you
Jayne
Hi Jayne, Great question! Short answer, yes. The added xanthan gum helps the bread texture be chewier, like the real deal. It CAN be made without extra xanthan gum, but it turns out a bit more crumbly. Let me know if I can help more!
First I want to say I really enjoy your blog. What is the shelf life on your GF floor blend?
Thank you so much for your encouraging comment! It makes me so glad that you’re here.
The flour keeps for a very long time if kept in an air tight container. I would say very safely for at least 9 months.
Just a question. If this mix doesn’t work well as a 1-to-1 for breads what do you recommend?
Thank you!
Susan
Thanks for taking time to ask!
Regular bread recipes are built around working the gluten. We aren’t doing that with gluten free bread. The quantities and method will be different, which means you have to use a gluten-free specific bread recipe. This mix works perfectly for that! Here’s my favorite sandwich bread recipe and my favorite bread rolls recipe.
Hi, how many servings does this recipe make?
This makes 9 cups of all-purpose gluten-free flour 🙂
Thanks for thr recipe. Is it possible to sub the brown rice flour for white rice flour? Tks
Absolutely you can! White rice flour works great here. Thanks for your question! Enjoy 🙂
Can you substitute the potato starch flour and brown rice flour with arrowroot flour? I’m keto so don’t think those are keto-friendly.
Thanks,
Lisa
Unfortunately, no. This blend really only works well with grains and starches. Keto friendly flour is quite different. Almond flour, coconut flour, ground flaxseed, and arrowroot is a great keto flour blend. About 2 cups almond flour, 3/4 cup coconut flour, 1/2 cup ground flaxseed, 1/2 cup arrowroot starch (or omit starch all together). You have to adjust the liquids in recipes because of the coconut flour that absorbs liquids so differently than other flours. I hope that helps!
Thank you so much! Do you also have a flour blend that I could use for breads?
Oh, You’re so welcome! This is the one I use for all of my breads, too, actually. You can check out a couple recipes where I use this flour:
The Best Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
Soft and Fluffy Rolls You Won’t Believe Are Gluten-Free
Hey there! I am wondering if it’s possible to sub cornstarch for the tapioca starch? I’m very new to gluten free baking, so I’m still trying to understand how it all works. Lol Thank you!
Hope, you’re in the right spot! I love talking about gluten-free food–all questions are welcome! 🙂
Tapioca starch works a bit better than corn starch for me. It adds a nice chewiness without a strong flavor. Corn starch can definitely be used in a pinch–but things will turn out denser from my experience.
Hello there ! I’m trying to decide which GF flour to make and just saw your post :). It’s very hard and confusing to decide which one to use. This will be my first time making my own. I read something about a 60%, 40% split on flours etc ? Some have no xanthum etc. Tricky business
Question – If I sub this for muffins etc from a reg recipie., and I want to also sub the dairy part. Would that be a fail. ? Lol
And do you a a cinnamon bun recipie we can use this with ? I try to be DF as well so tricky but I can cheat a bit 😊. Tnx so much
Hi Sue! I’m so glad you reached out! This flour blend has been working well for me for 8 years now, and it’s my all-time favorite. Plus, it’s the least expensive option I’ve found with good results. You can totally use it cup for cup in a regular muffin recipe! That would be perfect. Dairy free milk is also an easy swap. I do this all the time and sub cashew, oat, or almond milk with no problem.
As for cinnamon buns, I have a recipe but have not posted it yet (I REALLLLLLY wish it was already up to share with you because it’s so easy and delicious!!!). I’ll see if I can get it up ASAP for you. It’s dairy free, too!
I make these gf/df rolls with this flour blend, and I actually use a version of it to make the cinnamon rolls!
I also make this sandwich bread with this flour and it’s dairy free as well. Reach out with any more questions! I love it. Love talking gluten free food. <3
I just got the cinnamon rolls post up and wanted you to be the first to know!
Here you go:
Soft & Fluffy Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls
🙂
Hi 👋 That is so sweet of you That’s awesome. Thanks so much 🙂
Question. I just noticed your replies today. I usually would get email notifications but I didn’t 😳 any tips on where I would go to see the messages Tnx again !!
You are so welcome!
Oh that’s interesting and good to know. I believe comment notification is something I need to adjust on my end, so I’ll look into it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
I usually weigh my flours in recipes, I seem to get a more consistent result that way. Do you have the weight measurements for this? And I wanted to thank you for your time with working on recipes!
Tanja, that’s a fantastically accurate way! Go, you :). This recipe is actually pretty forgiving, so I’ve never weighed the amounts. I will do that the next time I make more (which should be this week). Take care!
I made some flour today, and weighed it for ya!
1 lb 14 oz brown rice flour
9.5 oz potato starch
4.2 oz tapioca starch
Hope this helps 🙂
Thank you very much!
You’re very welcome! 🙂
Hi, I’m going to try and make your flour blend. Does it have to be brown rice? I have a 20lb of jasmine to use. Would that work? I have a vitamix blender as well as a grain ginger.
grinder not ginger;)
Stormy, you are my hero for making your own rice flour! That is so fantastic! #goals 😉
The recipe does NOT have to have brown rice flour. White rice flour works very well, too. Just mill the flour ultra-fine and you’ll be golden.
Excellent recipe with great success in all recipes I have tried ~ wonderful!
Thank you
You’re so very welcome. I’m thrilled to hear this, Nicole! Thanks for taking time to share <3
Is it possible to use anything else instead of xanathan gum, which I am allergic to
Thank you
Hi there, yes! Absolutely you can. Just omit the xanthan gum from the blend and use guar gum, gelatin, or psyllium husk per recipe. For example, if you’re making biscuits, add 1/2 teaspoon guar gum per cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of gelatin per cup of flour, or 2 1/2 teaspoons psyllium husk per cup of flour (pick one swap, not all three ;)).
Let me know if I can help you further.
Can arrowroot starch be used instead of tapioca starch?
Yes it can, I’ve used this swap a few times myself 🙂
What if you can not use potato starch? Is there something else to use in place o? Thanks in advance
Absolutely! You can substitute the potato starch with more tapioca starch, corn starch, arrowroot powder, or a combination. Ex: 1 cup arrowroot and 1 cup tapioca starch to make up for the 2 cups of potato starch.
Hi, When making your blend are you scooping (with measuring cup) right out of the product bag, leveling and then putting it into a bowl to be mixed, or are you dropping the ingredients into the measuring cup, leveling and then putting it into a bowl to be mixed? I want to make sure the consistency is correct.
Thanks!
Hi Jessie! Great question. I use the scoop and then level method. The ratio is what is important, though, so as long as you use the same method with all the ingredients, it’ll be great <3
What could I use in place of potato starch? I have several food sensitivities, including corn, so cornstarch wouldn’t work, either. 😬
Hi Amber! No worries, you can replace the potato starch with tapioca starch easy. I think adding a couple different starches helps the texture, so I’d recommend doing 6 cups rice flour, 2 cups tapioca starch, and 1 cup arrowroot starch. You can certainly try using all tapioca starch and see how you like it, though!
I made pumpkin bread and banana bread with a good quality Gluton free flour, baking soda and baking powder and it came out gritty Why did that happen?
Hi Bonnie, I’m sorry that happened! I’m not sure why it would be gritty. What ingredients were in the flour? And what kind of sugar was used?
new to your site…am interested in using this flour blend, but have a question for you. What is the gm measure for a cup of your flour mix? This seems to be the most accurate measure for different flours. Thanks, looking forward to trying your recipes. I have been looking for a basic flour recipe that meets my standard for taste and texture.
i appreciate your research in gluten –free baking. It’s a great benefit for any of us who need to replace gluten in our diet.
Thank you for visiting and for taking time to encourage me!
I have not weighed the flours in grams yet, but when it comes to creating a flour blend, you really don’t need the exact weight. You just need the accurate ratios. So however you measure just make sure you use the same method for all of the flours.
I DO think that weighing flours is great when you go to use the flour in a recipe, though! And I will still try to weigh these out the next time I create a blend and get back to you on the weight of each 🙂 .
Can I substitute psyllium husk powder for xanthan gum in the flour mix
Thanks for your question, Sharon! I have not used psyllium husk before (I need to add that to my to-do list!) so I would leave it out of the flour and just add it to each recipe as needed.