Why Cassava Flour Is The Best Choice For Baking
To conclude that cassava flour is the best choice for baking is a bold statement. But there are proven indications it might be.
I have baked with virtually all types of gluten-free flours, and for over 8years, I have come to love cassava flour a bit.
If you want to change into healthful flour and have a good lifestyle, cassava flour is one of the primary options.
Cassava flour is one of the greatest flour forms, particularly when considering the paleo diet or needing a low-carb and gluten-free alternative.
To decide about the best flour suitable for your baking, you have to think of the second option. Especially when you are undecided on the best choice in gluten-free flour, considering the quality that satisfies all the recommended requirements.
That is why I am here, and I will go through all the reasons why cassava flour is the best for baking.
Here are few reasons to include cassava flour in your baking. But you can see the Health and Nutritional benefits of cassava as well.
Can Cassava Improve The Quality Of Gluten Free Breads
Cassava flour increased the G and G values of gluten-free bread doughs.
-
Ten percent of cassava products increase gluten-free bread specific volume.
-
Bread quality decreases when high concentrations of cassava flour are added.
-
Breads with cassava starch were softer after 7 days of storage than control.
-
Crumbs of breads with cassava starch were more cohesive and less dry.
Tips For Cooking With Cassava Flour
As with trying anything new, adding cassava flour into your diet often takes a bit of trial and error. Nonetheless, it is one of the easiest gluten-free flours to use as a healthy substitute in your cooking. Whatever you do, dont give up on it until youve given it a proper chance.
Recommended Reading: Gluten Free Substitute For Bread Crumbs
Cassava Flour Has Lots Of Energy
Cassava flour is high in carbohydrates. Although all starchy tubers have a high carbohydrate content, cassavas is even higher than normal. If you compare it to a yam, for example, cassava has twice the carbohydrates and calories. That means twice the nutritional density, packing an energetic punch to your diet.
In many places around the world, cassavas high caloric and carbohydrate content is the reason it is such a valuable dietary staple.
Fun Fact: It is estimated that cassava plants are the third-highest carbohydrate provider in the world! The top two are sugarcane and sugar beets.
Cassava Flour: The Best Grain
Thinking of giving up gluten? Cassava flour just may be what youre looking for to help.
What is cassava flour? Its a type of wheat-free, gluten-free flour alternative thats made by grating and drying the fibrous cassava root . Ottos Naturals, one of the leading suppliers of cassava flour, calls this product the next generation in grain-free baking due to its easy-to-use texture and mild taste.
You also might have hard of another popular product made from cassava: tapioca. Tapioca is usually found in stores in the form of small, white pearls made from extracted cassava starch.
So what makes this gluten-free flour so great? Check out the top four benefits of cassava flour below, along with how to use it, how it stacks up against other flours and how to make your own.
Recommended Reading: Is Einkorn Flour Gluten Free
Bringing It All Together: Making The Pie Crust
Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements and a printable recipe for easy use.
4. Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and give it a quick whir to mix it completely together.
5. Once your butter/mayo has been in the freezer for at least 10-15 minutes, you can add it to your flour mixture. Pulse the food processor until the mixture looks like coarse sand.
6. Add ice water while the food processor is running, a teaspoon at a time, until the mixture comes together into a smooth but wet dough. Itll resemble wet clay. You should be able to pick up a piece and mold it, without it to you too much.
7. At this point, I turn on my oven and use the other half stick of butter to generously grease my pie plate. No, I dont use the entire half stick. :p
12. Cut or tear any excess off the edges of the pie plate. I save these extra bits to make pretty designs to put on top of the pie.
How Do You Get Gluten
Gluten-free baking needs assistance to stick together and not crumble. Xanthan gum is a common ingredient. It aids in the rise and adhesion of the cookies or muffins.
For each cup of flour in your recipe, add 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum. Also, Tapioca flour aids in the binding of the flour and can be used as well.
It is possible to make gluten-free dough stretchy as well as gums like xanthan gum and guar gum are essential ingredients in gluten-free baking from scratch. These gums keep baked goods from disintegrating and offer the stretch and elastic quality that gluten-containing items are known for.
Don’t Miss: Gluten-free Zesty Italian Dressing
The Best Gluten Free Naan Recipe
Hello Loves! Weve recently updated one of my favorite grain free recipes, Naan bread with cassava flour!
Oh yes, this flatbread recipe has been a favorite of mine for YEARS now! Its doughy, its soft, its paleo and vegan friendly, but more importantly, its EASY to make.
Heck, Im even going to show you two ways to make it, just in case youre a texture person like me. Sound good? Lets discuss!
Baking With Cassava Flour
Cassava flour is a great grain free, nut free and Paleo gluten free baking flour. Unlike many other gluten free flours, it closely resembles white flour. Here are some tips for baking with yucca flour!
Do NOT substitute cassava flour for white flour 1 to 1. Although they are similar, they are not the same. Cassava flour is slightly denser and more powdery than white flour. Start with slightly less cassava flour than a recipe calls for. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of white flour, try using 3/4 cups of cassava flour in its place. Then adjust as needed.
Cassava flour is much more absorbent than white flour. It soaks up liquid much more quickly than traditional flour. Unless adjusted, this can yield dry baked goods. Adjust wet ingredients as needed.
Carefully measure. Since this flour is dense and powdery, adding too much or too little can throw off a recipe. It is ALWAYS easier to start with too little and add more than adding too much.
Since this flour comes from a root vegetable, it leaves a slight nutty flavor to baked goods. I honestly do not even notice it anymore, but its something to be aware of.
Don’t Miss: Is Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing Gluten Free
Gluten Free Muffin Baking Tips
- This muffin batter does best baking straight in a greased muffin tin, or using silicone liners. If you insist on using cupcake liners, you should still spray those with oil and lightly dust with cassava flour.
- Gluten free baking can be finicky, so its best to follow the recipe as written, unless other substitutions have been shared in the recipe card.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to distribute the batter into your muffin pan.
- Avoid over-baking the muffins by checking the muffins before the end of the recommended baking time. For example, if the muffins take 15-20 minutes, check muffins at 15 minutes with toothpick, then add another 2-3 minutes until done.
Ingredients To Make Grain Free Naan
Quick Version Without Yeast
Yogurt or thickened coconut creamBaking powderSeasoning
PRO TIP For a little extra fluff and softness, I recommend giving the yeast version a go!
To make cassava flour naan bread with yeast, first activate the yeast mix. Youll follow the initial mixing instructions as above, but adding in the yeast and letting the dough rise for a couple hours before rolling into balls. I PROMISE its not hard!
Also Check: Cauliflower Crust Pizza Publix
Cassava Flour Is An Excellent Wheat Flour Alternative
There is a rise in several people that prefer alternatives to wheat flour in baking. Cassava flour is the perfect choice to replace wheat flour completely. Now there is no need to add the traditional ingredients to give it a light taste or texture.
The white, tasteless cassava flour has enormous potential and can be exchanged for wheat flour almost 1: 1 in many recipes. The taste of cassava flour is so natural that you will never notice it as a substitute for baking.
Thanks to its high starch content, it has a perfect flour consistency and binds very well. For this reason, no additional flour or binding agent is usually required for a successful recipe.
As one of the few gluten- and wheat-free flours, it holds the dough together extremely well on its own and is therefore ideal for baking.
The perfect binding properties make the exotic flour a damn worthwhile substitute for wheat flour, not only for people with gluten intolerance.
It is a decisive win for anyone who wants to forego gluten and wheat, but not bread rolls, pancakes and the like.
What Is The Healthiest Gluten
If youre looking for gluten-free flour, youre probably preparing more meals at home, which is an excellent habit to develop if you want to live a healthy lifestyle. There are several choices on the market, each with its flavor, texture, cooking characteristics, and nutrient makeup.
I recommend cassava flour because of its numerous health and nutritious advantages, and I have stuck to using it for around 8years
Choose flours with a single or few ingredients that are high in fiber and protein. Keep in mind that different gluten-free types may perform better in particular recipes, and it may take some trial and error with your favorite dishes to get them exactly right.
You May Like: Gluten Free Italian Dressing
What Does This Gluten Free Pie Crust Taste And Feel Like
It honestly tastes like butter crackers. My daughter thought I made it out of Keebler Club crackers, actually. I dropped the first crust I made for the photos in this post, and we snacked on the shards as a family. Its flaky and buttery, but sturdy and doesnt fall apart easily. And it has a nice, velvety texture when you touch it.
How Do I Store This Pie Crust
After filling it with pie, I stored mine in the refrigerator uncovered. Because I ran out of covers. Lol
I thought it would get stale and I would have to do a 10 minute quick bake at 300F to evaporate the staleness out, but it actually got better as the days went on.
So because of that, I would recommend storing it in the fridge, covered or uncovered.
Also Check: Keto Pizza Crust Publix
What Is Cake Flour
Cake flour is a fine flour with low protein content. It has about 7-9% protein, whereas all-purpose flour, a harder flour, has 10-12%.
Protein content, you see, is directly related to gluten formation. Due to the low protein content of cake flour, less gluten is formed during the mixing processa softer, fluffier texture results from less gluten formation.
Typically, cake flour is made from bleached flour. Bleaching increases the acidity of the flour, allowing the starches to absorb more moisture. As a result, the cake is more tender, moist, and uniform.
Because bread flour contains a high protein content, more gluten forms during the mixing process. The fundamentals are as follows:
Cake flour with a lower protein content contains less gluten, resulting in the softest texture ideal for vanilla cake.
All-purpose flour has a medium protein content and a moderate gluten content, making it suitable for many applications.
Bread flour has a high protein content, meaning it has more gluten formation and a harder texture, making it ideal for bread.
Let me recommend for you Jeb Foods Gluten-free, Grain-free, Nut-free Cassava Flour
Equipment For The Gluten Free Pie Crust:
Nothing too complicated here, folks.
- Youll need a pie plate. This recipe will cover one 9 pie plate.
- A food processor orpastry cutter/blender.
- You will also need a rolling pin and two sheets of larger-than-pie-plate-sized parchment paper to roll out the crust.
- You need a freezer to chill your fats before mixing and your crust before baking.
- You need a fork, skewer, knife, or other pointy implement to pierce the crust so steam doesnt accumulate under it during baking.
- Youll need some dry beans or pie stones to weigh the crust down while blind baking if you decide to go that route.
- You need an oven to bake the crust in.
- A cooling rack to rest the fresh-out-of-the-oven pie plate on.
Also Check: Dove Gluten Free
