Sticking to a gluten-free and paleo diet doesn't have to be limiting. One of the easiest ways to avoid gluten while baking is by ditching wheat flour altogether. Luckily, there are plenty of quick tricks and substitutes that will have you baking gluten and paleo-friendly versions of all of your favorite snacks. This article explores the world of paleo diet flour alternatives, offering insights, tips, and tricks for successful grain-free baking.
Understanding the Paleo Diet and Flour Restrictions
The Paleo diet shuns processed and unnatural foods, including processed and refined sugars. It also eliminates grains and legumes, which means traditional wheat flour is off-limits. The gluten-free diet is about avoiding flours like wheat, rye, spelt, and barley that contain gluten, but other grain flours are allowed. Losing wheat and grains is one of the hardest thing for those starting out on Paleo, but much of that can be avoided by using a replacement flour like coconut flour. However, going Paleo doesn’t mean going without your favorite foods; it simply means you’ll have to learn to find suitable substitutes for the things you love.
The Main Paleo-Friendly Flour Alternatives
Here are some of the most popular and versatile paleo-friendly flour alternatives:
Almond Flour
Perhaps the most popular of all alternative flours, almond flour is made from ground and dried almonds. Almond flour has a finer texture than almond meal because the almond skins are removed before grinding, while almond meal has a coarser texture because the skins are included. It has a rich flavor profile and will add a subtle nuttiness to sweet and savory recipes. Almond flour is not only great for making baked goods, like Biscotti, and paleo pie crusts, but it’s also good for dredging meats and seafood, such as chicken and salmon. It adds color, flavor and texture, but keep in mind that it is coarse and has a hard time sticking to foods without the addition of a binder, such as an egg wash. Even when using a binder, it can still crumble off during cooking. To prevent this from happening, try mixing 2 parts almond flour with 1 part arrowroot starch. Almond flour is low in carbohydrates, high in healthy fats and relatively high in protein.
Coconut Flour
Coconut flour is a delicious, healthy, and naturally sweet alternative to wheat and other grain-based flours. Coconut flour has become a more and more common ingredient in recent years. Not least because it is a very affordable alternative flour. It is made from dehydrated, finely ground organic coconut meat (the white flesh that you see when you crack into one). Coconut flour is most commonly used in baking recipes. Coconut flour has a much higher fiber content than wheat flour or other alternative flours, which increases the amount of fluid it absorbs. It’s generally recommended to replace 1 cup of wheat flour with 1/4 to 1/3 cup coconut flour and to add more liquid to the recipe. Another thing to consider is that coconut flour may impart a bit of flavour into whatever it is you’re cooking. Like olives and cilantro, coconut is an acquired taste for some people so keep that in mind before purchasing and using. Almond flour is a more neutral-flavoured alternative. If you are allergic to nuts, try cassava flour instead. Coconut flour is relatively high in carbohydrates but rich in fibre, and relatively low in fat and protein.
Read also: Paleo Granola Recipes
Cassava Flour
Cassava flour comes from the root of the yuca plant and is also known as tapioca or manioc. Cassava flour is my personal favorite alternative flour. Cassava flour is extremely versatile, neutral in flavor, and can replace wheat flour in most recipes at a 1:1 ratio. Cassava flour is made from the root of the cassava plant, a major crop in South America and some parts of Asia and Africa. It gets super crispy when fried and sticks very well to meat and seafood, making it excellent for dredging. It can be used to make incredible paleo biscuits, grain-free pancakes, and even homemade tortillas. If a recipe calls for cassava flour, it is always best to try to use it. In most cases, the finished product will be very different if substituting, so I don’t advise it. If, however, a recipe calls for cassava flour to dredge meat or seafood and you don’t have any, you can try substituting 2 parts almond flour with 1 part arrowroot starch. This would get you by in my recipe for Paleo Popcorn Chicken, for example, but it may not work for others. Cassava flour reacts differently when it comes into contact with water and heat than almond flour. Cassava flour is high in carbohydrates, fat-free and low in protein. Therefore, I wouldn’t exactly recommend it as a “health food”. But in low quantities it can be a fantastic addition to your pantry.
Tapioca Flour (Tapioca Starch)
Tapioca flour, also referred to as tapioca starch, is not to be confused with cassava flour. Tapioca flour is made from cassava root that has been peeled, washed and pulverized. Once the pulp is squeezed, a starch is extracted and left to dry. Tapioca flour is a much, much finer powder and reacts differently than cassava flour when it comes into contact with water and heat. When it comes to making my Paleo Pancakes, tapioca flour is the best alternative flour. When worked into a batter and lightly fried, it gets super spongy and fluffy on the inside and ever so crispy on the outside. In certain cases, tapioca flour can be used interchangeably with arrowroot starch. This applies mostly for baking and thickening sauces. The important thing to keep in mind is texture.Tapioca flour gets gummier than arrowroot starch. So, if you’re going to be mixing it with a bit of water to create a slurry and thicken a sauce, you may notice a slightly sticky and tackier finished product. Note: if you use tapioca flour to thicken sauces, soups or stews, you should mix it with a bit of cold water first. Adding it directly to a hot liquid will cause it to clump. You don’t need a lot of tapioca flour for it to work as a thickening agent and it’s usually best to stick to a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of starch to water. If you plan on using tapioca flour to dredge meat for frying, I strongly urge you to do so only at the very last minute. As mentioned, it gets gummy when it comes into contact with liquid so if you dredge, say, a piece of chicken and leave it on the counter for 10 minutes before frying, it will develop a tacky and slightly slimy film. Tapioca flour is low in carbohydrates, fat-free and has no protein.
Arrowroot Flour (Arrowroot Starch)
Also referred to as arrowroot flour or arrowroot starch, this finely ground white substance is neutral-flavored and plays an essential role in my daily cooking. I use it primarily to thicken sauces (either worked into a roux or a slurry) and to dredge meats and seafood. Because it has a very fine consistency, it sticks to things like glue. Arrowroot powder is like culinary confetti. It get’s all over the place! Arrowroot flour is made from arrowroot, a type of tuber. Similar to tapioca flour, it is extracted from the washed, peeled and pulverized arrowroot. The pulp is squeezed and a wet starch is extracted and then left to dry. Arrowroot flour is, in my opinion, a better flour to use for dredging meat and seafood than tapioca flour. A 16-ounce bag of Thrive Market Organic Arrowroot flour is only $4.49, making it very affordable! Though arrowroot powder and tapioca flour are, for the most part, interchangeable, I like to use them for certain things. For example, I prefer tapioca flour for my Paleo Pancakes because it gets spongier than arrowroot starch. If you use arrowroot flour to a make a slurry to thicken sauces, soups or stews, you should mix it with a bit of cold water first. Adding it directly to a hot liquid will cause it to clump. You don’t need a lot of tapioca starch for it to work as a thickening agent and it’s usually best to stick to a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of starch to water. Arrowroot flour is high in carbohydrates, fat-free and has no protein.
Tigernut Flour
The “gluten-free” worlds newest flour is Tigernut Flour. It isn’t a nut as the name implies but actually a small root found in Northern Africa and the Mediteranean that has been cultivated for centuries. It’s completely gluten-free and Paleo/AIP. It also packs a little more protein than other flours. It has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor which makes it a great choice to use for treats. Using it in desserts you can actually reduce the sugars because if its sweetness. Tigernut flour is an extremely light weight, airy and high fiber flour which adds a lightness and crumb to baked goods. It needs to be combined with other flours to bind it, otherwise baked goods will crumble away like dust. It is good to use in cakes, muffins, cookies and cobblers. It is a very expensive flour and requires sifting, making it a bit more labor intensive as well. But the final results are worth the trouble and expense.
Plantain Flour
Plantain flour is made from dehydrated green plantains that are then ground into a flour-like consistency. It has been a long-term staple of Caribbean cooking.
Read also: Paleo Diet Delivered: What You Need to Know
Other Paleo-Friendly Substitutions
Oat Flour
Luckily there is an easy way to avoid gluten in many baking recipes by swapping wheat flour with oat flour. Oat flour can be substituted on a 1:1 ratio to wheat flour, eliminating one of the biggest contributors of gluten in the original recipe. Just be sure to choose a gluten free tested oat flour, as oats can be exposed to gluten in the process, or make your own. If you don't have any premade oat flour stocked in the pantry, it's easy to whip up some of your own.
Breadcrumbs
Bread crumbs can’t be used on Paleo, but you’d be amazed at how many traditional recipes call for them. From helping to hold meatballs together to coating the outside of a chicken parmesan, they are a handy cooking item that you’ll have to give up. But don’t worry, because flax meal works great at replacing bread crumbs, offers a somewhat similar flavor, and manages to add some nutrition to the mix, which is something breadcrumbs can’t say. You’ll be getting omega-3s from flax meal as well.
Cow’s Milk
Cow’s milk gets the kibosh on the Paleo diet, and is one recipe item that is pretty easily replaced with either coconut milk or almond milk. Coconut milk would be preferred in recipes that need things extra creamy, and ones that you won’t mind the coconut flavor that it adds. Almond milk has a subtleness to it that makes it a good candidate for recipes where the milk sort of blends in with the other ingredients and is just there as a sort of binding agent. When trying to avoid dairy on a paleo diet, swap out cows milk for almond milk or coconut milk.
Cream
Many dessert recipes call for cream, but cream is a big no-no on the Paleo diet and needs to be avoided. You can use coconut cream as a non-dairy cream that comes very close at replicating the taste of cream without causing you to go off the Paleo plan. Paleo diets choose to stay away from dairy altogether (including creams and creamers). To avoid using dairy-based creams, substitute them with coconut cream.
Soy Sauce
Soy sauce shouldn’t be used on Paleo because it’s derived from soy, and soy isn’t one of the Paleo approved foods. Plus it’s loaded with the kind of sodium you want to avoid while on the Paleo diet. It’s better to use coconut aminos instead. This may be something you’ve never heard of before starting on Paleo, but it shows up in plenty of Paleo-inspired dishes.
Read also: Paleo Mayonnaise Recipe
Sugar
Sugar is one of the top things you’ll want to steer clear of while on Paleo, as it’s something that Paleolithic man would not have consumed a ton of. But they would have been able to figure out how to get maple syrup out of a maple tree, and they would have eventually stumbled upon a beehive for honey. To keep the sweetness in your life, substitute sugar with natural sweeteners such as honey or agave syrup. A paleo diet strays away from any processed and unnatural foods including processed and refined sugars.
Rice
You don’t want to eat rice on the Paleo diet, but you may crave it from time to time. One way to appease that craving is to make a batch of cauliflower rice. This is a way of chopping up cauliflower until it resembles grains of rice. You then use it the same way you’d use rice, either as a side dish or as part of a main dish. One of the easiest ways to cut out grains and gluten from your diet is by swapping rice out for cauliflower.
Pasta
If you were a big spaghetti eater before going Paleo you have probably thought that your Paleo days are numbered if you can’t have it anymore. But don’t worry, you can replicate the texture if not the taste with a spaghetti squash. It gets its name because you can easily make strands of spaghetti using a fork. To make the perfect paleo and gluten free pasta, swap out traditional pasta noodles for vegetable noodles! Sometimes you’ll want some pasta and you won’t be able to have it because it’s made from dough that came from wheat or other grains. Let’s say you want to make a nice big lasagna, but you can’t use those thick, wavy lasagna noodles that lasagna calls for. You can sub in strips of zucchini for a healthy version of lasagna. You can also try using zucchini for all of your favorite spaghetti dishes, and you may find that you prefer it to using spaghetti squash.
Wraps
When eating out at restaurants or baking at home, tortillas often pose a problem for the gluten free crowd. One of the easiest tricks and swaps to make when following a paleo diet is to swap out traditional wraps for lettuce wraps.
Tips and Tricks for Paleo Baking
Combine Flours: When creating a gluten free flour, try mixing two different types of flour at a 40-60% ratio. Any gluten-free baking, including AIP, relies on the baker’s ability to combine gluten-free flours in a blend that can mimic the attributes of wheat flour.
Add Baking Powder: Along with volume, gluten-free flours often lack the ability to rise and result in flattened out baked goods. Add Baking Powder to Gluten Free Flours to Help Them Rise.
Use Recipes Designed for Grain-Free Flours: For the best results, use a recipe that’s designed for grain-free flours. King Arthur Flour and Bob’s Red Mill are two good resources.
Adjust Liquid Content: Coconut flour has a much higher fiber content than wheat flour or other alternative flours, which increases the amount of fluid it absorbs. It’s generally recommended to replace 1 cup of wheat flour with 1/4 to 1/3 cup coconut flour and to add more liquid to the recipe.
Consider Texture: Tapioca flour gets gummier than arrowroot starch. So, if you’re going to be mixing it with a bit of water to create a slurry and thicken a sauce, you may notice a slightly sticky and tackier finished product.
Rest Doughs: Doughs containing gelatin need to rest, so that the gelatin can absorb the moisture in the dough and “set.” You’ll need to make most AIP doughs a little more wet than you want the finished result to be, and wrap and refrigerate them so that the flours and gelatin can absorb the moisture.
Be Patient: You will need a good sense of humor and patience when baking AIP/Paleo. Sometimes a recipe just won’t work. Even one you’ve made 100 times before. I call this “the Paleo Effect.” The latest batch of flour may have a higher moisture content or be slightly coarser in grind. Maybe the shortening was a little softer than usual.
Paleo Baking: Not Necessarily Healthier?
While baked goods made with grain-free flours can taste delicious, they will have a different taste and texture than baked goods made with wheat flours. Baked treats made with grain-free flours still contain added sugar and fat and may even contain more calories than their traditional counterparts made with wheat flour.
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