What’s in a Gluten Free Cupboard?

The most frustrating part for me in making the switch to eating gluten free was that I could no longer just simply bake my favorite recipes at a moment’s notice.  Everything had to be “made-over” with gluten free ingredients and they weren’t all available at my local grocery store either.  And when I did eventually make it to a health food store to stock up on alternative flours, there were so many to choose from and they all seemed so expensive that I wasn’t sure how to separate what was worth buying and what I didn’t really need.

Now that two years have gone by since that initial confusion period, I know what ingredients to keep in my cupboard based on which ones I ended up buying routinely.  It really is worth it to make the investment of buying a variety of gluten free flours.  Despite the initial high cost to get all of these at once (expect upwards of $30 at a store such as Whole Foods), it ends up being cheaper to make many of your favorite foods at home instead of buying the gluten free cake/cookie/bread mixes that only make a few servings each.  (Look for some of our favorite recipes using the following gluten free pantry items to be posted soon).

In our Gluten Free Cupboard:

• Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour (the easiest to substitute cup for cup in regular flour recipes.  Also can use when you are making a recipe and run a tad short on the full amount of rice flour/soy flour/or whatever other flour called for).

• Rice Flour (Arrowhead Mills brand makes a brown rice flour for those who want extra fiber.  However, we tend to buy the Goya brand of rice flour as it’s cheaper at only $2.49 for 1.5 pounds at our regular grocery store here in Brooklyn.  We use this one a lot!)

• Xanthan Gum (this is ESSENTIAL for creating gluten free baked products that will have similar texture to the real thing.  Yes, it’s expensive – I paid $13.29 for just an 8 oz bag, but since you only use it a teaspoon or tablespoon at a time, it will likely last you for quite a few months).

• Soy Flour

• Potato Flour (remember there is a difference between potato flour and potato starch,  so make sure you get the right one).

• Quinoa Flour

• Tapioca Flour (I have discovered that Quinoa and Tapioca flours seem to be okay to use interchangeably in recipes, so it’s probably okay to just buy one of these to start out).

• Yeast (already naturally gluten free, so at least this one will be at your regular grocery store).

• Rice Chex cereal (when pulverized in a food processor, this makes an excellent substitute for bread crumbs).

• Cornstarch