How to Fix The 5 Most Common Gluten-Free Baking Issues

If baking is an art, then gluten-free baking is like Lego art: it isn’t mainstream, and not many people try it, but it can be amazing in its own right if done well. Because it isn’t the most common kind of baking, there are lots of common issues that crop up when people try gluten-free baking for the first time.

Have you ever followed a recipe so carefully your eyes hurt from squinting at the tiny print? From crumbly cookies to gummy cakes, gluten-free baking can seem impossible. Don’t get discouraged, though. There are lots of easy tricks you can try to avoid common baking errors. This kind of experimentation is fun for everyone because you’ll end up with a delicious final product and ideas for improvements.

We also highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App  — with over 20,000 delicious recipes, it is the largest meatless, vegan, plant-based, and allergy-friendly recipe resource to help you get healthy! And, don’t forget to check out our Gluten-Free Dessert Archives!

1. Baked Goods Crumble and Fall Apart

Source: Gluten-Free Sweet Potato and Sage Muffins

This is one of the most common beginner mistakes in gluten-free baking. Luckily, the solution is pretty simple. If your muffins or bread keep turning out too crumbly, you’re most likely missing a thickener. Try xantham gum, agar-agar, or even chia seeds to add some extra oomph to your baked goods. Be sure to check out this roundup of 7 Awesome Vegan Ingredients to Thicken Your Recipes and give this One-Bowl Almond Butter Banana Bread a whirl.

2. Cookies Spread too Much

Source: Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every gluten-free baker has been there: you open the oven and discover that your perfect little drop cookies have become one single monster on the sheet. This isn’t the end of the world since you can easily cut the cookie cake into pieces, but it is inconvenient. The problem here is that your dough lacks a binder. The good news is that a lot of thickeners act as binding agents, so a chia egg, flax seeds, or xantham gum can work well here. Try adding some of these agents to Copycat Girl Scout Samoa Cookies, and get a glass of non-dairy milk ready for dunking!

3. Cakes and Bread Turn Out Gummy

Source: Classic Red Velvet Cake

This can be a complicated issue to deal with because gluten-free baked goods can turn out gummy for many reasons. Sometimes, this is an issue with the starches in the batter. Try a different flour or a combination of flours and see if that makes a difference. Alternatively, this issue can be caused by not mixing the batter enough. Unlike gluten-full batters, gluten-free batters benefit from the extra mixing time.

4. Yeast Breads Sink After Baking

Source: Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Bread

If you’ve ever taken a perfect loaf of gluten-free bread out of the oven only to return to it and find the center has caved in, this one’s for you. This can be one of the most deflating feelings – pun intended – because all of your hard work doesn’t seem to pay off.

There’s an easy solution to this problem, though. Keep the bread in the oven slightly longer than the recipe calls for to dry it out a bit more. Don’t worry, this won’t make your perfect loaf inedible. This will just help to soak up some of that extra moisture. Get some dough rolling with these Buttery Garlic Twists or these Authentic Bagels.

5. A Recipe Didn’t Turn Out Quite Right

Source: Chocolate Coconut Oat Bars

Maybe your baked goods didn’t sink or turn out gummy, and maybe they didn’t spread too much or crumble. For some unrelated reason, they aren’t quite perfect. Let’s do some quick troubleshooting: did you use a substitution, like applesauce or a flax egg? Substitutions are awesome, especially for vegan cooking. Here’s the thing, though – different substitutions can have drastically different impacts on the final product. Check out our breakdown of vegan egg replacements for a primer and stick to the recipe the first time around just to get a feel for what the baked goods are supposed to taste like.

If you didn’t use a substitution, did you change the recipe in any way? Maybe you swapped out almond flour for chickpea flour, or maybe you used agave instead of brown sugar. Neither of these is a mistake, but they can change the outcome of a recipe. Try following a recipe carefully one time before making your tweaks. Try some easy-to-follow recipes like these Raw Chocolate Caramel Bars or these 4-Ingredient No-Bake Banana Bread Bars.

Related Content:

• Gluten-free Recipes
• 15 Amazing Vegan and Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes!
• How to Eat Gluten-Free Before 6
• Recipes for The Perfect Gluten-Free Vegan Thanksgiving

Learn How to Cook Plant-Based Meals at Home!

Reducing your meat intake and eating more plant-based foods is known to help with chronic inflammation, heart health, mental wellbeing, fitness goals, nutritional needs, allergies, gut health, and more! Dairy consumption also has been linked to many health problems, including acne, hormonal imbalance, cancer, prostate cancer and has many side effects.

For those of you interested in eating more plant-based, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App — with over 15,000 delicious recipes it is the largest plant-based recipe resource to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy! And, while you are at it, we encourage you to also learn about the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

• Weekly Vegan Meal Plans
• Plant-Based Health Resources
• Plant-Based Food & Recipes
• Plant-Based Nutrition Resources
• The Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
• Budget-Friendly Plant-Based Recipes
• High Protein Plant-Based Recipes
• Plant-Based Meal Prep

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade repeatedly.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!