The 14 Best Gluten-Free Flours

There are many types of flour we can use in home baking and some are more nutritious than others. This practical guide shows you how to buy, store, use and substitute different types of flour made from grains.

Types of flour

Flour can be made from grains, legumes, nuts, and even vegetables such as potato flour. This article reviews flours made with grains.

Whole grain flours

Whole grain flours have all three parts of the kernel (the bran, germ and endosperm) and have more fibre, vitamins and minerals than “refined” flours.  Here is a list of whole grain flours:

*Gluten-free whole grain options. For information on oats and gluten read here.

A note about whole wheat flour

Whole wheat flour is not a whole grain. It has some of the bran and most of the germ removed.  Whole grain, whole wheat flour is a whole grain but is not widely available. Try a larger grocery store or health food store to find this flour.

Is multigrain a whole grain?

These flours have the bran and germ removed, and are not as nutritious as whole grain flours.

  • Bread flour is made with “hard” wheat, which is higher in protein. The higher protein in this flour makes it ideal for yeast breads.
  • Pastry or cake flour is made with “soft” wheat, which is lower in protein. The lower protein in this flour makes it ideal for making tender cakes, cookies, pastries and pasta.
  • All purpose flour is made from a blend of “hard” and “soft” wheat grains. It is used to make a variety of baked goods including muffins, cakes, pastries and waffles.

Buying local flour

To know if your flour came from a farm in Canada look for “Product of Canada” on the package label. That tells you the flour came from a farm in Canada. When you buy local food, you support farmers so they can keep producing high quality, affordable food we can all enjoy.

Buy it best

  • Compare prices at the grocery store and bulk food store for the best deal on flours.
  • Do not buy flour from bulk food stores that smell musty. It may have gone bad.

Tips for storing flour

  • Store flour in a cool, dry place such as a pantry, fridge or freezer.
  • Once opened, transfer flour to an air-tight container.
  • Use by the “best before” or “sell by” date.

Nutrition

Canada’s Food Guide recommends we choose whole grains at every meal. Whole grains are a source of fibre, vitamins and minerals. Try to make a quarter of your meal using whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, corn, whole grain naan and whole grain pasta. Substituting some refined flour for whole grain flour makes baked goods more nutritious. Whole wheat flour is not a whole grain but it does have more fibre than all purpose flour.

Tips for using different types of flour

Give your baking a nutritional and flavourful boost.  Choose whole grain recipes with:

  • Fruit (pumpkin, peaches, apples, berries, dates)
  • Vegetables (carrot, zucchini, sweet potato)
  • Nuts (walnuts, almonds and nut flours)
  • Seeds (flax, chia, pumpkin, sunflower)
  • Fresh or dried herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley)

Things to do with flour

  • Make your own baked goods like scones, muffins and quick breads. Your house will smell terrific and you’ll save money too. Try: Whole wheat orange ginger scones, Swedish knäckebröd or Flying Saucer Muffins.
  • Make your own pizza dough, pancake and waffle mixes.  It’s easy and you can choose better-for-you recipes, too.  Try these Masa Corn Pancakes or these Banana Whole Grain Griddle Cakes.
  • Make baked eggplant or zucchini sticks by making a breading mixture using your favourite whole grain flour. Use this recipe as a guide.
  • Make a cheese sauce. Over low heat, melt butter or margarine in a small pot. Whisk in an equal amount of all purpose flour to make a paste and keep stirring for a few minutes. Whisk in milk then grated cheese a little at a time until smooth. Use the cheese sauce to top whole grain pasta and serve with a salad for a quick and balanced meal.

How can a dietitian help?

Dietitians can support you throughout many phases of your life from pregnancy to eating well when you are older. Counselling sessions with a dietitian can also help you to prevent and treat healthy conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Your dietitian will work with you to give you personalized advice that meets your lifestyle and goals. Connect with a dietitian today!

Bottom line

Use whole grain flours like barley, oats, quinoa and rye to get a nutritional boost! When grocery shopping, read the ingredient list of food products to look for the words “whole grain.”

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Rice Flour (Gluten-Free)

It’ll work in pies, cakes, and cookies, but you may need to use a little less of it if the recipe calls for wheat flour. You can get white or brown rice flour. Brown has a slightly nuttier taste and grittier texture. Try some rice flour chocolate cake if you’re trying to cut back on traditional wheat flour.

Tapioca Flour (Gluten-Free)

This flour, made from a dried root called cassava or manioc, is great for thickening soups and stews. And you may be able to use it in equal amounts in recipes that call for wheat flour. It makes a nice, crispy alternative to wheat flour for breading pan-fried fish or chicken.

Potato Flour (Gluten-Free)

Ground from dried potatoes, a single cup has 1,600 milligrams of potassium, around half of what you need in a day. Use it to thicken creamy sauces or frozen desserts. It isn’t a good replacement for wheat flour in baked goods, but you can mix it with other non-wheat flours. Try adding a small amount to your favorite bread recipe to help keep it moist and fresh.

Buckwheat Flour (Gluten-Free)

Despite its name, buckwheat has no relation to wheat. It’s actually closer to rhubarb, which isn’t a grain. It’s also loaded with B-vitamins, fiber, magnesium, and antioxidants. Try some buttermilk-buckwheat pancakes for your next Sunday morning feast.

Amaranth Flour (Gluten-Free)

Ground amaranth seeds make up this flour that’s rich in fiber and protein. You can replace up to 25% of wheat flour in standard recipes or combine it with other non-wheat flours to make a workable gluten-free version. It has a sweet, peppery flavor that works well in darker baked goods like brownies.

Corn Flour (Gluten-Free)

It isn’t a good replacement for wheat flour in recipes, but you can use it in all kinds of other ways. For example, you can make cornbread, muffins, pancakes, hush puppies, and polenta (a smoother version of grits). Or try combining it with shortening to make your own homemade corn tortillas.

Chickpea Flour (Gluten-Free)

Dried, ground garbanzo beans make up this high-protein flour that Indian cooks call chana flour. Use it in savory Indian spiced pancakes, or combine it with other flours to make full-flavored baked goods.

Oat Flour (Gluten-Free)

Look for packages marked “gluten free” to be sure of what you’re getting. Some oats pick up gluten during harvest or processing. The flour is dense, with a nutty flavor that works well in desserts and muffins. It uses the whole oat grain and so adds a good deal of fiber and nutrients. And oats lower cholesterol, among other health benefits. Try oat flour in something that doesn’t need to rise, like the topping on your next fruit crisp.

Coconut Flour (Gluten-Free)

Almond Flour (Gluten-Free)

Italian cooks, among others, often use this flour in traditional cookies, cakes, and other pastries.  You can make it at home if you blanch and grind almonds. A quarter-cup has 6 grams of protein, 14 grams of mostly unsaturated fat, and 3.5 grams of fiber. You can use it in savory dishes too; to encrust a fillet of flounder, for example.

Rye Flour

A half-cup of whole-grain dark rye flour known as pumpernickel has 15.25 grams of fiber and less gluten than wheat flour, though it isn’t gluten-free. You can lighten it by blending it with other higher-protein flours. In Denmark, rye is used to make a dark, dense sourdough bread called rugbrod that’s part of the healthy Nordic diet.

Show Sources

IMAGES PROVIDED BY:

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: “Flour Power: Learn about Different Kinds of Flours,” “Garbanzo Bean Flour Pancake,” “Recipe Substitutions for Wheat Allergy or Gluten Sensitivity,” “What is Coconut Flour? Plus a Coconut Flour Mini-Muffins Recipe.”

Kids With Food Allergies: “Recipe Substitutions for Wheat Allergy or Gluten Sensitivity,” “Rice Flour Chocolate Cake.”

University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service: “Plant of the Week: Cassava.”

Mayo Clinic: “Gluten-free? Try these delicious alternatives to wheat flour.”

Berkeley Wellness: “Non-Wheat Flours for Gluten-Free Cooking.”

National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements: “Potassium.”

Colorado State University Extension: “Gluten-Free Baking.”

Oldways Whole Grains Council: “Buttermilk-Buckwheat Pancakes,” “Oats — January Grain of the Month,” “Rye + Triticale August Grains Of The Month,” “Whole Grains A to Z.”

The Splendid Table: “Almond Flounder Meunière,” “Almond Meal.”

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach: “Amaranth.”

Beyond Celiac: “Intro to Gluten-Free Flours.”

GoDairyFree.org: “Classic Savory Indian Chickpea Flour Pancakes.”

Oldways Cultural Food Traditions: “Sesame-Ginger Spelt Waffles,” “Simple Spelt Pancakes.”

EatFresh.org: “Fruit Crisp.”

Harvard Health Publishing: “The Nordic diet: Healthy eating with an eco-friendly bent.”

Tbsp.: “Tablespoon Conversions.”

You spent months mastering a basic sourdough bread recipe—that’s amazing. Now, you’re ready to branch out with more advanced loaves. But one look at the baking aisle and your head is spinning from all the options. What’s the difference between pastry flour and cake flour? Do you need bread flour, or is all-purpose fine? What the heck is spelt?

With all the types of flour to choose from, baking projects can get a little overwhelming. Friend, you’ve come to the right place.

Flour is a catch-all term to describe anything—grains, seeds, nuts, beans, roots—that’s been ground into a powder. Here, we’re referring specifically to cereal flour, which is milled from the edible grains of cereal grasses (like wheat). Each grain is comprised of an endosperm (the inside tissue), germ (the embryo) and bran (the hard outer layers).

All-Purpose Flour

This type of flour is likely already a staple in your kitchen, thanks to its versatility. It’s milled from a combination of soft and hard wheat and has a protein content of approximately 10 to 12 percent, depending on the brand. Because of this moderate protein level, all-purpose (or “AP”) flour can yield chewy cookies and flaky pie crusts, but also works as a breading for cutlets and a thickener for sauces.

Use it for: Cookies, pie crusts, pancakes, muffins, brownies, quick breads—essentially, everything

Buy it: King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Bread Flour

Think about sourdough bread—how does it get that satisfying chew? A lot of that texture comes from bread flour, which is the strongest of all the flours and has a protein content of 12 to 14 percent. The extra protein is essential for yeasted breads that need strong gluten to rise properly.

Use it for: Yeast breads, bagels, pretzels and pizza dough

Buy it: King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman/Getty Images

All flours are made from wheat kernels, which are separated into three components—the endosperm, germ and bran—during the milling process. For white flours, only the endosperm is milled, but with whole wheat flour, some of the germ and bran is added back in, which give it a nutty flavor and dense texture (plus fiber, minerals and vitamins). Whole wheat flour has a protein content around 14 percent, but it doesn’t form gluten as readily as white flour. That means if you want to bake with whole wheat, it’s best to swap for no more than 25 percent of the white flour. (Psst: Whole wheat flour also spoils quicker, so store it in the freezer.)

Use it for: Bread, pancakes, pasta and adding a nutty flavor to baked goods

Buy it: Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour

Bloomberg Creative/Getty Images

White Whole Wheat Flour

White whole wheat flour is milled just like regular whole wheat flour, but it starts with a hard wheat that’s paler, called hard white wheat. It has a similar protein content (about 14 percent), but a milder taste. Bonus: It has the same nutritional benefits as whole wheat flour but won’t affect the taste of your baked goods quite as much.

Use it for: Bread, muffins and cookies

Buy it: King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

Johnathon Broekhuizen/Getty Images

Self-Rising Flour

Want to know a secret? Self-rising flour is just finely milled flour with added leavener—specifically, baking powder and salt. It’s milled from soft wheat and has a protein content of approximately 9 percent. Self-rising flour yields lofty, light baked goods, but it can’t be swapped as readily as other flours because the added ingredients can throw off other measurements in the recipe.

Use it for: Biscuits, pancakes, scones

Buy it: White Lily Self-Rising Flour

Yuki Kondo/Getty Images

Cake Flour

For the most tender cakes, you’ll want to reach for low-protein cake flour. It generally has a protein content of 5 to 8 percent, so it has less ability to form gluten bonds (hence the soft, tender texture it yields). Another benefit? Cake flour can absorb more liquid and sugar than other flours, so it keeps your cakes moist for longer.

Use it for: All types of cakes—sponges, angel food cake, chiffon, layer cakes and muffins

Buy it: Swans Down Cake Flour

Pastry Flour

Somewhere between cake flour and all-purpose flour is pastry flour, which has a protein content around 9 percent. It can make extremely flaky, tender baked goods, which is why it’s often used for pastries, pie crusts and cake.

Use it for: Pastries, cakes, pie crust, muffins, biscuits

Buy it: Bob’s Red Mill White Unbleached Fine Pastry Flour

Natasha Breen/Getty Images

‘00’ Flour

Double zero, or doppio zerio, flour is an Italian type of flour milled from hard durum wheat (instead of red wheat, like most flours) and with a protein content of 11 to 12 percent. Its name refers to the extremely fine texture of the flour. While the protein content is similar to AP flour, the gluten in double zero flour isn’t as elastic, so it’s less chewy. It’s pricy and harder to find in the U.S., but it’s great for homemade pasta and pizza dough if you can get your hands on a bag.

Use it for: Homemade pasta and pizza dough

Buy it: Antimo Caputo Italian Double Zero Flour

Michelle Arnold/EyeEm/Getty Images

Semolina Flour

Similar to double zero flour, semolina flour is milled from durum wheat. It’s high in gluten and has about 12 to 13 percent protein content, with a yellow color and nutty flavor. Even if you’ve never baked with it, you’ve probably eaten semolina flour in pasta and couscous. The gluten content is ideal for creating a dry, elastic dough that holds its shape when cooking.

Use it for: Pasta, Middle Eastern desserts, puddings

Buy it: Janie’s Mill Semolina Flour

Eddy Zecchinon/EyeEm/Getty Images

Instant Flour (Wondra)

If you ask us, instant flour (which is sometimes referred to as Wondra, a popular brand name), is underrated. It’s a finely milled, low-protein flour that’s been pre-cooked and dried out. Because of this, it dissolves instantly and doesn’t clump when added to hot liquids, making it ideal for gravies and sauces. It also means you don’t have to cook out that raw flour taste beforehand, which streamlines your overall prep time. It’s not interchangeable for all-purpose in every recipe, but it can be used in pie crusts for a flakier bite, and it makes for a super-crispy breading when battering and frying veggies or fish.

Use it for: Gravy, pie crust, thin batters

Buy it: Gold Medal Wondra Quick-Mixing Flour

You can’t have rye bread—or Reubens—without rye flour, which is milled from rye kernels. Rye is closely related to wheat, but it has a lower gluten and protein content and more soluble fiber than wheat flour does. It has a fresh, nutty flavor and can add additional texture to baked goods. Rye flour has its own set of subcategories, like pumpernickel and white rye flour, which vary in intensity and texture.

Use it for: Bread, pie crust, cookies

Buy it: King Arthur Rye Flour Blend

Spelt Flour

What’s spelt? It’s just another type of wheat, and spelt flour is a type of whole wheat flour milled from the entire grain of spelt. But unlike regular whole wheat flour, spelt flour is lower in protein and behaves similarly to all-purpose flour (but with a lot more flavor). It tastes slightly acidic and tangy, almost like yogurt.

Use it for: Cakes, muffins, cookies, crumbles, crisps

Buy it: Janie’s Mill Spelt Flour

Bleached Flour vs. Unbleached Flour

All flours are bleached, but unbleached flour is bleached naturally as it ages—exposure to oxygen causes it to whiten over time. It has a denser texture and duller color, and it provides more structure in baked goods. Bleached flour has been treated with bleaching agents (like benzoyl peroxide) to speed up the flour’s aging process. The result is a paler color and lighter, softer texture than unbleached flour. Baking with bleached flour will yield softer results, too, but overall, the two are interchangeable.

A Note About Gluten-Free Flours and Nut Meals

We didn’t include gluten-free flour blends, nut meals or rice flours in our list—while they’re all technically “flours” (aka anything that’s been ground up), they behave entirely differently than wheat flours do.

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Not to be confused with Flower.

Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. Corn flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in central and northern Europe.

Three different kinds of wheat and rye flour. From left to right: wheat flour Type 550 (all purpose flour), wheat flour Type 1050 (first clear flour), rye flour Type 1150

Cereal flour consists either of the endosperm, germ, and bran together (whole-grain flour) or of the endosperm alone (refined flour). Meal is either differentiable from flour as having slightly coarser particle size (degree of comminution) or is synonymous with flour; the word is used both ways. For example, the word cornmeal often connotes a grittier texture whereas corn flour connotes fine powder, although there is no codified dividing line.

Etymology

Modern farm equipment allows livestock farmers to do some or all of their own milling when it comes time to convert their own grain crops to coarse meal for livestock feed. This capability is economically important because the profit margins are often thin enough in commercial farming that saving expenses is vital to staying in business.

Composition

Flour being stored in large cloth sacks

“Bleached flour” is “refined” flour with a chemical whitening (bleaching) agent added. “Refined” flour has had the germ and bran, containing much of the nutritional fibre and vitamins, removed and is often referred to as “white flour”.

Bleached flour is artificially aged using a “bleaching” agent, a “maturing” agent, or both. A bleaching agent affects the carotenoids responsible for the natural colour of the flour; a “maturing” agent also affects gluten development. A maturing agent may either strengthen or weaken gluten development.

The four most common additives used as bleaching/maturing agents in the US are:

  • Potassium bromate, listed as an ingredient, is a maturing agent that strengthens gluten development. It does not bleach.
  • Benzoyl peroxide bleaches, but does not act as a maturing agent. It has no effect on gluten.
  • Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is listed as an ingredient, either as an indication that the flour was matured using ascorbic acid or that a small amount is added as a dough enhancer. It is a maturing agent that strengthens gluten development, but does not bleach.

Some other chemicals used as flour treatment agents to modify color and baking properties include:

  • Chlorine dioxide (unstable to be transported in the U.S.)
  • Calcium peroxide
  • Azodicarbonamide or azobisformamide (synthetic)
  • Atmospheric oxygen causes natural bleaching.

Common preservatives in commercial flour include:

Frequency of additives

Bromination of flour in the US has fallen out of favor, and while it is not yet actually banned anywhere, few retail flours available to the home baker are bromated anymore.

Many varieties of flour packaged specifically for commercial bakeries are still bromated. Retail bleached flour marketed to the home baker is now treated mostly with either peroxidation or chlorine gas. Current information from Pillsbury is that their varieties of bleached flour are treated both with benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas. Gold Medal states that their bleached flour is treated either with benzoyl peroxide or chlorine gas, but no way exists to tell which process has been used when buying the flour at the grocery store.

During the process of making flour, specifically as a result of the bleaching process, nutrients are lost. Some of these nutrients may be replaced during refining – the result is known as enriched flour.

Plain or all-purpose flour

Gluten flour is refined gluten protein, or a theoretical 100% protein (though practical refining never achieves a full 100%). It is used to strengthen flour as needed. For example, adding approximately one teaspoon per cup of AP flour gives the resulting mix the protein content of bread flour. It is commonly added to whole grain flour recipes to overcome the tendency of greater fiber content to interfere with gluten development, needed to give the bread better rising (gas holding) qualities and chew.

Unbleached flour is simply flour that has not undergone bleaching and therefore does not have the color of “white” flour. An example is graham flour, whose namesake, Sylvester Graham, was against using bleaching agents, which he considered unhealthy.

  • 1 cup (125 g) plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
  • (US recipes) a pinch to teaspoon (1 g or less) salt
  • Atta flour is a whole-grain wheat flour important in Indian and Pakistani cuisine, used for a range of breads such as roti and chapati. It is usually stone-ground to coarse granules, which gives it a texture not easily found in other flatbreads.
  • Maida flour is a finely milled wheat flour used to make a wide variety of Indian breads such as paratha and naan. Maida is widely used not only in Indian cuisine but also in Central Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine. Though sometimes referred to as “all-purpose flour” by Indian chefs, it more closely resembles cake flour or even pure starch. In India, maida flour is used to make pastries and other bakery items such as bread, biscuits and toast.
  • Noodle flour is a special blend of flour used for the making of Asian-style noodles, made from wheat or rice.
  • Semolina is the coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat used in making pasta, breakfast cereals, puddings, and couscous.

Flour also can be made from soybeans, arrowroot, taro, cattails, acorns, manioc, quinoa, and other non-cereal foodstuffs.

  • German flour type numbers () indicate the amount of ash (measured in milligrams) obtained from 100 g of the dry mass of this flour. Standard wheat flours (defined in DIN 10355) range from type 405 for normal white wheat flour for baking, to strong bread flour types 550, 812, and the darker types 1050 and 1600 for wholegrain breads.
  • Argentine flour uses roughness of milling as well, being 0, 00, 000 and 0000, where the number of zeroes indicates its refinement.

In the United States and the United Kingdom, no numbered standardized flour types are defined, and the ash mass is only rarely given on the label by flour manufacturers. However, the legally required standard nutrition label specifies the protein content of the flour, which is also a way for comparing the extraction rates of different available flour types.

In general, as the extraction rate of the flour increases, so do both the protein and the ash content. However, as the extraction rate approaches 100% (whole meal), the protein content drops slightly, while the ash content continues to rise.

There is no official Chinese name corresponding to the highest ash residue in the table. Usually such products are imported from Japan and the Japanese name Zenryufun (全粒粉) is used, or it is called QuanMaiMianFen (全麥麵粉).

It is possible to determine ash content from some US manufacturers. However, US measurements are based on wheat with a 14% moisture content. Thus, a US flour with 0.48% ash would approximate a French Type 55.

Other measurable properties of flour as used in baking can be determined using a variety of specialized instruments, such as the farinograph.

Dangers

Cornstarch is a principal ingredient used to thicken many puddings or desserts, and is the main ingredient in packaged custard.

See also

  • The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998, United Kingdom Archived 2006-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ward, Artemas (1911). The Grocer’s Encyclopedia.

External links

Look up flour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to .

Wikiquote has quotations related to Flour.

Give Your Baking an Upgrade With One of These Healthy White Flour Alternatives

One of the best parts about baking from scratch? Aside from being able to enjoy your handiwork straight from the oven (and licking the bowl, obvs), it’s having full control over the ingredients you use in the process.

We all know that flour is the one ingredient found in almost every baked good. But whether you’re a from-the-box baker or have been making Mary Berry-worthy desserts for years, you have quite a few flour options to choose from these days. Not that there’s anything wrong with white all-purpose flour, of course—aside from its limited nutritional value. (And the fact that those with gluten issues can’t eat it.)

That said, Gena Hamshaw, a registered dietitian with The Full Helping, is all for using an alternative flour, since it can boost the nutritional value of your favorite baked goods. Here, we’ve broken down the differences between some of our favorite healthy alternative flours to make things a little easier next time you’re in the baking aisle and feel like shaking things up.

Whole wheat flour is ideal for enjoying homemade bread and baked goods without sacrificing a commitment to eating whole foods. “Whole wheat flour contains all parts of the wheat berry in its whole form: bran, germ, and endosperm. This makes whole wheat flour significantly higher in fiber than white flour,” Hamshaw says. In addition to fiber, whole wheat flour is richer in protein and iron than all-purpose white flour. “I always recommend products that are sourced transparently, non-GMO, and free of artificial ingredients.”

Whole grain flours are especially nice for adding texture and nutty flavor to bread, muffins, and baked goods. If you’re new to working with whole grain flour, try combining it with all-purpose flour and adjusting ratios to suit your needs. You can also try a whole wheat flour that is sprouted, a process which maximizes the nutrition and digestibility of the ingredient, says Hamshaw​​​​​​​.

Spelt is a pure non-hybridized, nutritious ancient grain. Spelt flour is milled from spelt berries, which are an ancient variety of wheat. “Spelt lends subtle sweetness to baked goods, along with fiber,” Hamshaw says. It’s milder and lighter than other whole wheat flours, which makes it popular in whole grain baking. “Some people who find wheat difficult to digest have an easier time digesting spelt, possibly because it contains less gluten than conventional wheat.” Generally speaking, spelt flour can be substituted for any recipe that calls for wheat flour.

Rye is a richly nutritious, wholesome grain. “Rye flour is made from rye berries, which have a similar appearance to wheat berries, but are distinct from it,” explains Hamshaw. Rye is a good source of fiber, as well as minerals like manganese, copper, and phosphorus. “Rye is also rich in phytonutrients—chemical compounds found in plants that may help fight disease and protect our bodies from the stress associated with aging.”

Rye flour is lower on the glycemic index than wheat flour, so it’s less likely to trigger a high insulin response and spike blood sugar. In addition, studies have shown that rye flour’s high-fiber content can also help with blood sugar control. Choose an organic sprouted rye flour if you’re looking to make sourdough breads with a complex flavor profile.

Brown Rice Flour

  • “Rye – An Overview.” ScienceDirect Topics, ScienceDirect, 2014, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/rye.
  • Minich DM. A Review of the Science of Colorful, Plant-Based Food and Practical Strategies for “Eating the Rainbow”. J Nutr Metab. 2019 Jun 2;2019:2125070. doi: 10.1155/2019/2125070. Erratum in: J Nutr Metab. 2020 Nov 28;2020:5631762. PMID: 33414957; PMCID: PMC7770496.
  • Sandberg JC, Björck IME, Nilsson AC. Effects of whole grain rye, with and without resistant starch type 2 supplementation, on glucose tolerance, gut hormones, inflammation and appetite regulation in an 11-14.5 hour perspective; a randomized controlled study in healthy subjects. Nutr J. 2017;16(1):25. doi:10.1186/s12937-017-0246-5

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