Baking Tips

Here are some of our favorite tips for getting amazing results with our 1:1 gluten-free flour blends!

Weigh your ingredients

For the best results, we always recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital scale–especially key ingredients like flour, sugar, fats, and liquids. For ingredients used in smaller quantities (less than 10g), use accurate measuring spoons, leveled-off, unless you have a precision scale.

 

Pick the right recipe

Our flour blends are formulated to substitute into recipes designed for traditional wheat flours. Recipes designed for other gluten-free flours may not yield the same results, as many gluten-free flours (like rice flour) absorb water differently than wheat-based flours.

 

Leave cake pan sides ungreased

Our gluten-free cake flour blend makes fluffy, light cakes that benefit from being able to grip the sides of the pan during the first few minutes of cooling. We recommend using light-colored, uncoated cake pans, and lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, but not greasing the sides. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then loosen the edge with a knife before removing.

 

Check the temperature of your cakes

We like checking the internal temperature of our cakes (using an instant-read digital thermometer) when baking to see if they’re done, in addition to monitoring other indicators like color, smell, and touch. It’s easy, and more reliable than the toothpick test. 

Most cakes are best when they reach somewhere between 200° and 208° at the center (or coolest part) of the cake, but anything above 190° should typically be at least set and baked through. If the cake registers 210° or above, it’s rapidly losing moisture, and it’s probably time to take it out to avoid overbaking.

This method is also great for checking the doneness of scones, biscuits, muffins, and quick breads.

 

Don’t add boiling water to cake batter

Gluten-free binders don’t perform well when heated and then stirred, and it can produce some undesirable textures. Some cake recipes call for adding boiling water or hot milk to the batter–for these recipes, we recommend letting the liquid cool to room temperature or lukewarm before adding it. If the boiling water is added before the flour is incorporated (for example, to bloom cocoa powder), you can follow the recipe as directed without letting it cool.

 

Rest biscuit dough after adding liquid

Our gluten-free pastry flour blend takes a few minutes to fully hydrate. When making any dough that requires shaping (like biscuits), chill the dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes after incorporating the liquid. This brief rest helps make the dough less sticky and more manageable for shaping.

 

Chill cookie doughs before cutting out

For cutout cookie doughs, roll between two sheets of parchment paper then freeze the dough until firm (about 15 minutes) before cutting out the cookies. This makes the cookies easier to cut and transfer to the baking sheet.