How to Adapt All My Recipes to be Gluten-Free

I’ve developed a method to convert all my baking recipes with all-purpose flour (or self-rising flour) into gluten-free recipes. You only need to make a few adjustments to enjoy all the taste and almost the same texture in all my muffins, bread, scones, brownies, and cakes!

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It’s not as simple as just swapping all-purpose flour for all-purpose gluten-free flour. A cake would be gummy, a bagel would be hard as a rock, or brownies would be dense. It’s never a 1:1 ratio because I don’t use eggs in my baking.

You must adjust the recipe according to the instructions provided below.

Converting Cakes, Muffins, Brownies, Crepes & Pancakes

When turning a wheat flour recipe into gluten-free, egg-free baking, you need a blend of flours like an all-purpose gluten-free mix and a nutty flour (e.g., teff, millet), along with baking soda and lemon juice. This is due to the absence of gluten and eggs, which are crucial for structure and leavening. Gluten provides elasticity and a framework to trap gases, while eggs contribute protein for structure, fat for richness, and moisture.

In their absence, the all-purpose gluten-free blend offers a base of starches and gums to mimic gluten’s binding properties. Adding nutty flours like millet, teff, or oat flour will add a finer crumb structure, preventing the baked goods from being gummy or too elastic.

Baking soda (a base) and lemon juice (an acid) react to produce carbon dioxide, providing the necessary lift and aeration that eggs would typically contribute, ensuring a lighter, less dense final product.

This combination creates a synergistic effect, compensating for the missing elements to achieve desirable texture and rise.

Converting Bread Recipes (Scones, Bagels, Bread, Cinnamon rolls)

For gluten-free, egg-free doughs like bagels, scones, and cinnamon rolls, which inherently rely on gluten for their chewiness and elasticity, the addition of a whole psyllium husk gel is necessary.

Psyllium husk is a powerful hydrocolloid, meaning it absorbs and retains a significant amount of water, forming a stable, sticky, and slightly stretchy gel. You can’t swap this ingredient for flaxmeal or chia seeds. They won’t be able to reproduce the same chewiness at all.

In traditional baking, gluten forms a network that traps gases produced by leavening agents, giving bread its structure and chewiness. Without gluten, these doughs can become crumbly, dry, and dense, lacking the “bite.” The psyllium gel mimics some of gluten’s properties by creating a kneadable dough that can trap air and hold its shape. This gel network also helps bind the gluten-free flours together, preventing a rocky hard and dry result and instead contributing to a soft, moist crumb and the chewiness you want.

Before you start the recipe, measure all your ingredients. Keep the recipe’s liquid ingredients nearby as you will incorporate them into the husk gel immediately.

1. First, whisk vigorously the whole psyllium husk and lukewarm water to form a thick gel paste.
2. Immediately incorporate any of the remaining liquid ingredients of the recipe, like dairy-free milk, lemon juice, oil, etc.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the remaining dry ingredients of the recipe to form the dough.

Ingredients you Need

To make your gluten-free flour mix, you need:

• All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour: I recommend Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free
• Millet Flour: I recommend Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Millet
• Baking Soda
• Lemon Juice or Apple Cider Vinegar
• Psyllium Husk (for bagels, scones, bread, rolls)
• And to make Self-Rising Flour: Gluten-Free Baking Powder.

What Should I Expect?

With gluten-free flour alternatives, you will get a very similar taste to what you get with wheat flour, however, the texture will be a bit different.

Gluten-free baking will give a slightly denser, slightly gummier texture than regular flour.