I have a confession to make; this was my first gluten-free flour blend experience.  Though I have experimented with some gluten-free baking before, my cupboard is primarily limited to rice flours.  Needless to say, I was curious to know if these flour blends actually do mimic the real all-purpose thing.

I had hoped to trial this blend several months ago, but was completely lacking in baking inspiration and xanthan gum.  Luckily this month, I received Gluten-Free 101 by Carol Fenster.  This cookbook is loaded with recipes for traditional baked goods favorites, most of which require some xanthan gum.  With some overripe bananas on hand, the banana muffin recipe from Gluten-Free 101 seemed the obvious and most conservative choice for my motivation.

Now that I could justify the purchase of an entire package, I headed out in pursuit of xanthan gum.  The one by Bob’s Red Mill seems to be sold in almost every large grocery store in my area.  It set me back about $10, but with only a teaspoon or two needed per recipe, it should last for several months.  Definitely a good investment.

Beyond the two new ingredients, the muffins were no difficult to whip up than a traditional recipe.  Within a half hour, I had a plate load of beautiful banana muffins begging to be eaten.  They looked quite impressive, but the real question is, how did they taste? 

If you are interested in the short answer, my response is “perfect.”  The muffins were tender, light, and flaky.  The texture was spot-on, and the flavor was pure banana muffin, with no funny grit or after taste.  My husband had no idea they were gluten-free, and devoured them as quickly as my former wheat-based muffins.  They even had a very thin crispy crust that gave them a special fresh bakery quality. 

I must concur that the flour blends, or at least Bette’s, are far superior to my standard one or two flour gluten-free attempts.  The people at Authentic Foods obviously won’t settle for any baked goodies below all-purpose quality. 

My Extra Notes and Tips:

• Bette’s Blend comes in a re-sealable three-pound package, with roughly 8.5 cups of baking power.  The ingredients in order of importance are cornstarch, tapioca flour, garfava flour (garbanzo flour, fava flour), and sorghum flour.  Technically, I suppose this would be four flours and a starch. 
• The packaging offers instructions on how to use the flour, and how much xanthan gum needs to be used per cup of flour for what types of recipes.  This is definitely a bonus for us gluten-free rookies.  There is also a “Bette’s Basic Muffin” recipe, which appears quite reliable. 

Where to Purchase:  Bette’s Gourmet Blend can be purchased in stores (see the Authentic Foods website for a locator), and via various online retailers, including Amazon. 

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