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I've been baking with gluten free flour by Doves Farm for years but recently got accidentally introduced to baking with ground almonds as an alternative. This has been something of a revelation as the cake I can bake is just as good as baked with flour, but naturally GF.

Can anyone suggest other foodstuffs which can supplant flour as a naturally gluten free ingredient, please?

In writing this, my initial aim was to find a cheaper alternative to ground almonds, but I'm really asking about any alternative for baking cakes. Almonds provide, of course, an almond flavour - so I'm expecting that other nuts could be used the same way. Are there other foodstuffs which can replace flour in the baking process just as almonds can?

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  • I'm not totally clear on whether you're asking for alternative sources of ground almonds or alternative ingredients to ground almonds (to which the answer is surely 'go back to gluten-free flour mixes'), but either way this is more of a 'suggest me a product/ingredient' question, which makes it too broad for here I think.
    – dbmag9
    Apr 19, 2022 at 13:35
  • Thanks @dbmag97 - I've edited the question content to be (I hope) more specific as I'm really asking about other alternatives to flour. I really like the overall effect ground almonds have produced in my baking and am looking for other products which can be used the same way (admittedly with a lower price tag!)
    – Matt W
    Apr 19, 2022 at 13:44
  • I'm voting to close this as it's essentially asking for a list, and the list of what is available will vary depending on location. There are many alternatives, this needs to be narrowed down.
    – GdD
    Apr 19, 2022 at 14:24
  • I'm not asking for what is available. I'm asking for alternatives to a particular foodstuff which can be used in baking.
    – Matt W
    Apr 19, 2022 at 14:28
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    Almond flour won't substitute for regular flour in all (or even most) cakes; I think you got lucky with a case in which you liked the outcome. If you post the specific recipe people might be able to give you insight into why it worked and therefore what other flour substitutes would be successful in the same recipe.
    – dbmag9
    Apr 19, 2022 at 15:37

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I don’t stay gluten free, so there are likely better experts out there, but I occasionally cook for people who are.

From what I’ve seen, most ‘alternative flours’ fall into one of three categories:

  • bean flours
  • nut flours
  • alternative grains (oat, rice, etc)

There are others, like cassava or yam flour (aka fufu, available in African and some Asian stores), but they don’t seem to be as common when looking for gluten free baking recipes.

Some recipes will blend multiple flours and possible one or more gums to act as a binder for breads.

The ‘one to one’ pre-packaged replacement blends tend to be the most expensive. Nut flours also aren’t cheap, as you’ve found. Bean flours tend to have a bit of a weird flavor but they’re okay in chocolate things like brownies.

I would recommend looking into what’s available and inexpensive in your area, and then look for recipes that specifically use those ingredients. Sometimes you need to add gums for lift or enrich the dough for proper browning.

You may also want to try to find a copy of the book ‘How It Can Be Gluten Free’ from America’s Test Kitchen, which talks about some of the issues with adapting existing recipes to be gluten free.

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