Going Gluten Free

If you’re like most of the world, you probably don’t think twice about eating things you like. If you like something, you eat eat it, right? Right. Well…until you find out that you can’t eat certain things. We recently found out that Billy is fructose intolerant, which means big changes around our house.

Fructose intolerance isn’t a very common thing, so it’s been a difficult few weeks trying to figure out what he can and cannot eat. He’s met with a few nutritionists, looked at lots of websites and scientific articles and made a huge list of foods that are good, bad and questionable for his new diet. Unfortunately the list of bad foods is the largest of the three. In a nutshell, he can’t have any fruits (aside from avocado, rhubarb and cranberries — yay!), has a limited list of vegetables that are okay to eat, and has to limit his intake of lots of things, including wheat products. Which brings us to the title of this post — gluten free baking.

While browsing the isles of the grocery store looking for things that Billy can actually eat, we discovered a multi-purpose, gluten free flour from King Arthur Flour. We picked it up right away and decided it would be perfect for experimenting, especially since that would mean he could eat normal amounts of baked goods since there’s no wheat. King Arthur actually has a whole new line of gluten free stuff…check it out here.

Our first experiment for the flour was a batch of muffins, half plain and half chocolate chip. We followed the recipe exactly as it was written, just substituted the gluten free flour for the all-purpose flour the recipe called for. The batter seemed to be pretty thin, but we went with it anyway (we had never used this recipe before, so we weren’t entirely sure it was actually thin). We kept a close eye on them while they were baking and we ended up cutting the baking time down a few minutes because they seemed to cook a little quicker than the recipe said. We were really happy with the results and can’t wait to try more gluten free recipes!

Gluten Free Muffins

{Print this Recipe}
Here’s what you’ll need:
Makes: 12 muffins
- 1 3/4 cups King Arthur gluten free multi-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a muffin tin to prepare it for the batter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to combine. Make a well in the center of the mixture and set aside. In a separate small bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil. Pour the egg mixture into the well in the flour mixture and stir just until everything is combined (there will be a few lumps).

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup about 2/3 of the way. Once all the cups are full, tap the tin on the counter to settle the batter before baking. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes (the baking time was slightly shorter for us, but it could vary anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes), or until they begin to turn golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the tin for about five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Gluten Free Muffins

I love muffins no matter what, but these were damn tasty. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the gluten free flour, but I was pleasantly surprised. The texture seemed spot on, I probably couldn’t tell the difference, and the taste was pretty darn close too. I did notice a bit of a rice taste (thanks to the rice flour in the mixture), but it wasn’t overwhelming and something I could easily get used to. I’ve tried the muffins three ways — warm with butter, with strawberry jam, and chocolate chip with butter — and I haven’t been disappointed with any.

Overall, we were both really happy with the King Arthur gluten free flour mixture, and we’ll be using it again in the near future (we even went out and bought more). It’s definitely a good way for Billy to enjoy all the baked goods that we normally would without having to worry about how much wheat is in a serving, and it’s something I can easily get used to. I think the only complaint we had about the flour itself was that it only comes in one size (24 ounces), which happens to be a pretty small box considering how much flour you usually use for baking. I would highly recommend this flour blend to anyone who does gluten free baking, so check it out and look for it in your local grocery store!

Just a note: I was in no way asked, paid, or otherwise affiliated with King Arthur Flour to do this post. We were just really happy with the results we got and I thought it would be a great thing to share. :)