Product Review: Baker's Corner Gluten Free Baking Mix from Aldi

I tried out Aldi's new Gluten Free Baking Mix in two different recipes last week.  First, I used it to make some cheddar garlic drop buscuits.  Then I used it to make a buttermilk pie.

Let's start with the biscuits.  The biscuits were very tasty, but I think it was because of the massive amounts of cheese, butter, and garlic that I used on them.  I think that if I had used the mix for plain biscuits, they would have been very bland.  Rather than using a blend of various gluten-free flours for the mix, it only contains white rice flour.  White rice flour just doesn't have much flavor.  My second issue with the biscuits was the fact that the next day they were gummy.  I'm not a food scientist, so I don't know why this happened.  But it definitely was not a good texture for a biscuit.

Now let's talk about the pie.  If you've never tried buttermilk pie, you should.  It may not sound like much, but it is delicious.  The filling becomes almost custard after baking, and it is divine.  The main problem that I had using the baking mix for the pie was the texture.  It was a little bit gritty the first day and very gritty the next day.  I think this can be attributed to the white rice flour again.  It is grittier than brown rice flour and many other gluten-free flours that you can use.

The other problem I had was with browning, but I'm not sure if this was the baking mix, my oven, or user error.  The biscuits didn't seem to brown very well, and the pie turned out too brown by the time the filling was completely cooked.

Overall, this baking mix is very similar to gluten-free Bisquick.  It's main ingredient is white rice flour as well.  Basically, if you like GF Bisquick, you will like Baker's Corner Gluten Free Baking Mix from Aldi.  If that is the case, you might as well buy the Aldi kind.  I paid $2.99 at my local Aldi, and the Bisquick goes for about twice as much around here.  I believe the boxes are the same size too.

Like I said earlier, I usually make most things from scratch and don't buy many gluten free mixes anymore.  But if you really want to know what I think, forget Bisquick.  Buy Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix.  It actually has flavor and tastes good.  It isn't gritty either.

P.S. I will post the biscuit and pie recipes soon.

P.P.S. I wasn't compensated by any party for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Multi-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend

In order to create quality gluten-free baked goods, you need to use multiple flours.  I like the King Arthur brand gluten-free flour blend.  I always have great results with it.  However, it can be pretty expensive, as with all GF products on the market.  Luckily, if you go to King Arthur Flour's website and look for gluten-free recipes, each recipe has a note telling you how to make your own substitute flour blend.  I have started doing this myself, and it is a piece of cake.  I haven't bought the blend since.

In a large bowl whisk together the following:

• 9 cups (48 oz) brown rice flour
• 3 cups (16 oz) potato starch
• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz) tapioca flour or tapioca starch

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Note:  I did adapt this recipe a little bit.  I used the same ratio of ingredients but make 50% more.  I also just use regular brown rice flour instead of stabilized without any problems.  I always buy Bob's Red Mill brand GF flours.  For the brown rice flour, I just dump in two bags (24 oz each).  Then I measure out the potato starch and tapioca flour by the cup.  I never weigh them.

This blend has worked well for me as a cup-for-cup replacement for all purpose flour in most baked goods.  The only exception that I am aware of is yeast breads.  GF yeast breads are completely different from ones with gluten.  It is a science that I am still trying to figure out.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Aldi Gluten Free Mixes

I went to Aldi yesterday and saw these mixes on the shelf.

Aldi has started carrying their own generic gluten-free brownie and baking mixes!  I don't buy mixes very much anymore and just make most stuff from scratch because I am cheap.  However, I was curious to try these out and see if they were any good.  At my local Aldi, they were only $2.99 each.  I'll update on here when I have tried them out.