Debbie McFarlane enjoys a bite of her favorite bakery item.

“I’m a glutton for Gluten Free.”-Debbie McFarlane

Debbie McFarlane, one of the friendliest and brightest of our great store employees, is this month’s employee’s choice candidate and has chosen as her favorite bakery item our Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes.

Debbie, being gluten intolerant, chooses our gluten free options when she’s shopping the bakery. “I feel like I’m always searching for places that will even make wheat free options and here I get to walk by the wheat free case every morning and be one of the first to look at all the tasty treats made just for me!”

When asked why this was her choice Debbie answered, “It tastes like a real cupcake! Like a traditional wheat based cupcake. I love the light lemon frosting and it tastes great when they top it with blueberries (or your own favorite fruit!). It’s one of my many wheat free favorites here.”

Our gluten free vanilla cupcakes can be found in the wheat free case in our Whole Grain store where you can see Debbie’s smiling face daily. Come on in and give ‘em a try!

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes

1 package (19 oz.) Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Mix
3 eggs
½ cup oil
½ cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

Place mix in a bowl.

Add eggs, oil and water all at once and use a whisk or spatula to mix until it is all incorporated and smooth.

Scoop batter into pan, filling liners about halfway full. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, turning once.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Frost with vanilla buttercream and enjoy!

Vanilla Buttercream

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoons of milk

Cream butter in mixer.

Add powdered sugar and vanilla, and mix until incorporated.

If the buttercream is too stiff, add milk as needed until it is smooth and pliable.

Not too long ago, we offered whole grain cake mixes that a lot of people really loved.  Unfortunately, that love was not quite enough to keep these mixes on the shelves. After the products were discontinued, we got numerous calls wanting to know how people could make it themselves.

When Bob’s Red Mill packages a mix, a batch of around a thousand pounds are mixed and then packaged.  Taking those formulas and translating it into a recipe for home is not super easy.  Luckily it can be done! After scaling down the recipe, I then looked at hard to find ingredients such as molasses powder and replace it with home versions.

The next step was the most rewarding.  We got to try all these scaled down recipes to make sure they work for you.  Yum!  Everyone had their favorite flavor and I was surprised to see how quickly it all disappeared.  I guess that means it was a success!

Whole Grain Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Whole Grain Spice Apple Cake

Whole Grain Gingerbread Cake

Whole Grain Chocolate Cake

They fight together for Gluten Free-dom!

If you are new to Gluten Free Baking you may find yourself wondering, “What is the difference between Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum?” Both ingredients are frequently called for in gluten free recipes and can seem exotic at first, but they both serve the same general purpose as thickeners and emulsifiers. Quite simply, both these ingredients help keep your mixes mixed. They keep oil droplets from sticking together and separating, and solid particles from settling to the bottom. You can use just one or the other; or sometimes for the best results, you can use them in combination together.

In conventional recipes containing wheat, rye, barley or triticale flour, the protein, gluten in these fours serves the same purpose that guar gum and xanthan gum do in gluten free baking. Gluten protein is what traditional recipes rely on to thicken dough and batters, and trap air bubbles to make your baked goods light and fluffy. Xanthan gum tends to help starches combine to trap air, while guar gum helps keep large particles suspended in the mix.

One of the differences between the two products is where they come from. Guar gum is made from a seed native to tropical Asia, while xanthan gum is made by a micro organism called Xanthomonas Camestris.

In the kitchen, there are also important differences in using xanthan gum vs. guar gum. In general, guar gum is good for cold foods such as ice cream or pastry fillings, while xanthan gum is better for baked goods. Xanthan gum is the right choice for yeasted breads. Foods with a high acid content (such as lemon juice) can cause guar gum to lose its thickening abilities. For recipes involving citrus you will want to use xanthan gum or increase the amount of guar gum used.

In general, it is best to add both xanthan and guar gum to the oil component in a recipe, making complete mix of oil and gum before adding to the rest of liquid ingredients. Using a blender or a food processor is a great way to get the gums to dissolve properly.

The final difference between the two gums is the variation in quantities you will need for different foods. There are no hard and fast rules as to how to combine the two gums together, you’ll have to experiment yourself to see what works best in your recipes.

If you decide to use just one or the other, here are some helpful measurements for popular foods:

How much Xanthan Gum for Gluten Free Baking?
Cookies………………………………¼ teaspoon per cup of flour
Cakes and Pancakes………………..½ teaspoon per cup of flour
Muffins and Quick Breads………… ¾ teaspoon per cup of flour
Breads……………………………….1 to 1-½ tsp. per cup of flour
Pizza Dough…………………..…… 2 teaspoons per cup of flour
For Salad Dressings…Use ½ tsp. Xanthan Gum per 8 oz. of liquid.

How much Guar Gum for Gluten Free Baking?
Cookies………………………………¼ to ½ tsp. per cup of flour
Cakes and Pancakes………………..¾ teaspoon per cup of flour
Muffins and Quick Breads………….1 teaspoon per cup of flour
Breads……………………………….1-½ to 2 tsp. per cup of flour
Pizza Dough…………………..…….1 Tablespoon per cup of flour
For Hot Foods (gravies, stews , heated pudding)…Use 1-3 teaspoons per one quart of liquid.
For Cold Foods (salad dressing, ice creams, pudding) Use about 1-2 teaspoons per quart of liquid.

8/30/11 UPDATE: We are so pleased with the awesome response we get from this post and will do our best to answer any of your remaining questions. However, we have found that there are a lot of questions here that we don’t know much about- like ice cream making and salad dressings. Again, we will do our best, but we’re really only experts at baking with these two products.

6/11/12 UPDATE: Regarding corn in xanthan gum: The microorganism that produces xanthan gum is actually fed a glucose solution that is derived from wheat starch. Gluten is found in the protein part of the wheat kernel and no gluten is contained in the solution of glucose. Additionally, after the bacteria eats the glucose, there is no wheat to be found in the outer coating that it produces, which is what makes up xanthan gum. The short answer here is, there is no corn used at all in the making of xanthan gum.

Bake for Hope

This year we’re delighted to be able to help out Bake for Hope as they raise money for the search for a cure for breast cancer. These amazing organizers bake up everything from Granola to Ganache in their quest to raise money for this great cause, giving 100% of their proceeds to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

This is the second annual event that they are conducting, and boy has it grown from last year! What started as a Phoenix area idea has grown into a huge number of events nationwide. In order to support their baking endeavors this year we’ve shipped them 500lbs of flour and other essential baking ingredients to work their magic with.

We thought we’d share some of their great photos of their event last year to tempt you out for a good cause. All of the events take place in the week before Mother’s Day, so it’s perfect timing to pick up a treat for the mom of your choice.

To find cupcakes near you, check out their Bake Sale Locations page to find out where you can stop by and sample some of their home baked goodies.

Cupcakes for the Cure!