• Reply by PaddyL on November 21, 2011 at 10:47 pm
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You shouldn't find weavils, or bugs of any kind, in any kind of flour. Take it back to the place you bought it and ask for replacement or refund. To keep the bugs from infesting flour, keep it in an airtight container and put in a couple of bay leaves. They do keep the bugs 'at bay' (sorry!), but they won't kill anything that's already there.

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• Reply by Mike Nolan on November 22, 2011 at 1:35 pm
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Switching from wheat flour to gluten-free flours is challenging. Some things are easier than others. I've had pretty good luck using a gluten-free flour mix with cookies, breads and cakes are harder.

What kind of dairy-free items are you looking to make?

Garbanzo bean flour and gar-fava flour are similar, I think the gar-fava (garbanzo and fava beans) flour is a bit milder. Straight fava bean flour is also available, but sometimes harder to find.

Our daughter-in-law is gluten intolerant, but even when she's not visiting us I will occasionally use garbanzo bean flour in place of wheat flour when making a roux, it takes a bit more flour to get the same amount of thickening power, but it works well for souffles and gravies. (For milder sauces, I think the bean taste can start to take over.)

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• Reply by hickeyja on November 22, 2011 at 2:07 pm
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Teriknack, you don't need to go gluten free just to get away from milk products. In most recipes, you can substitute soy, rice or almond milk for the cow's milk and good quality margarine for butter. I have a friend I bake for on occassion who can not have dairy products due to a medical problem. In baked goods for him I use Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine and almond milk. Without the butter, I notice a slight taste difference; but when the choice is homebaked without dairy or none at all, he is happy to accept the homebaked.

In breads, there are a lot that don't require any dairy products. Any lean dough (just flour, yeast, salt & water) bread and also challah don't normally have dairy. In Italian breads like foccacia and ciabatta you use olive oil, not butter for the fat. Jan

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• Reply by catieartist on November 22, 2011 at 11:44 pm
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Terinack,

If you cannot find the flour on KAF, try Bob’s Red Mill dot com, as they carry all those flours. (forgive me KAF.)

They have all the bean flours and give notes on how to convert recipes too.
I agree with hickeyja, you do not need to leave wheat to avoid milk. That is making it doubly hard to relearn to cook/bake to meet your needs!

One tip though. When you are using margarine instead of butter to avoid dairy... add one tablespoon of oil, with the stick of margarine. Any no flavored oil, or very light olive oil will do. Margarine has a higher water content than butter, so you are adding more liquid to your recipe instead of the fat in the butter. This can affect the recipe, and alter the “structure” of the baked good. It will make your cake lighter; enhance the cookie batter, etc. when you do this.

In addition, what non-dairy milk you use makes a difference. If you are substituting regular milk with a very low fat or non fat almond or rice milk, etc., also add a teaspoon of oil per cup (of regular milk you would have used) to make up for the lack of fat that would have been in the original milk. In some recipes, you will not notice a difference and in others, a big difference. As with the margarine substitute, the milk substitute will have more water, so sometimes cookie batter is a bit more “wet” or softer, as another poster found out in her baking (that is why some recipes say, “Do not substitute margarine in this recipe”). If this happens, try to bake just one cookie, if possible, and if it spreads out too much, it has too much liquid. Gently stir in just a spoon (about a tablespoon) of flour into your batter. Then see if the next cookie spreads or bakes up nicely.

Mike, I found that sometimes the bean flour is too strong as well. If it happened, I put the flour in a saute pan, dry, and stir it in the pan a few minutes on medium to toast the flour a bit. It cooks the flour, softens the bean flavor, and adds a nice color to the gravy, etc. (depending on the flour blend, almost a slight nutty taste, not objectionable). Then I proceed with the recipe. Hope it helps.

I hope this all makes sense. I have been trying to bake/cook all day myself, trying not to have a "senior" moment this late.. I am not yet a senior! Holding it back, I hope... good luck everyone.

To success!,
CatieB

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• Reply by teriknack on November 24, 2011 at 3:27 pm
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Thanks for that insight into the flour situation. That really helps.

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• Reply by teriknack on November 24, 2011 at 3:29 pm
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Thanks for the info. I kept them in an airtight container but didn't know about the bay leaves; I'll try them out.

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• Reply by teriknack on November 24, 2011 at 3:40 pm
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I had just tried some recipes from a cookbook that was dairy free along with gluten free. I'll try the garbanzo and fava flour since I wanted to try some of these recipes. I had gotten some garbanzo flour but then found the bugs in it. I'll try the bay leaves with the next one I get to keep the bugs out.

I've been pretty successful with the dairy alternatives...soy, almond, etc. And there seems to be more availability than there was a few years ago when soy seemed to be the only thing. I found out that goat and sheep's milk are tolerated by lactose intolerance and have been trying to find some of those cheeses. I find more in the goat than the sheep. I wish I could get some sheep's milk to make ricotta and other soft cheeses for desserts. Even buffalo milk/cheese is tolerated well. So I'm trying to incorporate those into my baking. I'm also trying to lighten the recipes to lower the fat content [also have high cholesterol] but find that the mediterranean diet does well. Even in Italy they use sheep's milk ricotta. I learned that lactose intolerance in common in mediterranean ancestry, so am trying to work with that.

Thanks for your insights.

Besides, I like to try out recipes that others have done the work as I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to the specialty flours and such.

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• Reply by teriknack on November 24, 2011 at 3:43 pm
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Thanks...I'm learning how to do the substitutions. It's easier for me to try someone else's recipes that have the right consistency with the right ingredients. Besides, I'm trying to eat healthy along with eliminating lactose and high fat.

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• Reply by teriknack on November 24, 2011 at 3:52 pm
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Thanks for the helpful hint on the fat substitution. I've been trying to incorporate some olive oil instead of butter or at least finding the right formulation to substitute. At least I can find alternative sources for the sour cream and cream cheese. Still looking for other dairy substitutions. I can handle a "little" dairy but am trying to make the substitutions work for me. Thanks for the help.

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