The use of regular flour is problematic for some people out there – it’s called gluten intolerance aka. celiac disease. Dealing with this disease can be quite challenging. Some other people choose to cut out carbs (which includes everything made with wheat flour) from their diets. No matter what the reason is in the end – there are many ways bake something without flour. Actually really nice things – that’s why I made a little list with some of my favorite recipes that work without flour.
Gluten can be found in many baking recipes – bread, yeast bakes, cakes… whenever wheat flour is involved there will be gluten as well. Sometimes it is more, sometimes it is less – it depends on what you do with the flour in your recipe. The more you knead dough the more gluten will develop. People with gluten intolerance can find quite a large range of products these days that do not develop gluten when used in a bake. Flour mixes, for example, that work like regular flour but without the gluten formation. Sometimes it is still a bit difficult because you can’t replicate what gluten does 100% from my experience. Especially good old bread can be a bit tricky if you want the same texture as a regular bread but without the gluten. Well… there are many gluten-free and delicious recipes you can do instead. The small list I did is showing what is possible – from cookies to bread. Ground almonds are quite often used to replace flour but other ingredients like coconut flour or polenta result in very nice bakes… take a look!
If you have any questions about gluten-free baking – feel free to leave a comment. Maybe I can help with some questions…
1. Keto Snickerdoodles
The Keto diet is a diet that wants you to eliminate carbohydrates from your daily food. The goal is to enter/stay in ketosis so your body feeds on fat instead of carbohydrates (the simple way to describe it – it is a bit more complicated than that). This kind of diet might not be the best for everyone, but if you are looking for recipes that work without flour you might want to look into keto recipes. Whoever is no friends with carbs tries to avoid regular flour ;) These Keto Snickerdoodles are a good example of baking without flour. They might not taste like regular snickerdoodles because of the ground almonds and coconut flour, but they are still very delicious!
2. Polenta Gugelhupf with Lemon and Orange Blossom Water
A delicious bundt cake does not have to be made with regular flour – the base for this cake is polenta. Cornmeal can be used in many bakes – the texture is different to bakes with regular flour but not in any way worse ;) If you want to make something gluten-free, this bake might be the right one for you. If you are looking for something low-carb or appropriate for a keto diet – this Polenta Bundt Cake is not for you. The cake has a lot of sugar – sorry ;) But you could reduce the amount of sugar and/or replace some or all of it with sugar replacements like Xylitol. You should definitely try…
3. Avocado Chocolate Brownies
These Avocado Chocolate Brownies are made without regular flour – ground almonds are the replacement here. But that is not the most interesting fact about these brownies – the use of veggies is far more interesting I would say. Even though avocados and other veggies are more and more used in sweet bakes. They keep bakes moist and create a great texture. Also – sneaking in some veggies with vitamins without anybody noticing – absolute priceless ;P
4. Chocolate Birthday Cake
Another bake that does not need regular flour to be delicious and awesome. Even a big cake can be made without all-purpose flour and work well with ground almonds or coconut flour. Be warned though, even without flour this cake is not low-carb or anything like that. It has sugar in the cake layers and buttercream. Enough to taste really nice ;) But that is ok since you want to celebrate with a cake like that and who cares about calories when celebrating?! Nobody!
5. Almond Orange Cake
This Almond Orange Cake is not only gluten-free – it is also low-carb. This means no regular flour and no sugar in this cake. This one here works with ground almonds and xylitol as a sugar replacement. The perfect cake for everyone that has problems with blood sugar levels. Oh… and it is delicious. Just sayin’ ;)
6. Parsnip Pumpkin Seed Protein Bread
Bread works best with good old flour – I have to admit that. A slice of nice artisan bread with butter is one of the best things in the world. A protein bread, on the other hand, is also nice – made with parsnip, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and ground almonds. Gluten-free, low-carb and keeps fresh for much longer than the store-bought white bread from the supermarket ;)
7. Chocolate Chip Cookies
Since I am trying to reduce sugar in my diet these Sugar-free Chocolate Chip Cookies have become a favorite in our house. We always have a bunch of them in the freezer so we can snack whenever we want something sweet. Making them with ground almonds instead of flour actually helps them to stay fresh for longer.
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