Substitutes for potato starch

draperygoddess · Post by **draperygoddess** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:54 pm

Since giving up my beloved potatoes (sniff, sniff), I have done some more label reading and noticed that potato starch is in a lot of GF foods. I suppose that means I'll be doing more baking from scratch. Since I can eat corn, can I substitute cornstarch for the potato starch in GF recipes, or is there more to it than that?

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:35 pm

Lesley, an article I read on gluten free flours from a good baker had this advice:
"Her exact mix changes with what she has in the house, but she finds that a ratio of 70 percent grain and/or nut flours (sweet rice, brown rice, cornmeal, sorghum, amaranth, teff, millet, oat, buckwheat or almond) to 30 percent starches (potato starch, arrowroot, cornstarch, tapioca) will yield an all-purpose substitute for wheat flour."

Maybe you could cut the oat flour with potato starch, as I know you're okay with potatoes. I have never tried these specifics so don't know how it would work but it might be worth exploring.
Deb

Deb sent me this today since I can eat potatoes, but no corn or rice. Gives the proportions. I wish we could experiment together, but we are opposites on the food scale

Deb · Post by **Deb** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:47 pm

Cynthia, I think you should be able to do that (or arrowroot or tapioca) but I admit I haven't done a lot of this sort of baking. I am trying to incorporate more coconut and almond flours and less grains when I do bake.

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:13 pm

Cynthia wrote:Since I can eat corn, can I substitute cornstarch for the potato starch in GF recipes, or is there more to it than that?

Absolutely. They can be substituted in without any change in quantity. I have gone through several iterations of the same recipe, substituting tapioca flour, potato starch, buckwheat, quinoa, white rice, brown rice, amaranth, sorghum and millet. I can no longer eat any of those, but I'm still using the same recipes (except for bread, which I've found needs rice flour).

I started with this basic recipe for GF flour, found in Carol Fenster's book "Cooking Free."

Flour Blend - makes 4 1/2 cups

a) 1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
b) 1 1/2 cups potato starch, cornstarch, or amaranth starch
c) 1 cup tapioca flour
d) 1/2 cup corn flour, almond flour, bean flour, or chestnut flour

I deduced that a) sorghum flour, and the b) flours (corn, almond, bean and chestnut) were "high protein flours" and I could substitute any other protein flour each of them. For example, I originally substituted rice flour for the b) sorghum flour and quinoa flour for the d) corn, almond bean or chestnut flours.

B and c flours were actually starches and I could substitute any starch, as long as they were different, in either place. For example, if I used potato starch in b), I could use cornstarch in c), in place of tapioca starch.

This would be a sample modified GF flour mix:

a) 1 1/2 cups white or brown rice flour, or a combination
b) 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
c) 1 cup potato starch
d) 1/2 cup almond flour (could also use corn flour, buckwheat, oat, amaranth, millet, etc.)

I've never had a problem using this method. Sometimes I have to adjust the amount of water, or closely watch the baking time, but the product still turns out pretty well. Note that I don't bake a large variety of items, just muffins, pancakes, and waffles. My present mix uses almond flour and corn flour for my protein flours and cornstarch and arrowroot for my starches. Some recipes rise higher than others; some crumble more than others, but all are tasty and edible, and that's what matters to me.

I used to make brownies and cookies, but have stopped since I've eliminated all solid fats (ghee, Spectrum Spread, coconut oil and margarine.) Solid fats are a pretty important ingredient in brownies and cookies, as is chocolate, which I can't eat.

I don't recommend that you make a large batch of these blends, because if you find you're intolerant to any flour, you're left with an unusable mixture. I have several of these.

I did the math to reduce the amount of each ingredient that I needed for a recipe.

Gloria

draperygoddess · Post by **draperygoddess** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:35 pm

Thanks, everybody! I'm looking forward to trying out these recipes!

Gloria,I was reviewing your profile--are you intolerant of all nightshades, or just tomatoes and peppers?

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:59 pm

It's always easier to list what I can eat. I can eat:

turkey
pork
lamb
asparagus
cauliflower
broccoli (not sure)
almond milk, flour, and butter
corn starch and flour
arrowroot
avocado

I'd guess my list excludes all nightshades.

Gloria

draperygoddess · Post by **draperygoddess** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:17 am

Gloria,

I knew your diet was very restricted. I was somewhat surprised by the reaction to potatoes, since so far I seem not to have a problem with other nightshades, and from what I've seen, potatoes are the least likely to produce a reaction. Did your intolerances happen gradually, or were you pretty much sensitive to everything and had to eliminate till you got them all?

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:03 am

Gloria, What other high protein flour can I substitute for rice flour in bread? (or anything else for that matter!)

Deb · Post by **Deb** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:08 am

Lesley, I'm not Gloria but here's a link with some flour ideas. Actually this site has a lot of information.
http://www.celiac.com/articles/863/1/Gl ... Page1.html

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:19 am

Cynthia wrote:Did your intolerances happen gradually, or were you pretty much sensitive to everything and had to eliminate till you got them all?

I found my first five intolerances through Enterolab, of course. Most of the rest have been gradual discoveries. MRT testing unveiled a few more. I didn't categorize my intolerances until much later, when I began to see common groups amongst them. For example, I noticed that I was intolerant to everything on the list of high-histamine foods. I realized that I had tested all squash and couldn't eat any. Ditto with high-acidic foods, such as vinegar, tomatoes. I had the same realization about root vegetables.

Lesley wrote:What other high protein flour can I substitute for rice flour in bread? (or anything else for that matter!)

I began to answer quinoa, but I'm not sure you can make a decent loaf of bread without rice flour. I haven't been able to, anyway. I think that the last time I tried to make bread without rice, but with quinoa, it flopped and I haven't tried since. I'm not sure if you can make a bread with oat and quinoa flours.

Gloria

care314 · Post by **care314** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:19 pm

Deb
Thanks for the web site on Celiac. Lots of good info.