Get Familiar With These Wheat Flour Alternatives If Your Child Has A Gluten Allergy

If your child shows concerning symptoms after consuming products that contain gluten, it's important to have him or her tested for allergies. If the test comes back and indicates that your child is indeed allergic to gluten, you'll need to make some changes to how you cook. While it will also be a challenge to find gluten-free foods when you're out in public, you can adopt some new baking habits at home to provide a diet that is safe for your child. The big change that you'll need to make is no longer using wheat flour. Instead, here are some alternatives that you can use:

Rice Flour

White or brown rice flour is a common wheat flour alternative that many people use when cooking for those with gluten allergies. This product is one of the most common gluten-free flours, which means that you'll be able to easily find it at any health food store — and at many conventional grocery stores, too. This flour is easy to bake with, and you'll find countless recipes online and in gluten-free cookbooks that show you how to use rice flour for cakes, bread, cookies, muffins, and even breading on chicken and fish.

Bean Flour

Bean flour is another common gluten-free alternative to wheat flour. It has a stronger taste than rice flour; whereas the taste of rice flour is somewhat similar to wheat flour, bean flour tastes a little like beans. You'll want to experiment with how you use this flour. While it can be a valuable gluten-free flour for a variety of baking, some people find that the bean taste is evident in the finished product. As such, as your child may not be fond of bean flour in sweet items such as cookies and cake.

Black Beans

While beans can be ground into flour for those with gluten allergies, they can also be cooked and used in a variety of recipes. Many allergy-conscious people use black beans for dessert recipes. On the surface, doing so might seem a little strange, but the reality is that cooked black beans work well in many applications. Black bean chocolate brownies and chocolate cake, for example, tend to be moist — and the powerful flavor of the cocoa is often enough to hide the bean taste in these baked goods. Changing your baking approach can take a little work, but you'll be confident in knowing that the food you serve your allergic child is safe.

Contact a local allergist for more information and assistance. 


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