Gluten Free Vegan Living

After finding out I was gluten free, out went all the flour which were all wheat based!  But I found there is a whole array of gluten free flours that are wonderful – and taste good too.

Following is a list of the most common gluten free flours:

Almond                                            
Amaranth
Arrowroot
Buckwheat
Cornmeal
Flaxseed
Millet
Oat
Quinoa
Rice
Sorghum
Soy
Tapioca
Teff

Beans & Nut flours

Most gluten free flours alone cannot mimic the properties of wheat flour.  Gluten Free Flours need to be mixed in different portions to have the right mouth feel, the right texture, and so they rise correctly. Personally, rather than stocking numerous different flours and mixing my own, I typically use a commercially-made gluten free flour mix.

I really like Pamela’s Products Amazing Wheat Free & Gluten-free Bread Mix.  We purchased a 25 lb. bag and I store it in a plastic pail in the freezer.  Pamela’s flour makes great bread!

When I make cookies and desserts, I prefer Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.  Jules flour is not as heavy as the Pamela’s and tastes light in baked goods.

There are lots of other good gluten free flour mixes to chose — these are  just the ones I use.

For gravy or thickening sauces, I have glutinous rice flour on hand.  Add it to cool liquids and it thickens up nicely without add any flavor to your sauces.  I would think that any rice flour would work, but I just happen to use the glutinous rice flour.

I really like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix, when I make pancakes.  Before I was gluten free, I used Bisquick.  I have not tried their Gluten Free Bisquick, but have a box on hand and am anxious to see how it tastes!

Occasionally, I enjoy playing around with other flours.  My husband bought a bag of Mommas, Gluten Free Coconut Blend All Purpose Flour, but we really haven’t used it yet.

Since becoming gluten free, I don’t bake as much as I use to. Special occasions and holidays, I will bring out the flour.  Of course, when I bake bread, I use quite a bit of it.  I notice I feel better when I don’t over do the baked goods.  I like eating my grains whole …. so we will talk about grains in my pantry in another post!

If you are interested in learning more about flours and baking bread, check out my Squidoo lens:

• Gluten Free Bread Baking Tips
• Gluten Free Grains

Crescent rolls are interesting — so this recipe for Gluten Free Crescent Rolls really interested me.  Made from one of my favorite ingredients, coconut flour, I am sure I would love these.

The recipe was originally posted on One Green Planet, it is an adaptation of Garlic Coconut Flour Bagels.  (NOTE:  This recipe contained 6 eggs and 1/3 cup butter!!)

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If you read my posts, you will know that I am a big lover of all things coconut.  There are SO MANY Benefits of Coconut Flour and Coconut Oil that I don’t think we could list them all.

Dr. Mercola has posted a wonderful article on Coconut Flour and Oil.  Here are a few excerpts:

“At Last — A Natural And Delicious Alternative To Wheat
And Grain That’s Packed with Dietary Fiber
And Is A Good Source of Protein Too!”

I believe Virgin coconut oil is one of the smartest oils you can eat. Rich in lauric acid, coconut oil contains NO trans fat, strengthens your immune system and boosts your metabolism!…

By substituting our new Coconut Flour in some of your baking recipes, you can literally recreate your favorite treats, turning them into delicious guilt-free health promoting foods….

Coconut flour is unlike any other consisting of 14% coconut oil and 58% dietary fiber! The remaining 28% consists of water, protein, and carbohydrate. If you haven’t tried coconut flour yet, here are some more excellent reasons to start:

• Coconut Flour is ideal for baking. It has fewer digestible (net) carbs than other flours, and it even has fewer digestible carbs than some vegetables!
• Coconut Flour is gluten-free and hypoallergenic. With as much protein as wheat flour, coconut flour has none of the specific protein in wheat called “gluten”. This is an advantage for a growing percentage of the population who have allergies to gluten or a wheat sensitivity.
• Coconut Flour consists of the highest percentage of dietary fiber( 58%) found in any flour. Wheat bran has only is 27% fiber.
• Coconut Flour can help you reach a healthy weight. Ideal for those who follow a low-carb eating plan, coconut flour works well as part of a weight loss program because it has high fiber, and foods with high fiber can help promote a feeling of fullness.

Whoever said “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” was definitely in the dark about the benefits of coconut flour! …

He does go on to talk about soy flour and explains that it NOT the healthy food we think it is …

The bad news is that large portions of commercially prepared gluten-free foods are made using soy flour. I cannot emphasize enough that soy is not the health food that you think it is. If you are still using soy, I urge you to consider how some studies are linking soy to serious health conditions including:

• Increased risk of breast cancer in women, brain damage in both men and women, and abnormalities in infants
• Contributions to thyroid especially in women
• Weakening of your immune system
• Severe, potentially fatal food allergies

READ FULL POST

I highly recommend reading the full article by Dr. Mercola.  He includes much more information, charts, and study results on the Benefits of Coconut!

And if you are interested in more Coconut Products, check out the links below: