Gluten is so prevalent in our everyday life, from our diets to skin products. It describes a group of proteins found in grains such as wheat, barley, and rye which are then used to make breads, pastas, baked goods, cereals, fried foods, and more unsuspecting places like soy sauce, salad dressings, condiments, candy, beer, medications, supplements, cosmetics, and more. However it is also surprisingly not found in all types of rice (including the misleading glutinous rice) and more. Gluten sneaks into a lot of foods you wouldn't suspect would have gluten because it is often used to bind or thicken food like gravy and soup.

My main intake of gluten comes from my Chinese heritage. While we love rice, we also love our baos (breads), noodles, dumplings, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and more. I've experienced a lot of bloating, inflammation, and gluten-induced fatigue throughout my life. I've tried many different commercial gluten free flours from Better Batter to Bob's Red Mill to be able to eat my favorite foods and the results have always been subpar.

To be fair, a lot of what I cook and bake is by feel. Yet no matter what I make, from classic Chinese chive and pork dumplings to blueberry muffins and waffles, my own gluten free flour recipe somehow delivers every time. Perhaps I've developed a feel for what my flour should feel like when it's right with a little adjustment to the water ratio. But I hope this flour helps you start believing that going gluten free is possible too.

Generally, I've been able to get results by swapping one for one to replace the flour in the recipe and to add a bit more water to obtain the right feel.

🫓 Gluten-free all-purpose flour:

• 2 parts white rice flour
• 1 part tapioca flour
• 1 part potato starch or glutinous rice flour
• 1 tbsp xantham gum for every 6 cups (24 oz) of flour

I source my white rice flour, tapioca flour, and glutinous rice flour from the asian market and potato starch from various brands.

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Glutinous rice starch is made from sweet rice and does not contain gluten, and it worked out fine in my recipes as well. I have used it to make the dumpling skins for Shu Mai but I have yet to try baking with them. I will update you when I try to use it to make egg tarts!

I also find a lot of recipes use all-purpose flour as a thickener for gravy and soups for which you can use this flour blend. I personally keep cornstarch on hand for these occasions.

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