14 Mistakes To Avoid For The Gluten-Free Baker

One of the things I love most about baking is how adaptable it is. While classic recipes, made with all the butter, flour, and eggs you can get your hands on, are certainly wonderful, there are equally as many vegan, dairy-free, and of course, gluten-free recipes that you can try. However, if you are used to baking classic, gluten-based recipes, you're going to have to tailor your techniques, ingredients, and approaches to produce successful and tasty gluten-free bakes.

If you're looking to decrease the amount of wheat-based products you eat, or are baking for someone with celiac disease or an allergy, you've come to the right place. I've applied my home baking knowledge, and years spent baking gluten-free and vegan recipes, to pinpoint some of the most common pitfalls that gluten-free bakers make. I've also highlighted some of the most important things that you need to keep in mind as you make the transition from baking gluten-based recipes to gluten-free ones.

Baking gluten-free recipes for the first time can be a bit of a headache. I remember the first time I was tasked with transforming one of my favorite blondie recipes into a gluten-free version. There was a lot of "this doesn't look right," and "I don't think this is what it's supposed to look like." This is because the fundamental properties of gluten-based bakes are different than those that are gluten-free. If you're just starting out, I recommend consulting a trusted gluten-free recipe rather than trying to make quick swaps for flour, as you will inevitably have to also change some of the other parts of the recipe to accommodate for these swaps.

In general, I tend to look for highly-reviewed cooking blogs or websites that understand the fundamental approach to gluten-free baking — like the King Arthur Baking Company. I will also refer to gluten-free cookbooks, including my personal favorite, "The Elements of Baking." Once you get an idea of what all of the components do in a recipe, then you can start playing with your own tasty creations.

When you begin gluten-free baking, it might seem like your pantry has to be completely changed over. But, really, most of the ingredients that you use for regular gluten-based recipes can also be used for gluten-free ones. The big exception, of course, is wheat flour.

My go-to swap for gluten-free baking is a measure-for-measure flour. This flour blend has been specifically developed to offer a similar texture and composition as a regular, gluten-based flour. It's going to behave the most like a wheat-based flour out of all the gluten-free alternatives, which makes it an essential ingredient to add to your baking arsenal. The King Arthur Baking Company's product is the one that I've personally had the most success with, but you can also utilize other brands' products too. King Arthur even makes a measure-for-measure bread flour that will make your life a whole lot easier if you want to craft fun, tasty gluten-free sourdough loaves or sandwich bread. While this type of flour doesn't have the same flavor nuances as other gluten-free selections, I find it to be far more reliable for most recipes.

Once you work with and handle a measure-for-measure flour, you can start experimenting with other types of flour in your recipes. The most important thing to know right off the bat is that not all gluten-free flours work for all recipes. Some are too dense or too fine, while others have flavors that conflict with what you're trying to achieve in your recipe (I'm looking at you, almond flour).

Some of the most common gluten-free flours you'll find in recipes include coconut flour, chickpea flour, almond flour, rice flour, and sorghum flour. Each of these types of flour behaves differently, so you'll want to pay close attention to their texture and qualities to find one that works for you. Almond flour, for example, will impart a light and soft texture to your bake, but it will make everything taste like the nut. Rice flour, in comparison, is more neutral in flavor, but it will have a slightly gritty mouthfeel. Sorghum and buckwheat are two of my favorite ones to work with, as they impart a ton of complexity and flavor (I'll use them for gluten-based bakes, too), but they need to be paired with a starch and cut with another, lighter flour to give them the proper rise.

Gluten serves many functions in recipes, including holding in the air bubbles and giving your bake the proper structure. When you don't have any gluten around, you won't have the same exact structure and composition that you're looking for. As a result, you'll need to turn to other components of your bake, like binders, to lend a hand.

Binders are a wide class of ingredients, but they generally include things like eggs, milk powder, and more. The exact properties of the binder will really depend on the binder itself, but generally, they impart moisture, protein, and texture to your bake. Milk powder, for example, is an emulsifier; it will help the proteins and the starches in your flour blend hold together. Eggs can also act as an emulsifier, though they are also used to stabilize batters and ensure that they come out perfectly moist and flavorful. If you neglect to add enough of these binders to your gluten-free recipe, it can result in your dough or batter not coming together properly. So, be sure to read your recipe to make sure you are adding just the right amount.

One of the most important things you learn as a baker is not to overmix things. When you aggressively try to bring together a gluten-based batter, you'll find that it can stodge up the proteins and turn what would be a delicious brownie or cake recipe into a sugary, unpalatable, and bread-like mush. But, gluten-free batters tend to be more forgiving when it comes to mixing because you can't overwork gluten if it's not there.

As a whole, gluten-free batters need to be mixed for longer than gluten-based recipes so that they can build structure and develop the texture that you're going for. The reason for why this works is tied to the binders, including the starches, eggs, and more; these ingredients are activated by mixing. Moreover, you'll also want to make sure your batter is thoroughly mixed to ensure that there are no clumps in it — which is especially important for something like an airy cake or a batch of muffins.

One of the most important ingredients that you can familiarize yourself with in gluten-free baking is starches. These dry ingredients are typically mixed in with gluten-free measure-for-measure flours to give them the same mouthfeel as their gluten-containing counterparts. You'll see the potato and tapioca starches, as well as the xanthan and guar gums.

Xanthan gum is one starch I find to be pretty straightforward to work with. Its main job is to make the proteins in gluten-free recipes stronger, which will allow your batter to support an array of add-ins. It's essentially the reinforcement that your gluten-free flour needs to do its job. While not adding any of it to your recipe is a mistake, you may also be adding too much to your recipe, which will turn your batter into a paste (meaning, the ⅛ teaspoon your recipe calls for isn't a typo). You can also use guar gum as a quick substitute for xanthan gum, as it behaves similarly. Psyllium husk performs a similar function as xanthan gum as well, but it has a greater water-holding capacity.

The starches, meanwhile, are a little bit different; as they may require that you alter the baking time on the recipe you use them with. For the best results, I would recommend sticking to the exact quantity and variety of starch specified in your recipe.

When you start baking gluten-free for the first time, you may just swap out the flour and think you're good, right?  Unfortunately, that's not the way that baking works, and if you're cooking for someone with an allergy or celiac disease, forgetting to properly read a nutrition label may have severe consequences.

If you're baking gluten-free, you're going to want to check each individual ingredient you add for potential allergens. For example, chocolate chips are mostly gluten-free, you may need to make sure that those items are not produced at a facility where cross-contamination is a possibility. The same goes for nuts, sprinkles, and add-ins. There are some brands out there that are dedicated to making products in cross-contamination-free facilities, like Enjoy Life, but you will be paying a premium for them. The best thing you can do is look for the gluten-free seal on a product, or check the allergen ("may contain") line on the ingredient list to ensure that all of your recipe components are indeed free from gluten.

Starches, binders, and gluten-free flours ... oh my! The last major components you need to make delicious and well-structured gluten-free bakes are leavening agents. These ingredients, which include baking soda and baking powder, are added to most baked foods to help lift them. If you've forgotten to add them to one of your bakes in the past, you know how monumental this mistake can be. Instead of your cake coming out soft and plush, it comes out hard as a rock and ill-risen.

You need to add leavening agents to your gluten-free bakes, too. And, the amount that your recipe calls for may shock you at first — like to the tune of 2 teaspoons of baking powder per every cup of gluten-free flour. This is a lot, but you also have to consider that gluten-free flours tend to be denser than their gluten-containing counterparts. The structure is also different, due to the absence of gluten, so adding in a hefty dose of leavening agents will ensure that your gluten-free bake reaches the perfect height.

If you haven't guessed already, gluten-free recipes are a little bit finicky and deserve careful attention in terms of ratios and proportions. To make your life easier in this respect, you're going to want to invest in a scale. Scales are important measuring tools to use for baking because they are more accurate than cups and teaspoons. The weight of something doesn't change depending on how much or how little you pack it into a container. Using this invaluable tool will ensure your measurements are accurate and will help your bake come out just as the recipe intended.

Another trick that I've found is helpful for working with gluten-free ingredients is to make sure that everything is well sifted before you start baking. You can use either a whisk or a sifter to help break up any of the clumps in your ingredients and make them easier to mix together.

Pans might matter more than you think when it comes to gluten-free baking — especially for breads. Gluten helps give bread the "proper" structure and allows it to rise upwards. Gluten-free breads, on the other hand, tend to need a little help in this department. Instead of using a flatter pan with less height, opt for one that's taller than it is wide. This will give your dough the opportunity to rise to the occasion and come out just as fluffy as a standard sandwich loaf.

Besides this particular instance, you may not need to switch up the pan you're using all too much. Regardless of the type of pan that you use though, you'll want to make sure you adequately grease it before you start working with it. Gluten-free batters tend to be quite sticky, which, at best, will lead to a headache when you're trying to remove your baked good and at worst will lead to burning. Play it safe and grease everything well or use parchment paper to prevent stickage before it happens.

Resting is a critical step in the baking process for many items — including breads. But, you may not think twice about resting your cookie dough or your brownie batter until you start working with gluten-free ingredients. This period, which is about 30 minutes for most brownies, cookies, cakes, and the like, allows moisture to permeate through the gluten-free flours and starches, in turn allowing the batter to become more structured and hydrated. If you skip it, you will risk having a batter that's gritty or has hydration issues.

That being said, there are several different recipes that can actually benefit from a longer rest time in terms of flavor as well. For one, you should let cookie dough rest in the fridge because some of the water in your batter will evaporate, in turn enhancing the salty and sweet flavors. Pie crust, gluten or gluten-free, can also benefit from resting time in the fridge both before and after shaping because it will allow the fat to solidify. This, in turn, will prevent the fat from leaching out as it bakes.

As you can expect with all the changes in baking chemistry, gluten-free goods need a slightly different bake time than their gluten-containing counterparts. Generally speaking, gluten-free bakes require a slightly longer time in the oven. If you pull them out of the oven too soon, you may risk a mushy texture and a consistency that's not quite right. And to make things more difficult, gluten-free bakes tend to come out looking a little more wet because they do not have the gluten to give them a light, airy structure.

As a result, you have to deviate from the traditional "by-feel" methods to determine when your gluten-free baked goods are done baking. For example, you may normally use a wooden toothpick to test a batch of brownies or muffins, but since the gluten-free version tends to have a wetter interior, the test will not be as reliable. The better option is to take an internal temperature of your bake or abide by the cooking time listed in the recipe.

Regardless of whether you're baking a gluten-free recipe or a classic one, you need to let your baked goods rest after they're done baking. If you pull out a tray of brownies and cut into them prematurely, for example, you'll risk the batter coming out mushy (not to mention with a jagged cut). But, letting your gluten-free baked goods cool down before you slice them is especially important because the starches need time to set, and the period will also allow all of the components in your dough to adequately hydrate.

The exact amount of time you need to rest your baked goods will depend on what you're making. Set your timer, walk away, and come back once your baked goods have adequately cooled and set. Patience is a virtue — especially when it comes to gluten-free bakes.

If you try a gluten-free and gluten-based variation of a dessert, there's a high chance — depending on what it is that you're sampling — that you will be able to tell it's gluten-free. Excluding the gluten will change the consistency significantly, and no combination of gluten-free flours and starches can do anything to change that. A light and fluffy angel food cake, for example, is nearly impossible to replicate with a gluten-free flour because these flours tend to be too heavy and dense for the whipped egg white-leavened batter. Layered flaky pastries are also hard to nail down because of the role that gluten plays on its structure. Oh, and you can probably kiss a stretchy, thin, Neapolitan pizza dough goodbye. While you certainly can try to play with these recipes, the results will likely not live up to your expectations.

On the bright side, there are some recipes that are very conducive to making gluten-free. A dense batch of fudgy brownies or a hefty carrot cake, for example, could both be made gluten-free relatively easily because of their high moisture content and density. Stick to these bakes instead and your work will be rewarded.