Customer Reviews

Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour, 22-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This flour works fine for certain things, depending on your taste preferences. It has a very strong aftertaste (kind of bitter/sour) because of the bean flour. Thus it is pretty strong in plain breads and rolls. If you don't mind that, then good for you! (My husband is pretty sensitive and can't tolerate the bean flour or taste very well.) I found it works better in cookies, chocolate or spice cakes, brownies, banana bread, and pizza dough. Because these baked goods are made with other strong flavors, they help mellow out the bean taste which can be pretty overpowering if you don't have something with which to temper it. I like the consistency of this flour better than the rice flour blend I've also been using but again, consider your taste preferences and what you'll be baking/cooking with it.

With a son recently diagnosed with Autism, I was faced with revamping his diet to a gluten-free, dairy-free diet. I tried mixing different gluten free flours (rice, potato, tapioca) myself, but it's not nearly as good as this flour blend. I really think the addition of the bean flours makes the difference. I made chocolate chip cookies (dark chocolate chips--no dairy)with it and served it to my daughter's girl scout troop, and they couldn't tell the difference. That's all the validation I needed.

This flour stinks of Garbanzo beans, and I like Garbanzo beans on any other occasion, but for some reason the smell is so strong when ground, I have learned to read the labels of GF products and if beans are the first ingredient I will not but it. My guess is some people are more sensitive to it then others, it almost makes me gag when the flour is wet. I do have friends who don't mind it or don't notice it, but me and my non Celiac boyfriend think it's nasty. Since we love to bake, I have found that equal parts white rice flour and Tapioca flour with a teaspoon of xanthem gum work great in place of flour.

We used this for Pancakes Christmas morning. Personally I did not like the bean flour at first, I thought it tasted like soap. My non-gluten-free family, however, LOVED it and *insisted* I use it from now on. They said it was not as gritty as rice flour and had the texture of "real" bread. As for the taste, they didn't know what I was talking about. They loved it.

I tried this one again, and snuck some into cookies, then tried the Bob's Red Mill GF Chocolate Cake mix with the bean flour, and it's grown on me. I stand corrected and I am actually kicking myself for not allowing myself to grow a taste for it sooner.

It's opened a new world of Gluten free baking for me just when I thought I had it all together with the rice flour.
I have gone back now and looked at my "Gluten Free Gourmet" book and have a new eye for the recipes requiring bean flour.

It took our stomachs minimal time getting used to the beans, if you catch my drift, but after the first few batches of baked goods (about 3 in a week) we have adjusted.

We feel better after using this mix because of the fiber and protein, as opposed to all that starch and empty carbs of the the white rice flour. I don't have to pass round the laxative anymore (a common reality of switching to the GF diet.)

Make some pancakes (2 cups of the flour mix, 1 tsp baking soda, an egg, 1/4 cup oil, and 1/2 tsp xantham gum--thin with water or milk to desired consistency)and ease yourself into it with butter and syrup. Of course the flour smells like beans (duh), but the flavor of the beans is mild after it has been cooked.

This is a great GF flour, use it in place of white flour. Only thing I noticed is sometimes you need to add more than a 1:1 ratio in recipes calling for wheat flour to get the stiffness you need. Also the addition of Xanthan gum makes for better consistency using this flour. The back of the packet of flour tells you how much to use depending on the type of finished product you're making. A bag of Xanthan gum is pricey, but the amounts you need (ie 1/4 tsp for each cup of flour for cookies) is minimal, so it will last for oodles of bags of this flour. I use the Bob's red mill Xanthan gum too.

I'm allergic to milk, eggs, yeast and all grains (except rye), and this is SOOOO much better than trying to mix all the other non-wheat flours together to get the right combination. Even better, I used it to make dumplings and I couldn't tell the difference from my White Lily flour dumplings! My husband said they were "almost" better than my regular dumplings! This flour is a God-send for me, the best of the wheat-free flours. One less tear I have to shed for all the things I can't eat!!

I decided to try a bag at a store first before buying in bulk here - man I am glad I did. I didn't really think about the ingredients too much, figuring if it was called "all purpose flour" it would probably work in anything - wrong! Though the texture is nice, the smell and taste completely overpower that benefit.

I tried using these to make cookies, and it was horrible...way too much after taste of the bean flavor. Also, the fava bean thing kind of scares me too - apparently kids should not eat it because of possible health risks if they have certain genetic dispositions. Bob's Red Mill has some great stuff that is gluten free, but this one should be labeled as "garbanzo/fava bean flour", not all purpose.

My daughter can't eat anything with gluten. She was feeling bad because she loves fruitcake. I made some using this flour. I tasted great; almost impossible to tell that it did not contain flour. The only problem is keeping the bread from drying out by the next day, even in the case of fruitcake which have more liquid than most breads.

This flour can be used just like regular flour in most recipes. It is so nice not to have to mix so many different flours together to be able to bake something.

I use this instead of white flour and like the taste better when making a rou (base) for gumbo. It requires cooking at a little lower temperature when making a rou but it works just fine. I've been very happy with all of Bob Mill's products.