Sunday, October 24, 2010

Xanthan Gum & Guar Gum

One of the first things we tried making simply by substituting ingredients was pizza dough.
We purchased rice flour, but the pizza dough turned out very crumbly. Upon a little research, I realized it needed Xanthan gum in it, and that should solve the crumbly issue.

When I went to the store for xanthan gum, it was more expensive than I had anticipated. Right next to it was something else called guar gum... and, since it was about half as much, I got that one instead. I'm still learning, right? I figured if it went badly, I'd know for next time, but if it was fine, I just saved myself some money!

My next post will be about the experiment with the guar gum.
I wasn't sure how much to use, if I were using a traditional recipe and simply substituting ingredients, so I looked it up. (Praise God for Google!)

Found a good answer here:
http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreecookingbasics/a/xanthanguargums.htm

Or here's the summary I was most interested in:

General Tips for Using Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum in Gluten-Free Cooking

  • Bread and pizza dough recipes: Add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour used in bread and pizza dough recipes
  • Cake, muffin and quick bread recipes: Add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum per one cup of gluten-free flour used
  • Cookie and bar recipes: Add 1/2 teaspoon (or less) xanthan gum or guar gum per one cup gluten-free flour used

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