How To Make Your Own Gluten-Free Pastry Flour

The point of Gluten-Free DIYers, is to give YOU options, like I give my cottage food business' clients. And so I have deconstructed my gluten-free pastry flour mix in a way that should accommodate many dietary requirements/preferences. Paired with my "Ultimate Flour Guide" and my "Hydrocolloid as Gluten Replacer" posts, it's a very powerful and customizable tool!

In this post you will find: my customizable recipe, ingredient choices, untested substitution ideas, commercial mixes and "doctored" commercial mixes.

Gluten-Free Pastry Flour Mix

This recipe blueprint shows you how to make and customize your own gluten-free pastry flour mix, based on available ingredients and dietary preferences. Please note these % are by mass.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: ingredient

Cuisine: American

Keyword: flour, gluten-free, ingredient

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes minutes

Amount: 1000 grams

Calories: 3565kcal

Author: Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers

Cost: 12

Equipment

• 1 digital scale
• 1 Stand Mixer or big bowl and whisk

Ingredients

• 250 grams white rice flour
• 170 grams corn starch
• 100 grams tapioca starch
• 60 grams potato starch
• 200 grams brown rice flour
• 130 grams non-fat dry milk powder please read notes for a dairy-free version
• 70 grams cassava flour
• 20 grams xanthan gum

Instructions

• Weigh each ingredient and place in the bowl of a stand mixer.
• Mix with the whisk attachment for 5 minutes.
• Store in a Ziplock bag labeled "GF Pastry Flour", and write down the earliest expiration date of the flours used on the bag.
• Store in the pantry at room temperature, and use before the expiration date.

Notes

If you would like to make gluten-free dairy-free pastry flour, please click for my recipe!

If you need to make other substitutions due to additional allergies or ingredient availability, please use the recipe blueprint below along with my GF flour guide. 

Percentages are expressed by mass

• 25% starchy/low protein flour (like white rice flour if possible)
• 33% starch (almost half corn starch if possible)
• 20% medium protein flour
• 13% dairy-free milk powder (coconut, oat, rice, almond)
• 7% high water absorption flour (for moisture retention)
• 2% hydrocolloid

Nutrition

Serving: 1000g | Calories: 3565kcal | Carbohydrates: 790g | Protein: 75g | Fat: 8.8g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 1396mg | Potassium: 3193mg | Fiber: 37g | Sugar: 77g | Calcium: 1675mg | Iron: 5.7mg

Ingredient Choices

There isn't really a need here to use a hydrocolloid other than xanthan gum, UNLESS you have a corn allergy or cannot tolerate it. Then I would recommend guar gum. However, before you try guar gum, check out the Namaste brand; their FAQ states that their xanthan gum is not derived from corn. Worth looking into!

Milk Powder is a bit general, so let me give some examples of what this can be. Bolded are the ones I have personally tested. If dairy is not a concern, I highly recommend non-fat dry milk; though buttermilk powder also falls in this category, please note its high fat content may affect the crust texture. However, if baking for someone with a milk allergy, here are my recommendations: coconut milk powder, oat milk powder, rice milk powder, pea milk powder, soy milk powder, almond milk powder. The dairy-free version of my pastry flour is also available here!

Untested Examples

Here are untested examples (as of 11/9/23) of the formulation. One is allergen-free, and is recommended for those with rice and dairy sensitivities. I have replaced the white rice flour with a combo of sorghum (which has a similar protein content) and tapioca starch. I have replaced brown rice flour with millet flour, as they both contain a moderate amount of proteins and similar amounts of dietary fibers.

The next mix is a corn-free version of the pastry flour, where I also subbed guar gum for xanthan gum (3:2 ratio). Corn starch's role is to make pastries crispy; research has shown that amylose content is linked to increased crispness. Because of this, I recommend replacing corn starch with arrowroot starch and rice flours. This will increase the amylose content of the pastry flour. Please see the Ultimate Flour Guide to find these values!

Commercial Mixes

I'd like to give credit to Gluten-Free on a Shoestring who reverse-engineered her pastry flour mix from the Cup4Cup brand, which this mix is inspired by. And yep, you could buy Cup4Cup if you have no dietary restrictions. In spite of losing a bit of nutrition, you will still bake a great product (only the formulation containing milk powder though, that's the blue bag!) This is the only commercial mix I recommend for gluten-free pastry flour.

*Note: As of Fall 2024, Cup4Cup no longer blends their flour with milk powder. I strongly recommend adding 13% milk powder by mass if choosing this brand for your pastry flour!

Doctored Mixes

If you are determined to use your bag of all-purpose gluten-free flour, my recommendations are as follows:

• Add 17% corn starch by mass (only applicable if your mix doesn't contain corn starch)
• Add 13% of milk powder by mass (or 7% if using coconut milk powder)
• Add 2% by mass xanthan gum (only applicable if your mix doesn't contain xanthan gum)

So for example, if your recipe calls for 100 grams of pastry flour, you would use: 17 grams of corn starch, 13 grams of milk powder, 2 grams of xanthan gum and 68 grams of your gluten-free flour mix.

I will update this page as I test more combinations. If you make your own formulation following this blueprint, please let us know (in the comments on or social media) so we can help as many readers as possible!

As soon as you have your gluten-free pastry flour mix, check out these recipes you can use!