Glutenfree
Xanthan Gum
What is it and how do you use it?
Xanthan Gum is a really common food additive, in fact the chances are you eat it all the time in your regular diet without knowing. Xanthan Gum is created by fermenting sugar, the process creates a gooey gum which can be turned into a powder.
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This powder is really useful if you are following a Gluten Free diet and it will become a store cupboard essential! You can use it in baking and cooking to help improve the crumb texture of your bake. When you remove gluten from your bakes you will find the resulting texture can be grainy or powdery because you are missing the elasticity gluten naturally creates. Xanthan Gum helps to replicate this texture to some extent by holding the ingredients together and stopping them separating in the baking process.
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How do you use it?
First check if your flour already has Xanthum Gum included, some blends will have it in. You can still add more but if you add too much your mixture or bake will be too sticky. Honestly it is a bit of trial and error, but below is a guide.
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Xanthan Gum to Flour Ratio Guide:
Bread: 2 teaspoons to 500g Flour
Cakes: 1/4 teaspoon to 200g Flour
Pastry: pinch to 100g Flour