Are you wondering what brand makes the best gluten free flour out there? Then we have the answers you are looking for! When conducting research for this article, we scoured dozens of social media posts that solicited recommendations for the best gluten free all purpose flour brands. We then summarized the results for you in an easy to digest format.
So what does this all mean? It means that these recommendations for the best gluten free all purpose flour brands are not just arbitrary recommendations from one person whose preferences might be different than your own. Instead, they are based on a whole community of gluten free foodies with a variety of different preferences.
What gluten free flour brands were considered
What gluten free all purpose flour brands were considered in this analysis? We considered any gluten free flour brand that was recommended by at least two or three different people across the posts we analyzed. Specifically, the following gluten free all purpose flour brands were considered.
- Better Batter
- Bob’s Red Mill
- Cup4cup
- gfJules
- King Arthur
- Krusteaz
- Namaste
- Pamela’s
- Pillsbury
Most recommended gluten free flour brands
So what gluten free flour brands were most recommended by the gluten free community? We collected information from 13 social media posts that solicited recommendations for the best gluten free all purpose flour brands. Across these posts, there were over 60 comments that recommended one of the gluten free flour brands that was in consideration.
When we dug into the numbers, we saw that Bob’s Red Mill was the brand that was the most frequently recommended brand. In total, about 43% of the comments mentioned Bob’s Red Mill as being the best gluten free flour brand. In second place was Cup4Cup, which was recommended in about 19% of all comments. King Arthur rounded out the top 3 with about 17.5% of all comments recommending it.
In addition to just looking at the number of comments that recommended each gluten free flour brand, we also considered the number of likes that each comment had. The thinking here was that if someone agreed with a comment that already existed, they would be more likely to like the existing comment then create a new comment that repeated what the existing comment said.
In total there were around 200 likes associated with comments that recommended one of the gluten free all purpose flour brands in consideration. We treated each like as one vote for that gluten free flour brand. When we looked at how the likes broke out across all of our different brands, we saw that Bob’s Red Mill was still the leading gluten free flour brand. In total 43.5% of all likes were associated with comments that mentioned Bob’s Red Mill. Just as we saw before, Cup4Cup and King Arthur came in second and third place, respectively.
More on our top gluten free flour brand
Of course we would never recommend a product without first testing it out ourselves. We tested out Bob’s Red Mill all purpose flour and rated it on a few main dimensions that are important for shoppers who are looking for a new gluten all purpose flour. Specifically, we rated the flour on texture, flavor, and accessibility.
Bob’s Red Mill makes a few different gluten free all purpose flour blends, so we need to be clear about which of their products we are rating. For the purpose of this article, we will be discussing Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Mix. This product was chosen because it is one of the more popular and accessible all purpose flour blends that Bob’s Red Mill makes.
Ratings
Flavor
5/5
The first dimension that we rated Bob’s Red Mill flour on was flavor. Flavor is an important dimension to consider when you are looking for a new all purpose flour blend because some individual types of gluten free flour such as chickpea flour have strong flavors that can impact the flavor of the dishes you make. We found that the Bob’s Red Mill flour had a neutral flavor that did not impact the flavor of the dishes that are made with it. For this reason, we gave Bob’s Red Mill flour a 5 star rating in flavor.
Texture
4.7/5
The next dimension that we rated Bob’s Red Mill flour on was texture. We were not so much concerned with the texture of the raw flour as the texture of the dishes and baked goods that were made with the flour. We used Bob’s Red Mill flour to make a variety of dishes including bagels, pizza crust, cupcakes, and cookies and found that all of these dishes had nice textures that were similar to that of their gluten containing counterparts. The only minor issue we found was that cupcakes that are made with Bob’s Red Mill flour were sometimes more likely to sink in the middle than cupcakes that were made with regular wheat flour. For this reason, we gave the Bob’s Red Mill flour 4.7 out of 5 stars.
Accessibility
4.7/5
The final dimension we rated our wining flour on was accessibility. Different gluten free flours behave differently so it is best to find one gluten free flour you like and stick with that flour as much as possible. For that reason, it is important that the gluten free flour brand you settle on is easily accessible so that you can keep buying it over and over again. We went to five different grocery store chains that carry gluten free products and found that 4 out of the 5 chains carried the Bob’s Red Mill flour we were looking for. We also looked online and found multiple retailers that stock Bob’s Red Mill flour and have fast delivery. For that reason, we gave the Bob’s Red Mill flour a 4.7 rating for accessibility.
When to opt for other gluten free flour brands
If you are avoiding gums
So when should you consider other gluten free flour brands? If you are avoiding gums then you should avoid Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Mix. This mix contains xanthem gum as a gluten replacement. If you are looking for gluten free all purpose flour brands that do not contain gums then you could opt for King Arthur flour. King Arthur flour was the flour that was the third most recommended all purpose flour brand and it is made without any added gums.
Methodology and raw data
In order to collect data for this article, we looked at all of the reddit posts that show up on the first 3 pages of the search results for the following google search: “best gluten free flour site:reddit.com”. We examined the content of the posts to determine which posts were looking for recommendations for pre-made gluten free flour mixes, which posts were recommending one specific flour mix, and which one were looking for recommendations for blends that could be made at home.
We selected all of the posts that were asking for recommendations for pre-made gluten free flour mixes and considered those. We considered all top level comments for all posts that met that criteria. We excluded comments that mentioned more than two different all purpose flour brands.
Other recommendations
Are you looking for recommendations for the best gluten free bread brands out there? Check out our article on the best gluten free bread brands!
Are you looking for recommendations for the best gluten free pasta brand? Then check out this article to see what pasta brands are considered the best of the best by the gluten free community.
