Let's talk flour

Once you have gone gluten free, baking is forever changed.  The days of pulling out your canister of whole wheat flour and everything turning out fabulous are gone.  You have to dive head first into learning about flour blending and recipe modification.  There are some good flour blends on the market for quick and straight forward substitution in basic recipes, but I have found most of them to be lacking in texture and nutrients. Rice flour is the primary ingredient in most of these over the counter blends, which basically turns your baked goods into grainy, high carbohydrate bricks.  Although it is quite an initial investment to get the flours needed to make your own blend, the reward is beyond words!

The Gluten Free Maestro Flour Blend 
2 cups super fine Brown Rice flour
1/2 cup super fine White Rice flour
1/2 cup Teff flour
3/4 cup Millet flour
1 1/2 cups super fine Sweet Rice flour
1 1/3 cups Tapioca Starch
1 1/3 cups Potato Starch (NOT flour)
3/4 cup Almond Flour
4 tsp. Xanthan Gum

Mix all ingredients together in an air-tight container.  You can freeze part of the flour if you are not a big baker.  Otherwise, store in the refrigerator or a cool pantry.  I buy all of my rice flours from Authentic Foods.  They are the only company that carries a super fine grind so your baked goods are not so gritty.  If you obtain rice flour somewhere else, blend it to a finer consistency in your food processor before making your flour blend. Substitute this flour blend into most baked goods recipes, with the exception of yeast breads.  This flour blend works great in sweet breads such as banana and zucchini as well as making lovely waffles that are crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.