Totally new to GF baking (actually, just new to baking)

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Hello,
I recently started to bake, and well. The GF PB soft cookies were good, not soft, but tasty. My GF Banana pound cake though was a failure (two times actually). So I think I just need help and probably education about how ingredients act with each other, basic knowledge, etc.

I don't know if the gluten free baking community is big here on this forum, or any other forum, but I hope I can find some help. I checked the GF section. but it doesn't seem like it is very active, unfortunately. :(

Anyway I'm french, living in south-korea, and recently bought a small oven. I don't really know I suddenly wanted to bake, but well, anyway!

Hope this community can help me to be a better baker (can't be much worst at my level)!

See you.
Anthony
 
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Hello,
I recently started to bake, and well. The GF PB soft cookies were good, not soft, but tasty. My GF Banana pound cake though was a failure (two times actually). So I think I just need help and probably education about how ingredients act with each other, basic knowledge, etc.

I don't know if the gluten free baking community is big here on this forum, or any other forum, but I hope I can find some help. I checked the GF section. but it doesn't seem like it is very active, unfortunately. :(

Anyway I'm french, living in south-korea, and recently bought a small oven. I don't really know I suddenly wanted to bake, but well, anyway!

Hope this community can help me to be a better baker (can't be much worst at my level)!

See you.
Anthony

welcome to the forum. yes the gluten-free board is pretty dead. I am gluten-free. But I don’t post over there.

gluten-free baking is very challenging to say the least.
 
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Hello,
So you still post about glutenfree but not on the gluten free board?

Well I hope I can find some good information here. I guess it requires some experimentation. I should probably look for information online about baking in general in order to understand better GF baking.

I'll probably post some questions on the GF board soon so I might see you there.

Thanks!
 
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Hello,
So you still post about glutenfree but not on the gluten free board?

Well I hope I can find some good information here. I guess it requires some experimentation. I should probably look for information online about baking in general in order to understand better GF baking.

I'll probably post some questions on the GF board soon so I might see you there.

Thanks!

I’m gluten free in my diet, but I do a lot of regular baking. I do a lot of baking classes and have business projects that I work on; and bake for other people.

Nothing in regular baking science applies to gluten free baking. Wheat flour contains two amino acids (proteins) that bind with water than that form gluten. It also contains starches that bind with water. When subjected to heat and other ingredients, the chemical reactions trigger protein denaturation and starch gelatinization. unfortunately gluten-free flours do not have the same amino acids for gluten and starch gelatinization is very different.

I can post a list of gluten free baking website if you like.
 
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Oh i see, yes if you don't mind I would appreciate it.
Especially if you have websites educating about the composition and differences between gluten/gluten free.
I would like to understand what should be adjusted and substituted in order to get the best result.

Most gluten free recipes that I found simply substitute wheat with gluten free flour, but I doubt it is that easy.. Of course you get a cake or cookies etc, but definitely not close with a gluten baked good. So I wanted to understand a bit deeper what are the reactions and what ajustements should be made. (Well, if it's possible).

Thank you.
 
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Oh i see, yes if you don't mind I would appreciate it.
Especially if you have websites educating about the composition and differences between gluten/gluten free.
I would like to understand what should be adjusted and substituted in order to get the best result.

Most gluten free recipes that I found simply substitute wheat with gluten free flour, but I doubt it is that easy.. Of course you get a cake or cookies etc, but definitely not close with a gluten baked good. So I wanted to understand a bit deeper what are the reactions and what ajustements should be made. (Well, if it's possible).

Thank you.

Unfortunately there are no significant chemical reactions in gluten free baking to study. The chemical reaction in traditional baking is all about controlling and manipulating the proteins, gliadin and glutenin. These are the molecules that create gluten when they bind with water. Traditional baking is about the extensibility, elasticity, and strength in dough and batter.

Gluten free flours lack these molecules. So there is nothing to study in the way of chemical reactions in gluten free baking.
It might help if you understand a bit about the fundamentals of baking, and why the absence of theses proteins leave nothing to study in gluten free baking.

First, contrary to what most people think, there is no gluten in wheat flour.
  • Gliadin gives dough its extensibility (stretching) properties
  • Glutenin gives dough its elasticity (retraction) properties
This matrix creates extensibility, elasticity, and strength in dough and batter. The manipulation of the gluten network is the basis of all traditional baking. There is some consideration of how volatile compounds and furans create aroma and flavor in baked goods. But, these do not happen in a void without the baked goods.

The extensibility, elasticity, and strength allows us to mix a malleable dough or a liquid batter. But to permanently set a dough or batter, starch gelatinization must occur in the wheat flour starch.

Wheat flour has two separate types of starch molecules, amylose and amylopectin. These are polysaccharides (sugar molecules). Each of these starch molecules has its own unique long chain shape: amylose is a straight chain polymer of glucose; amylopectin is highly branched. The long chains are held together with hydrogen bonds.

When the starch molecules are exposed to water molecules and heated, they expand. Eventually the starch molecules will expand so much the hydrogen bonds break apart, and the water molecules bind to the areas where hydrogen bonds broke. As more water molecules displace the hydrogen bonds, the long chain molecules of amylose and amylopectin begin to form a gel like mass. This is when the thickening property of starch begin to happen.


Let’s say you are baking a cookie:

68°F (20°C) finished dough; gluten development begins

92°F (33°C) baking begins; butter melts

122°F (50°C) starch gelatinization begins

144°F (60°C) protein denaturalization begins.

310°F (155°C) maillard reactions occurs on the outer edges and bottom of the cookies in direct contact with the making sheet


So when the water molecules bind to gliadin and glutenin in wheat flour in the mixing, it makes all the other chemical reactions in wheat baking possible.

When there is no gliadin and glutenin, none of the other chemical reactions in baking occur.

Sugar does not have an tenderizing effect in baking because there is no gliadin and glutenin to react with.

Egg still coagulates, but since there is no gliadin and glutenin to give the dough/batter extensibility and strength, the baked goods are crumbly and dense. The egg yolk improves density and volume, while the water in the white produces steam to aid rise. But there must be a gluten network to trap the air bubbles.

Leavening still activates, but since there is no gliadin and glutenin to give the dough/batter extensibility and strength, baked goods do not have an open crumb.

Maillard Reaction occurs when amino acids (proteins) from the wheat flour and egg and sugars break down then the two form into a single ring like structure. The new structure they form deflects light, so food has a distinctive golden caramelized color. But more important, when the amino acids and the sugars react together, they creates compounds that create new aromas and flavors. Gluten free flours do not produce the maillard reaction because they do not have the gliadin and glutenin.

Gluten free flours are mostly starch. Starch gelatinization still happens in gluten free baking. And when the starch begins to cool, it slowly forces the water molecules out and the hydrogen bonds re-form. This process is starch retrogradation. This happens with all starch gelatinization, whether it is in baking, or the use of a starch in the thickening of a sauce, gravy, or filling.

When the water is being forced out of baked goods, it makes them dry. We refer to it as stale bread, cake, or cookies, etc. Since gluten free baked goods are usually made with high starch flours, they stale very quickly.

In gluten free baking the focus is on binders—holding the dough/batter together. Many gluten flours are not even grains, but instead ground nuts, roots, and seeds. These nuts, seeds, and roots do have any characteristics remotely similar to wheat. Yet people have this unrealistic of grinding them into powders, adding a binder, and expecting them to taste and perform like wheat.

In approaching gluten free baking you have to let go of your concepts of baking. There are some things that can be made deliciously gluten free. But, I’ve made peace with the fact that there are many things I will never eat again because the gluten-free alternatives are so inferior they’re just not worth eating. There are so delicious dishes that are naturally gluten free. Life is to be lived well. I choose not to eat what is insufferably bad when there is so much to enjoy on the table.


I think these bloggers produce good gluten free content.

gluten free flour blends page

https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-recipes/


http://abakinglife.thedailymeal.com


https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-recipes


http://www.cannellevanille.com/recipes/


http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2005/08/recipe-index.html


decent bread recipes


http://www.bakingmagique.com/2015/02/seeded-gluten-free-sourdough-bread/

https://vanillaandbean.com/seeded-multigrain-gluten-free-sourdough-bread

Books:

Patrica Austin is an pastry chef who used to live in Paris. She worked for Pierre Hemes. Austin is gluten free. She wrote a gluten free baking cookbook called, Patisserie Gluten Free: The Art of French Pastry.
 
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This is the flour blend I made for my tarts and pie crust. The thing with gluten free baking is there is no such thing as “all purpose” flour blend. I find I make blends for the purpose.

132g white rice flour .30
66g brown rice flour .15
66g sorghum flour .15
66g tapioca flour .15
66g potato starch .15
22g arrowroot .05
3g xanthan gum 0.007
8g baking powder 0.019
25g cane sugar 0.059

0.02% natural powdered pectin made from citrus can be added to the flour blend to give better binding.

80FF58D2-6C2D-48A4-A92B-E39ADC2BB483.jpeg
 
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Wow thanks a lot for all those information! I will read them carefully tonight!
I will check those link as well. :)

This is the flour blend I made for my tarts and pie crust. The thing with gluten free baking is there is no such thing as “all purpose” flour blend. I find I make blends for the purpose.
And that is what I thought. There is so many blends possible that it must be hard to find an all-purpose blend. If there was it would be known since long. So I guess it takes a lot of experimentations. And thanks for the recipe!

Concerning my oven, I followed an advice and bought a thermometer for the oven. Turns out when I was setting 165C (330F) on my oven, the temperature inside of the oven was 205C (400F). It's a cheap oven. At least the temperature isn't random and I took note of each setting and the real temperature inside of the oven. So I will try again the recipe soon with the correct setting!

Thanks again for all those information and links!
 
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Wow thanks a lot for all those information! I will read them carefully tonight!
I will check those link as well. :)


And that is what I thought. There is so many blends possible that it must be hard to find an all-purpose blend. If there was it would be known since long. So I guess it takes a lot of experimentations. And thanks for the recipe!

Concerning my oven, I followed an advice and bought a thermometer for the oven. Turns out when I was setting 165C (330F) on my oven, the temperature inside of the oven was 205C (400F). It's a cheap oven. At least the temperature isn't random and I took note of each setting and the real temperature inside of the oven. So I will try again the recipe soon with the correct setting!

Thanks again for all those information and links!

You are welcome. I’m glad you noted the oven temperatures. I keep two thermometers in my oven, and constantly monitor the temperatures when I bake and cook. I am amazed at how much the temperature changes even when I open the oven door rotate a tray of cookie.
 
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I read again your post about the chemical reactions, and it's super interesting. Thanks again. Though it doesn't apply to GF, it's helpful, and it's exactly what I was looking for these days, to understand WHY it doesn't. I still need to read it once a day for a few days (I'm a slow learner lol), to fully get it.

Few years ago I remember trying to make burger buns, simply replacing the wheat flour with GF from my mom's house. They literally stayed the exact same shape and size as when I had put them in the oven haha, I understand better now.

I will keep all those information in mind and see how my cake goes this weekend with the correct temperature, then I will see what I should improve.

And I agree about the oven temperature. It's the first time I have an oven thermometer so I didn't know but the temperature drops super quickly if you open the door for a few seconds. Must be careful when baking something that is sensitive.

Thanks for all your help!
Anthony
 

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