Gluten-free food is on the rise and so are recipes for gluten-free baking.

It is becoming more common for people to have a certain degree of gluten intolerance which can vary from having a slightly upset tum after eating a pasta dish to getting seriously sick from a few breadcrumbs. It is currently estimated roughly 1 in 70 people in New Zealand have Coeliac disease, however up to 80% of those are unaware they have the condition, and countless more Kiwis suffer from gluten intolerance.

However, if you have gut problems such as IBS, general tiredness or skin problems including dermatitis and eczema, you may benefit from reducing or removing gluten from your diet.

Avoiding gluten in meals can be relatively straightforward, but baking can be difficult. Most people with gluten sensitivity who have experimented with baking have at some point ended up with scones as solid as rocks or a cake that can only be used as a doorstop (you know it’s bad when you chuck your dud baking out on the lawn and even the birds won’t eat it).

Below are some great tips on gluten free baking:

Different flours will give you different results

To replace standard baking flour, you have a few options – buy a pre-made, general purpose flour mix (such as Edmonds Gluten-Free flour), buy a specific flour alternative (such as buckwheat, coconut or rice flour), or blend your own flour from a combination of different gluten-free alternatives depending out what your preference is.

Of course what you’re baking may determine the flour you use, for example, a flour you use for pizza dough will likely not be that great in a sponge cake. Buying a pre-made mix or flour alternatives may not give you the best baking results every time, but it will be far easier if you do baking regularly and don’t have the time to mix your own flours.

Light fluffy baking may not work

Gluten is a protein that gives dough its elasticity, helping it rise and keep its shape and often leaving the final product with a chewy texture. So airy sponge cakes, soft waffles and delicate souffles may seem appealing, but without gluten, they will likely turn out dense and hard.

If you have time and patience, you can keep doing trial and error with different flours and try to perfect these fluffy morsels, or you can get close to spot on with baked goods that would typically be more dense anyway. Brownies, slices, dense cakes like hummingbird cake, and cookies almost always turn out well with ready made supermarket-shelf gluten-free flours.

‘Normal’ recipe quantities may be off

If you’re substituting your flour in a ‘normal’ recipe, be aware that different flours may require different conversions (i.e. 1 cup of flour may not equal 1 cup of rice flour in a recipe). Before you get started check the packet for any conversion suggestions and pay attention to your mix as you go.

It’s okay to experiment

Gluten-free ingredients can be expensive and at times difficult to source which means experimenting within your budget and with what’s available to you is important. Don’t forget different ingredients will have different results, so if you don’t get it right the first time, or if it tastes great but the texture or moisture isn’t there – don’t quit!

Sit down and work out what you were missing, what you could add less or more of, or what you could substitute. If you feel like you want to add something different – add it. Baking is mostly trial and error so don’t be disheartened if you don’t get it right the first time, it means there’s room to improve!

Cooking temperatures may vary

You’ll find that gluten-free baking can take about 10-15 minutes less than normal. What you can do to remedy this, if you have adjusted a regular flour recipe, is drop the temperature of the oven by 20°C and keep it at the recommended cooking time, just make sure to check it’s cooked through when you take it out to cool.

Double-check your baking ingredients for gluten

Sometimes you’ll need to put some thought into the baking ingredients that contain gluten as it’s not just flour you need to be wary of. Oats are a tricky ingredient when it comes to living a gluten-free life due to the way they are processed – while they may not contain gluten, they are processed on the same lines as foods that do contain gluten which means there is a risk of contamination. If it’s too hard to figure out a great alternative is desiccated coconut.

Here’s a great recipe for gluten-free white chocolate & blueberry muffins you can try;

Pre-heat oven to 200°C

2 Cups GF Flour (I used Edmonds gluten free flour)

4 tsp Baking powder

sift these together twice into a large bowl

add to this

3/4 Sugar

In a separate bowl mix

1 1/2 Cup of milk of your choice

1/4 Oil

2 tsp Lemon Juice

1 Egg

Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until just combined (don’t over mix)

Then add in

1 1/2 Cups of fresh or frozen blueberries (or berries of your choice)

1/2 Cup White chocolate drops (can substitute with any chocolate drops or remove)

Mix as little as possible to evenly distribute chocolate and berries

Bake for 15 minutes to start if not cooked through leave them in for a further 5-10 minutes (the length of time will depend on the size of your muffin tin)

8 large muffins takes about 25 minutes.