How To Bake With Tapioca Flour

Slices of bread made with tapioca flour.

Image Credit: Iryna Melnyk/iStock/Getty Images Tapioca flour, or tapioca starch, comes from the cassava plant. This gluten-free starch can help improve the flavor and texture of gluten-free baked goods. Gluten is responsible for building the structure of breads and other baked goods, giving these foods a characteristic chewy texture. Tapioca flour can help add body to your gluten-free recipes, making them feel like more traditional recipes.

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Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

For most of your baking needs, you can create a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend containing tapioca flour. Combine 1 part tapioca flour, 2 parts potato starch and 6 parts brown rice flour. When using this flour in traditional recipes, substitute an equal amount of the gluten-free blend for the amount of all-purpose flour.

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Gluten-Free Bread Flour

If you are making gluten-free bread, mix together 3 parts millet and 3 parts sorghum with 2 parts each of potato starch, cornstarch and tapioca flour. For variety, you can replace some of the millet or sorghum with oats, quinoa flour or teff flour.

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Gluten-Free Cake Flour

For a more delicate cake flour, combine approximately equal amounts of white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour. Add a bit more of the rice flour and the potato starch. Use this blend to replace equal amounts of cake flour called for in traditional recipes.

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Considerations

Because much of gluten-free baking is an art, not a science, you can experiment with the proportions in these blends until you achieve your ideal texture. Tapioca flour adds a bit of springiness to your baked goods. If the texture of your baked goods is too springy, reduce the amount of tapioca flour slightly. Additionally, if you are converting a traditional recipe to a gluten-free recipe containing tapioca flour, you will need to decrease the amount of liquid slightly because wheat flour is more absorbent than gluten-free flours are.

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  references
  
      Gluten-Free Baking With the Culinary Institute of America; Richard J. Coppedge et al.
    
      New Good Food: Essential Ingredients for Cooking and Eating Well; Margaret Wittenberg
    
      Gluten-Free Baking Classics; Annalise G. Roberts
     Is this an emergency?
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, please see the
National Library of Medicine’s list
of signs you need emergency medical attention or call 911.





  references
  
      Gluten-Free Baking With the Culinary Institute of America; Richard J. Coppedge et al.
    
      New Good Food: Essential Ingredients for Cooking and Eating Well; Margaret Wittenberg
    
      Gluten-Free Baking Classics; Annalise G. Roberts

Is this an emergency? If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, please see the National Library of Medicine’s list of signs you need emergency medical attention or call 911.

Slices of bread made with tapioca flour.

Image Credit: Iryna Melnyk/iStock/Getty Images

      Gluten-Free Baking With the Culinary Institute of America; Richard J. Coppedge et al.
    
      New Good Food: Essential Ingredients for Cooking and Eating Well; Margaret Wittenberg
    
      Gluten-Free Baking Classics; Annalise G. Roberts