gluten free flour

I don’t know,but our local chippy has gluten free chips!

Not sure why or how....

It means they are not coated with anything containing gluten and are fried in different fat/oil to other chips.

Pancakes are lovley made with gluten free flour, also chocolate cake/buns, just use a bit more liquid than you normally would.

I made some cheese scones the other day and wondered why they were like lead door stops. Later I discovered that I had used GF flour, which I use when DD2 visits, by mistake. I wouldn't attempt to use it in place of regular flour for anything unless I had to, so was interested to read the OP.

Gluten free flour can result in very crumbly end products as there's no gluten to glue the mixture together. Add xantham gum to help with this.

Coeliac UK have lots of recipes bit.ly/2lZLB8C

I like for making crumble.

Interesting replies, especially yours, shysal.
I almost used it to add to wholemeal bread flour when making bread, and glad I didn't.
Might try pancakes though, and I like the 'no lumps' part.

I make Delia's All in one sponge cake mix with GF flour and it is as good as using normal flour (except I don't get ill after eating it)

It is fine to use in place of normal flour to coat things like fish for frying. eg, beaten egg, flour, breadcrumbs. I use it for everything.

I have g/f flour for when two of my grandsons are with us. I can’t really tell the difference in cakes and I think I prefer a crumble topping made with it. When they were first diagnosed DD bought xantham gum but said she didn’t think it made much difference.

I've got a tub of xantham gum (probably out of date) but have only used it occasionally. Once I put too much in a sponge and it would have bounced if not kept under control!

I've just used it to make dumplings to go in a chicken stew, and it seems to work well. I put extra baking powder in just in case.
I'm going to try it in pancakes too.
What is xantham gum?

I use it most of the time - just use more liquid as it can tend to be rather dry in cakes etc.
It makes lovely Scotch pancakes

However, I have never yet made successful bread with it, either bread flour or mixes.
And gf pastry is like lead.

You can make all kinds of things with gluten-free flour. You may have to experiment and/or find some gluten-free recipes - sometimes it's not an exact 1:1 substitution for regular flour. I am gluten sensitive and so is my brother, so our mom makes a lot of gluten-free food when we come to visit. She's made all kinds of yummy baked goods with gluten-free flour. In many cases you can use it for the same things you would make with regular flour. Just check the kind of flour it is - tapioca flour, buckwheat flour, almond flour, coconut flour, cassava flour, chickpea (aka garbanzo bean) flour, and rice flour are all gluten-free. Some flours are better for certain things than others (for example, chickpea flour isn't really the best for sweet baked goods).

Does it work as a thickener for sauces?
agnurse I didn't realise it was made from other grains, thought it was just wheat flour with the gluten removed . But probably that's not possible.

Yes please Cari!
And I bought gf pastry to make mince pies at Christmas and threw them out after chewing my way through half of one. It was greasy puff pastry, yuk.

It's very good as a thickener for sauces although I always use cornflour.
Dove Farm make good gf flour - I think a mixture of grains. There have been experiments with banana flour too which is supposed to be good (doesn't taste of bananas).

Chickpea flour is good for making onion bhajis.

I have "Free From" flour in my cupboard as my gd is gluten intolerant. I've used it to make a roux for cheese sauce, thickened gravy with it, made yorkshire puddings and various birthday cakes. Whilst it's not as good as conventional flour it does a reasonable job.

I quite like it for thickening and rarely use wheat flour these days.