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The world of baking offers a vast array of wheat-free and alternative flours—proving that gluten isn’t necessary for great flavor. From bean-based blends to nutty spelt and hearty buckwheat, the variety can be overwhelming. Some substitutes even contain gluten, making selection tricky. To navigate this landscape with confidence and avoid allergens, use this simple guide as your starting point for understanding alternative flours.
Historically, 'flour' primarily referred to ground wheat in Western contexts, but today, the term has expanded to include a broad spectrum of finely milled plant-based powders. These versatile ingredients serve as the backbone of batters, thickeners, and coatings in cooking and baking. Most alternative flours can be found in the grocery store’s baking section or, when gluten-free, in designated specialty aisles.
Amaranth Flour
Flours aren’t just made from grains and starchy tubers—seeds can be ground into fine powders too. Amaranth flour is produced by milling the seeds of the amaranth plant, resulting in a gluten-free, light brown flour with a mild nutty and malty taste. Like potato starch, amaranth flour is often combined with other ingredients since it lacks the structure to stand alone in baking. But that shouldn’t stop you from experimenting with it! While a 100% amaranth flour cake may not rise tall, it’s perfect for pancakes and traditional flatbreads like rajgira aloo roti and amaranth tortillas.
Barley Flour
While barley isn’t wheat, it is still a grain—and not an option for those with gluten sensitivities. Though lower in gluten, it isn’t gluten-free. Made by grinding dried pearled or whole barley, this flour closely resembles whole grain wheat flour in both texture and color. Barley flour has a distinctively earthy, nutty taste that enhances baked goods. With a gluten content of around five to eight percent, it provides enough structure to work as the primary flour in cakes, cookies, and breads with decent results.
Bean Flours
Bean enthusiasts have an abundance of flavorful and adaptable flours to explore. Nearly any bean can be ground into flour, but some of the most popular choices include chickpea, black, pinto, pea, fava, navy, and mung bean. The process involves soaking whole beans, drying them, and milling them into a fine powder. These flours vary in color and taste, yet they often share a nutty, earthy flavor and a thick consistency that enhances batters. Their taste closely mirrors the original bean, so if you enjoy whole chickpeas, you’ll likely appreciate chickpea flour. As gluten-free options, bean flours work well in baking when combined with other ingredients for structure. Try making veggie pakodas or bean flour brownies.
Buckwheat Flour
Despite its name, buckwheat flour has no relation to wheat. It is derived from finely grinding the heart-shaped seeds of the common buckwheat plant. This speckled brown flour is both gluten-free and grain-free, offering a bold, distinctive taste in baked goods. With its rich, nutty aroma—reminiscent of peanut butter—and an earthy, slightly tangy undertone, buckwheat flour adds depth to recipes. It’s particularly well-suited for sourdough bread when blended with other flours.
You may have noticed a pattern with gluten-free flours—they often can’t replace all-purpose flour in a 1:1 ratio and require additional ingredients for structure. Buckwheat flour follows the same rule. To avoid dense or collapsed bakes, it’s best to use recipes specifically designed for buckwheat. However, if you just want to introduce its deep, nutty flavor into your favorite coffee cake, swap a couple of tablespoons of all-purpose flour for an equal amount of buckwheat flour. Its earthy taste pairs exceptionally well with bold flavors like chocolate, cinnamon, nuts, caramel, and roasted fruits. It’s especially beloved in pancakes.
Cassava Flour
What do cassava, potato, corn, and rice flours have in common? They all contain starch that can be extracted to create a separate product, often leading to confusion. Cassava flour, however, is distinct from cassava starch (also known as tapioca starch). This gluten-free, grain-free flour is made by drying and finely milling the entire cassava tuber, including its starch. The result is a smooth, white powder with a neutral to mild flavor. Unlike some gluten-free flours that can feel gritty, cassava flour has a soft texture similar to all-purpose flour. Many recipes work perfectly fine using only cassava flour, without needing extra binders. Thanks to its natural starch content, it also forms a delightful crust in baked goods, making it an excellent choice for gluten-free breading or yeast-based treats like this pizza crust.
Coconut Flour
Coconut flour is created by drying and finely grinding the white flesh of mature coconuts. This gluten-free and grain-free flour has a loose, free-flowing texture that differs from the consistency of all-purpose flour. While its flavor is mild, it retains a distinct coconut taste, so if you’re not fond of coconut, it might not be suitable for you.
Another factor to consider is its absorbency. Coconut flour is highly fibrous and absorbs much more liquid than all-purpose flour. In fact, Arrowhead Mills recommends using only 25% of the wheat flour quantity in any recipe. With such a small amount of coconut flour, and lacking the binding properties of gluten or starch, adjustments to the recipe are necessary—typically, increasing the binding ingredients like eggs. Rather than attempting to directly replace all-purpose flour, it's better to look for recipes specifically designed to work with coconut flour.
Corn Flour
Corn flour, often confused with corn starch, is created by grinding the entire dried corn kernel into a fine, powdery texture. This gluten-free flour can be found in several colors, with yellow and white being the most common (the white variety is often labeled as masa harina). There are also red and blue corn flours available. Its texture is finer than cornmeal, lending a more delicate, cake-like crumb. While its flavor is mild, corn flour still imparts a subtle corn taste to baked goods like cakes, cookies, tortillas, and flatbreads. It pairs well with other flours in cakes or can serve as a flavorful breading for dishes.
Nut Flours
Nut flours are becoming increasingly popular, much like bean flours, and can now be found in many grocery stores. While almond flour is the most well-known, other varieties such as pistachio, hazelnut, and walnut flours are also available. These flours are gluten-free, grain-free, and pack a lot of flavor. Made by grinding the nut into a fine powder, each type of nut flour carries the distinct taste of its namesake nut. However, nut flours tend to have a slightly gritty texture, even when finely ground, which can make baked goods more fragile or crumbly. To improve texture and structure, it's best to pair nut flours with other binding agents or starches.
Oat Flour
Oat flour is derived from finely grinding the same oat groats used to make traditional old-fashioned and steel-cut oats. This flour is gluten-free and offers the same nutritional benefits as a bowl of oatmeal. Due to its neutral flavor and starch content, oat flour works wonderfully as a wheat flour alternative in baked goods. The flour binds well when liquid is added, allowing cakes and cookies to rise nicely, though they may have a heartier texture. It can also be used in gluten-free bread recipes, although the result won't be as chewy as high-gluten breads.
There isn't a precise formula for substituting oat flour in place of wheat flour, but the general guideline is to replace it in equal weights, not by volume. Oat flour is available in most grocery stores, but it's also simple to make your own by grinding oats in a food processor, though the resulting flour may be coarser.
Potato flour
Potato flour is a finely ground powder created by drying and pulverizing skinless potatoes. Unlike potato starch, which is purely extracted starch, potato flour retains the natural starches, proteins, and fibers found in the potato. This flour is gluten-free, grain-free, and has a light yellow color with a mild potato flavor. Thanks to its starch content, it excels at retaining moisture, making cakes and breads moist. However, when used on its own, it may not provide enough structure to support the moisture it absorbs, potentially leading to collapse. It’s best not to replace all-purpose flour entirely with potato flour. Most recipes will combine it with another flour, so it’s a good idea to look for ones specifically designed for potato flour.
Rice flour
Rice flour is produced by finely grinding rice, typically white rice, while it's dry. In addition to the common white rice variety, brown rice flour is available, which retains the bran, endosperm, and germ. Sweet or glutinous rice flour is also made by milling this specific type of rice. It's important to distinguish rice flour from rice starch, as the latter is made by extracting starch from rice grains through a different process.
All varieties of rice flour, including glutinous rice flour, are gluten-free. The flavor is mild and slightly floral, making it a perfect backdrop to enhance other ingredients. It’s widely used in Asian cooking for preparing doughs and batters that can either be sticky and chewy or light and airy. Rice flour also works well as a thickener and binder, ideal for adding substance to gravies, soups, and sauces. Use sweet rice flour to create a rich gluten-free gravy. You can easily find rice flour in most grocery stores or Asian markets.
Rye flour
Rye, barley, and wheat are the three main cereal grains, and like the other gluten-containing grains, rye flour is not gluten-free. Rye flour is produced by grinding rye berries into a fine powder. It has a light brown color and imparts a hearty texture to baked goods, particularly bread. Rye has a unique flavor that some may consider an acquired taste—earthy, with caramel notes and a mild acidity. It’s not for everyone, but if you enjoy it, you can swap it into recipes at a 1:1 ratio for all-purpose flour. King Arthur Flour offers some great advice on how to incorporate rye flour into your baking.
Teff flour
I first encountered teff from a wall display inside an Ethiopian restaurant in Brooklyn, which led me to discover that teff is the world’s tiniest grain. It’s used to make a wonderfully spongy bread called ‘injera,’ known for its distinct flavor. Despite being a grain, teff is a gluten-free option. The flour is usually light creamy or darker in hue and carries a mild, nutty, slightly sweet flavor. Made by milling the tiny grain into a fine powder, teff flour can be used in various baked goods such as pancakes, muffins, and cookies, or the famous injera bread. Teff is commonly added to other flours for structural support, with recommendations to replace up to 25% of the all-purpose flour in a recipe with teff for an added depth of flavor. Any more than that can cause the end product to be too dense.
