Gluten-Free Basic Flour Mix

Disclaimer: Mangala Deshmukh is NOT a licensed Dietician/ Nutritionist.
The information on this website is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your health provider prior to starting any diet.

We usually turn to Rice when confronted with wheat allergy or the need to stay away from Gluten. Rice flour is the base of most cake, cookie, bread and all purpose gluten free flour mixes. Rice, however, does not provide great nutrition and the dough can be quite crumbly, especially when made egg free. I have combined two amazingly nutritious gluten free flours—Amaranth and Sorghum, with a starch for binding, to produce fantastic puris, rotis and parathas. Amaranth, (the Indian Rajgira) and Sorghum (Jowar in India) are easily available, and not just in the Indian stores, but also in specialty food markets and increasingly in mainstream grocery stores in the US.

Amaranth is an excellent source of protein which contains those amino acids that are usually found only in animal foods. It is loaded with fiber, iron, calcium, vitamins and minerals, and is significantly more nutritious than whole wheat. The name ‘Amaranth’ itself comes from the Latin root word ‘amar’, meaning long-lived. Relate it to the Sanskrit ‘amar’ which means ‘immortal’!

Sorghum is one of the oldest known grains, very nutritious, and high in iron, calcium and potassium. Because the protein and starch in sorghum are digested more slowly than that of other cereals, it has a glycemic index that is among the lowest of all food grains.

I combine Amaranth and Sorghum, with corn starch for binding (use Tapioca starch if corn is an issue) and I add a very small quantity of a type of gum—Xanthan gum. You could also use another gum called Guar gum. Both are available in specialty food stores. Gums are used frequently in gluten free foods, because they help to create the spongy, elastic texture which gluten provides. I do not use soy as it is an established allergenic food and I also stay away from chick pea and varied bean flours as they may not suit one and all.

Your chapattis will be easier to roll, the edges will not be uneven and even a thinly rolled chapatti will not tear. In fact, wheat eating family members will hardly be able to tell the difference. It does take a little bit of practice if you have not worked with gluten free flours before, but take it from me, it only gets better and soon enough you will want to make allergy free puris for everyone!

Ingredients:

Amaranth Flour / Rajgira Atta – 1 cup (3.8 ounces)
Sorghum Flour / Jawar Atta – 1 cup (4.4 ounces)
Cornstarch – ¾ cup (3.4 ounces)
Xanthan Gum – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp

Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix all flours well taking care that bowl and mixing spoons are dry.
2. Mix in Salt and Xanthan Gum and mix both well into the flours.
3. Make double the quantity if you like and store in dry, airtight jars

Tip:
To retain freshness, place jar/s in the fridge.

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144 thoughts on “Gluten-Free Basic Flour Mix

  1. Thank you so much for this! I have gluten issue and didnt think I would be abke to cook these. God bless!

  2. Hi. Can I sub guar gum vs xanthan gum? And will use potato starch vs cornstarch. Can’t wait to try this recipe, soon! Thanks so much!

  3. Hi,

    What is Tapoica starch, potato starch or corn starch called in India? We can get jowar and rajgiri aata in India and I can take xanthan gum packets since they last a long while but would like to buy the starches from India like other flours. Please help. I tried the pooris and they came out awesome

  4. Hi ladies. All of your recipes have been delicious. I’d like to try this one but can you please post a video or instructions on how to make the gluten free parathas from start to finish including water, proper frying and the whole bit? I’m new to making Indian breads! Thank you 🙂

  5. Hi,
    Your gluten free basic mix looks excellent.I have gluten allergy and diabetic too.So instead of corn starch can I use flax seed powder.
    Thanks.

  6. Hi there, I really want to try and make these rotis but can i use chick pea flour instead of xanthan gum or guar gum? I am worried about the harmful side effects of using the gums. Thanks, Beth

    1. Hi Beth,
      The gum provides a elasticity/chewiness to the rotis that the chick pea flour will not. If you are ok with that then we are sure you can switch the two.

  7. Hi

    My son is recently diagnosed with Celiac. I’m happy and relieved to find the GF roti mix by Mangala Deshmukh – but he is allergic to Amaranth can you please tell me what I can use as substitute. I will use potato starch instead of corn.

    Thanks a mil.

  8. Dear Ma’am,

    This basic flour recipie is simply wonderful. After our family was diaognised with a gluten allergy, things have been quite different. We already had a lactose (dairy) allergy which was coming along fine till the Gulten hit us. I am now managing the dairy and gluten bit quite well thanks to your basic flour recipie (thank you again for that.) HOwever, i am struggling to find a bread / pav recipie that will be both gluten and dairy free. Is this something you can help me with? I am sure a lot of your viewers who follow these diets will benifit alongwith me 🙂

  9. may be if some one can enlighten me as to what the mashed potato function is I may be able to think of something else to use

    Thanks

  10. I want to find something else to use other than mashed potatoes as I am trying to keep too much carbs out of my diet. Any suggestions what else I could use instead with this flour mix for my chapati’s

    regards
    Loz

  11. Hi ladies thanks a lot Ivhe tried ur receive of gluten free chapati without adding potatoes and used tapioca starch instead of corn. Rotties were fantastic but now problem I cannot find amaranth flour in Toronto which is certified gluten free do u guys suggest any alternative of amaranth flour.Although many Indian stores r close to my place but I m Geri much afraid of any contaminations in it. Kindly email.me back.

    Erum

  12. Unfortunately, most flours at indian grocery stores process their gf flours on same facility or equipment as wheat. My son is gluten intolerance, and it’s very important to read the allergy warning on labels. I was able to find the flours needed for the gf chapatti as well as chickpea flour on nuts.com. i love that site. thanks for your recipes. much appreciated.

  13. Hi, Thanks a million for this recipe! today we made poori out of this – without xanthum/guar gum and it came out fantastic!!! At last, my son had poori and I had piece of mind! Thanks again!

  14. Thanks so much!! Recently learned of my gluten intolerance, and this is such a life-saver…. tasted pretty much like regular rotis!

  15. I tried gluten free stuffed parathas with this flour. It came out really good. My husband could not tell if it was gluten free.

    DO you have gluten free recipe for BREAD, CAKE and PIZZA.

    I would really appreciate if you could put that.

    Anjali

  16. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes. I absolutely LOVE you guys! I was searching over the Web for alternatives to Xanthum or Gaur Gum….I came across just using Chia seeds and flax seed powder. How do you think that will be? Thank you in advance.

    1. Hi Monica,

      Unfortunately, we have tried this recipe exactly as it was given to us by Mangala Aunty and have not tried any substitutions. If you do try it, we’d love to hear your feedback.

  17. Hi,
    Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I have been searching for Gluten free roti options, can’t wait to try this one..

    -Akshay

  18. Hello. I have recently had to start eating gluten free because my 6 month old has eczema due to a wheat allergy. I have experimented with bajra and ragi flours for making roti, and they are tasty, but I still miss gehun ki roti…. My question is do you think I could possibly make a similar for mix using bajra and/or ragi?

    1. Hi Kristie,

      Unfortunately, we have not experimented with the different flours when making this mix. This is Mangala Deshmukh’s recipe and we followed it exactly.

  19. I tried this recipe, and it leaves a strange aftertaste. I’m not sure if it’s the jowar atta or Sorgham. Any suggestions to
    use a different mix? My son cannot eat wheat, and he misses rotis. I’ve tried this twice on him, and he just won’t eat them. Looking for help!

  20. hello mangala aunty
    your gluten free flour recipe is excellent
    my husband is allergic to wheat so i could not make rotis and puris for him
    i tried out with gluten free flour but i could not get the taste and they just keep breaking all the time….its hard to work out with the flour
    thanks for the new flour mix…i will try it out

  21. Hello, I was wondering how much water I would need to make the dough. Also, would this mix be ok for dhal puri roti? Please send any suggestinons. Thank you.

  22. Hi,

    Could you use the basic flour mix alone to make the chappatis or must you add the boiled potato? I’m just thinking about the convenience issue. If I have a batch of flour ready, I can quickly make a few chappatis, otherwise I will have to first boil and then mash potatoes…time consuming when you come home from work and have a hungry 8 year old! Any advice?

    1. Hi mkb,

      We’re sorry but we’ve not tried it without the potato. You could possibly use mashed potato flakes (mainly as the binding agent). Let us know if you try it.

      1. I wonder if you could use an instant mashed potato mix instead I’m not sure if all the ingredients in those are gluten free.

    2. I make these using curd (yogurt) instead of the boiled and mashed potato. In fact, if I have enough yogurt I use only that and don’t add water at all. They come out very soft and tasty. Thank you very much Hetal, Anuja and Mangala Aunty for developing and disseminating this recipe.

  23. hi,

    Can you please share allergen free sandwich bread recipe. I tried many recipes but unable to do. My son loves bread, pizza but i cant give him any since he is allergic to wheat, milk and eggs.

  24. I am soooo gonna try this. I truly thank you for taking the time for us gluten allergic peeps. I will let you know how they turn out ! Never tried making gluten free roti/parathas before so it should be fun ! I love watching your videos 🙂

  25. My mother used this mix to make GF parathas for me, and they are WONDERFUL. I actually think they’re tastier than gluteny parathas!

    And they even freeze well, if you put parchment paper between each one, so they’re available as delicious comfort food when I’m not feeling well. Thank you so much for this recipe 🙂

  26. My husband is on GF diet and he misses rotis and poori. thanks for these recipes and please send me more GF recipes , i would love to try it .is Sorgham flour same as Sweet Sorgham flour made by Bob red mills ?

  27. Manjala, at the beginning of the video was giving a list of the breads that could be made with this flour combination. However, because of her accent, I couldn’t understand what those breads were. I would like to make them so, could you tell me what they were? Perhaps, you might put subtitles when you have a guest that speaks with a heavier Indian accent so that those of us who are not Indian will be better able to understand.
    I am on a gluten free diet, love Indian cuisine and so want to make as many gluten options as are available and from the little that I could understand, they sounded great.

  28. Can you use this mixture with any recipe that calls for regular flour? Do you subsitute it Cup for Cup? Or is there a different ratio?

  29. THANK YOU!!! for this recipe… It saved my life! truly…

    My 7 year old daughter got diagnosed with this gluten / wheat allergy a month back and first thing my hubby and I started looking for sites how to make wheatless rotis….

    Your recipe is perfect.. Didnt go anywhere else! It works every time for me..we are now all eating this roti instead of the wheat one.

    I get all my flour from Whole foods and amazon. The bob red mills juwar ka atta is amazing and there is no bitterness to it too…

    Thanks once more for the awesome gluten free roti recipe!!!

    Shital

    1. Hi Shital,

      We’re so glad your family is able to enjoy rotis with Mangala Aunty’s recipe. Thanks for the feedback and good luck with your little one.

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