At least that’s always been my feeling. It’s their proprietary “superfine” brown rice flour grind, which completely eliminates the grittiness of a typical rice bread. They also have a garfava flour (half garbanzo and half fava bean) with no bean-y bitter aftertaste. How do they do that?

Steve with his son, outside the Authentic Foods facility
in Southern California.

We don’t actually use the garfava in the bakery (just a personal bias against bean flours I guess) but we certainly depend on that superfine brown rice flour. It’s California-grown, too, which is nice. Last month we went through over 300 lb. of it.

This is my favorite supplier, though, not just because the flour is so good. It’s really because the owner, Steve is such a pleasure to deal with. He’s always been there to help an aspiring gluten-free baker, from my earliest early days of me trying his blueberry muffins and realizing that gluten-free can be better than my old mixes(!), to him giving me recipes that I could make easily with one of his flour blends (say goodbye to having ten different bags of flour on the counter to make a single batch of cookies!), to now, still generously sharing his time and advice with an aspiring gf-business-person. Thank you, Steve!

Oh! And don’t you hate that, about gluten-free baking? I remember what a schlep it always was to have to make the flour blend to make the bread to make the lunches for school tomorrow. Ugh.

Flour Blends and Cookbooks Make Great Gift Sets

Last year my favorite gift to give people was a bag of Authentic Foods Multiblend with the book, Cooking Gluten Free! by Karen Robertson. I loved that book to shreds. It was packed with amazing baking recipes at the end that use a lot of Multiblend, an equally amazing mix of six different ingredients, and the only flour you would need for many items in the book. It was full of gourmet dinner-type recipes, too, by chefs, and was an all-around great cookbook.

Sadly, that book is a little harder to get now. (Fortunately, Multiblend is still available.) So this year, my new favorite gift will be the book Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts and a bag of Authentic Foods Classical Blend. I’ll also need to include some xanthan gum with this set, though, because it’s not in the flour mix.

Although I guess in my case this year, people will be expecting gingerbread cookies.

5 Responses to “Authentic Foods makes the best GF flour blends & mixes”

1. seamaiden Says:
   November 26th, 2007 at 12:57 am

   I couldn’t agree more- Steve of Authentic Foods is really terrific to deal with. I haven’t made a phone order in years, but I used to when I was in college and I remember how helpful Steve was. I think AF is a great company, especially for their high quality basic flours like brown rice and garfava. Personally I get the best results for breads out of garfava, following Bette Hagman’s recipes, so I’m quite big on bean flour at my house. It’s also a great flour for a (mostly) vegetarian baker like me. So a hearty yay all around for Authentic Foods. (and no, i have no affiliation. lol.) Oh yes, and their rye flavor is cool, too.

   -Sea

2. Sandee Says:
   November 26th, 2007 at 7:15 am

   Thanks, Seamaiden, for joining in! (I knew if I wrote about Steve I’d get a bite - - He’s been a beloved part of GF life for a long time. )

   Garfava also helps reduce the carb count in breads - GF food always seems higher in carbs and calories than traditional.

3. seamaiden Says:
   November 26th, 2007 at 5:21 pm

   You’re welcome, Sandee. And thanks for the link! I’ll be sure to add you to my links (if I haven’t already- will have to check) next time I do a major update on my blog.

   -Sea

4. Sandee Says:
   November 29th, 2007 at 4:51 pm

   Oooh, thank you. Links are always welcome!

5. thesensitivebaker.com blog » Blog Archive » State of the Bakery report Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

   [...] At the same time, the cost of ingredients is squeezing bakeries of all sorts, gf or wheaty. Rice flour has gone up 20% from when we started a year ago, to more than $40 for a 50 lb. bag. Steve thinks it will go a lot higher. It’s not just flour, either. It’s eggs and evaporated cane juice and chocolate, everything. [...]

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