Bean Flour Substitute in Gluten-Free Flour Mix

The Strong Taste of Gluten-Free Bean Flour

When we first began gluten-free cooking, I remember one cookbook author suggested using garfava bean flour, and I bought it but could never quite get over the overpowering smell and taste (in uncooked foods). The good thing is that most of the bean taste disappears once you cook it. But sometimes I liked to sample my foods before popping them into the oven.

White Bean Flour

My main gluten-free flour mix uses three rice flours and a small amount of white bean flour. There's actually only about a tablespoon and a half of the bean flour per cup of my mix. I chose white bean flour because it is a very mild bean flour. Price wise, it's also usually much less expensive than other bean flours. (But please keep it quiet that we're using it in gluten-free baking, or the price like anything labeled gf might soar!) 

Sensitivities or Intolerances to Beans

There are some who have sensitivities to beans and have asked for suggestions as how to replace the bean flour in the recipes. I've been playing around a bit with possibilities and have come up with two that are working well.

Sweet Potato Flour

If you've made any of my bread recipes, you already know how great sweet potato flour is. And if you haven't made any of my bread recipes yet - you really have to try them! Sweet potato flour is a white flour, and not orange as you might think and is made from white sweet potatoes.

I don't know what made me try the sweet potato flour as a substitute for the bean. It doesn't have the same texture as the bean flour or the same weight, but so far in the few things I've tried, it's worked out very well. I still have some more testing to do. But for now, I am subbing 1/4 cup of the bean flour in the mix with 1/2 cup of sweet potato flour.

Last night I baked up some donuts with the BabyCakes Donut Maker (which I just started using and love!! Gluten-free donuts in under 5 minutes!!) and subbed the white bean flour for sweet potato flour and made the most amazing donuts. (Will be writing a blog about that shortly, but can never keep the donuts around long enough to take photos. Here's one photo of three that, I have no idea how in our house, managed to survive. :)

I plan on trying the sweet potato flour as a substitution for the bean flour in my pie crust recipe next.

Golden Flaxseed Meal

For one recipe - tortillas, I've found replacing the bean flour with golden flaxseed meal works great. It adds a little extra protein and fiber and makes the most perfect tortilla. In fact, I just made a few.

Do You Have a Great Substitute for Bean Flour?

If you know of any substitutes for bean flour that are working well for you tell us about them in the comments section below.