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What can I add to make my gluten free buns a decent size. I have tried for years. There has to be something to lift them and make them to the same size as our regular hot cross buns

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  • Hmmm, do they seem as light as the regular buns?
    – Jolenealaska
    Apr 12, 2014 at 8:17
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    America's Test Kitchen just put out a gluten free cookbook, which had some in depth explanations of the advantages of different gluten free flour replacements. Of course, I gave my copy to a co-worker who's gluten free, so can't look anything up right now.
    – Joe
    Apr 12, 2014 at 22:41
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    Is there a base recipe that you are working from on which we could offer guidance about modifications? Apr 14, 2014 at 3:44
  • As far as I know, yeast is gluten-free. Do you add enough and/or let the dough rise enough?
    – Mien
    Apr 18, 2014 at 15:27
  • possible duplicate of Having trouble getting gluten free bread to rise Apr 29, 2014 at 20:24

1 Answer 1

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Hot cross buns are a yeast bread, and without developed gluten most of the air produced by the yeast will escape from the dough. Without developed gluten you won't get the same lift, and your texture will be much more crumbly.

The typical solution to this is to add xanthan or guar gum to your dough, this will act as a gluten substitute and help trap air and improve texture. Both are readily available in many countries. You can also add both at the same time.

Suggested amounts for bread are: Xanthan Gum - 1-2tsp per US cup of flour (about 125g depending on the type of flour) Guar Gum - 1 1/2 tsp - 1tbsp per US cup

It depends on how stretchy you want your dough to be. Hot cross buns tends to be pretty stretchy, so if it were me I'd add 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 tsp per cup of flour and see how you go. Let us know how it goes!

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  • I add xanthan gun and also 1/2 teaspoon of powdered gelatine. Works for me.
    – RedSonja
    Oct 6, 2017 at 12:59
  • Psyllium husk powder may also work.
    – NSGod
    May 12, 2019 at 23:25

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