King Arthur Flour Gluten Free: Complete Product Line Review

Going gluten-free can make it feel like your baking days are over. The wrong gluten-free flour can turn chocolate chip cookies into sad, gritty hockey pucks. King Arthur's gluten-free line is one of the most dependable ways around that.

Here's a rundown of their gluten-free lineup: what each flour is for, and the mistakes to avoid with each.

The Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

King Arthur's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour is a carefully tested blend of white rice flour, whole grain brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch. What sets it apart? It's designed to yield baked goods with no grittiness or aftertaste - a common complaint with gluten-free flours.

The key thing to know is that this flour is made without xanthan gum, which is why many recipes call for adding xanthan gum separately. This gives you complete control over how much binding agent you want to use.

With the right amount of binder, it can produce muffins that are tender rather than crumbly.

Measure for Measure: The Game Changer for Recipe Converting

If you have a collection of family recipes you can't bear to give up, King Arthur's Measure for Measure flour is designed to substitute 1:1 for conventional flours. That makes it the easiest way to convert old favorites like sugar cookies.

This flour is fortified with iron, calcium, and vitamin B, which is honestly a nice bonus since gluten-free diets can sometimes be lacking in these nutrients. It's ideal for muffins, cookies, cakes, brownies, pancakes, and other non-yeasted recipes.

One important limit: don't use this for yeast bread. It isn't designed for it, and the likely result is a dense brick. Stick to non-yeasted items, and you'll be golden.

One tip: cookies made with Measure for Measure might need a couple extra minutes in the oven compared to regular flour, so check them before pulling them out early.

The Bread Flour

King Arthur's Gluten-Free Bread Flour, made with gluten-free wheat starch, is designed for classic yeasted recipes like artisan boules, bagels, cinnamon rolls, and burger buns, with a promise of incredible taste and texture.

There is a learning curve, though.

The dough rises about 50% faster than usual, so watch your timing closely or the loaf can overproof. You also need to add 2 to 3 tablespoons more liquid per cup of flour used, and the dough will look quite wet at first, which is why allowing it to rest for 20 minutes before kneading is important.

The secret is that this flour contains gluten-free wheat starch, which helps mimic the flavor of conventional flours and acts as a thickener, resulting in baked bread with an excellent crumb and crust akin to a conventional loaf.

Allergen note: because of that wheat starch, the bag says "Contains: Wheat." The starch is processed to meet the FDA's gluten-free standard, but it is not safe for anyone with a wheat allergy, and some people with celiac disease choose to avoid gluten-free wheat starch. If that's you, King Arthur's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour (rice flours plus tapioca and potato starch) is the wheat-free option in this lineup. Also note that King Arthur says many of its gluten-free products are made on equipment shared with wheat, with cleanouts and testing between runs.

It's suited to everything from sandwich bread and pizza dough to cinnamon rolls.

Tips for Working With These Flours

A few tips that apply across the line:

Storage matters: Keep gluten-free flours in airtight containers in the fridge. They can go rancid faster than wheat flour, and there's nothing worse than realizing your expensive flour has gone off mid-recipe.

Don't skip the rest time: Especially with bread recipes, letting the dough rest is crucial. Skipping it can leave you with tough, difficult-to-work-with dough.

Measure by weight: This is true for all baking, but especially gluten-free. Different brands of measuring cups can vary, and gluten-free baking is less forgiving of measurement errors.

The Bottom Line

King Arthur's gluten-free flours are generally well regarded for texture and rise, especially compared to other gluten-free flours.

King Arthur's commitment to quality really shows in their gluten-free line. As a 100% employee-owned company with over 200 years of baking expertise, they've put serious research into making these flours work well.

Are they perfect? No flour is. Will they make every recipe identical to its glutenous counterpart? Probably not. But they'll get you surprisingly close, and sometimes even better than the original.

The best part? King Arthur provides a Baker's Hotline where you can call their friendly staff of experienced bakers for help and advice.

If you're new to gluten-free baking or looking to upgrade from whatever flour blend you've been struggling with, King Arthur's line is worth the investment. Yes, it costs more than regular flour, but when you factor in the reduced waste from failed bakes and the actual enjoyment of eating what you make, it pays for itself.

Trust me, your taste buds (and anyone you're baking for) will thank you.