What was meant to be a moist cake or a chewy cookie has crumbled, sagged or hardened like a rock. What went wrong?

One of the common mistakes when baking gluten-free is expecting the same results when you swap white flour for the alternative.

Almond meal.

This is very soft and works best with moist, fragrant recipes. Almond meal can be substituted in a 1:1 ratio with flour, however, don’t expect it to rise like a normal cake!

To help the bake hold its shape, combine it with a firmer flour like buckwheat, quinoa or rice. And if you don’t have those on hand, you can still make a melt-in-the-mouth souffle or soft cookie just fine with almond meal and some baking powder.

Buckwheat flour.

This flour is dense, nutty and lends itself well to almost anything. It’s also high in nutrients like zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese, giving your dessert a little health kick. Due to its heavy texture, it’s best to combine it with almond meal so you don’t accidentally end up with rock cakes. But other than that, you can pretty much swap it for white flour in any recipe.

Coconut flour.

Coconut flour can be a beast to work with, the results are well worth it when you get it right.

It’s essential to remember to NEVER substitute coconut flour for white flour. It soaks up liquid. You’ll need to use ¼ cup of coconut flour for 1 cup of regular flour, and maybe add an extra egg or two. And then some more liquid.

Almond, buckwheat and coconut are great gluten-free flours due to their taste, texture and nutritional quality. But there are a few newer alternatives coming onto the market.

Green banana flour: Made from powdered unripe bananas, this flour gives fluffy results when you use 30 per cent less than white flour in the recipe. The great benefit is that it contains huge amounts of resistant starch, which is massively healthy for the gut. When we eat resistant starch the carbohydrates resist digestion (fermentation) in the small intestine and instead move through to the large intestine (colon) where they begin to break down. The fermentation process stimulates the production of good bacteria in our guts.

Teff flour: Teff is tiny grain that packs a huge nutritional punch – iron, calcium, B vitamins AND it’s a complete source of protein. Teff flour can be used whole or in part for white flour.

Quinoa flour: With the highest protein count of all the grains. While you can substitute it for white flour 1:1, we recommend combining with almond or coconut as the taste can be quite bitter.

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