What is gluten free wheat starch and is wheat starch gluten free? These might sound like trick questions but the answer is they can be. Certified gluten free wheat starch is safe for celiacs and anyone with a gluten disorder. It takes a minute to get your head around using a product with the word wheat in it so keep reading and in two minutes you might be ready to try it.
Living gluten free means keeping up with changes in food manufacturing and labelling laws. In this article I'm only talking about certified gluten-free wheat starch. Any product you buy must clearly state that it contains gluten-free wheat starch.
What is Gluten Free Wheat Starch
Much like cornstarch, wheat starch has been around forever but there was no effort to make it gluten free.
Grains, like corn and wheat, after being made into flour are further processed to remove all nutrition and leave only the starch. In the process of making wheat starch that includes removal of gluten proteins.
According to Schär wheat starch does not lend elasticity to dough. It is primarily used as a thickener. I've made pizza dough with it so this is shocking to me. I would have said it's "more stretchy" so I will be careful when I choose words to describe how different it is.
Jump to:
- What is Gluten Free Wheat Starch
- You May Have Eaten Wheat Starch
- Caputo Wheat Starch Flour Blend
- Tips for Reading Labels: Caputo Fioreglut Flour
- King Arthur Wheat Starch Flour Blend
- Why Bake with Weight Measurements
- What to Make with Gluten-Free Wheat Starch
- Where To Buy Gluten-Free Wheat Starch
- Ingredient FAQs
You May Have Eaten Wheat Starch
European countries they have been using gluten-free wheat starch for years. If you have travelled to Europe or taken a Celiac Cruise you have probably eaten some. We hear and see all the wonderful breads and pastries people enjoy but those products have been slower to come to North America.
My understanding is that in 2019 Celiac Canada revised their recommendations to include gluten free wheat starch, also called Codex wheat starch, as a product safe for celiacs. At that time I assumed it was for commercial use only and never searched for it.
Caputo Wheat Starch Flour Blend
The Italian company Caputo, has been making flour in Italy since 1924. In 2009 they launched their award-winning gluten free flour called Fioreglut. This flour blend contains wheat starch and the product is certified gluten free. In North America that means it has been tested to show that if there is a trace amount of gluten it must be less than 20 parts per million.
The Caputo Fioreglut ingredient label reads as follows.
- gluten free wheat starch
- maize starch
- dextrose
- buckwheat flour
- psyllium seed fibre
- rice starch
- thickener: guar; natural flavouring
You can see in the above photo I have purchased two different packages of Fioreglut. The ingredients are exactly the same.
Tips for Reading Labels: Caputo Fioreglut Flour
Gluten free wheat starch is the first ingredient listed in Fioreglut. By law ingredients are listed in order by weight with the heaviest ingredient listed first and the lightest ingredient listed last. This blend contains mostly wheat starch.
Maize is the British word for corn so maize starch is what we call cornstarch in North America. Maize starch is gluten free.
Dextrose is a type of sugar that usually comes from corn or wheat. If dextrose came from wheat it is still safe. The production methods involve a high level of hydrolyzation, which means that no gluten is left in the sugars. Dextrose is often used in foods as an artificial sweetener or a preservative.
Buckwheat flour: There's the word wheat again but that is simply an unfortunate name for another safe gluten-free flour. Checkout this post to see the recipes I make with buckwheat flour.
Psyllium seed fibre contains the outer layer of the psyllium seeds from the psyllium plant. It can be bought in whole husks (preferred for gluten-free baking) or powder form. Many gluten free cooks have this ingredient in their pantry as it is an effective binder, especially when baking yeast breads.
Rice starch: This ingredient is new to me. I use white rice flour, brown rice flour and sweet rice flour. None of those are rice starch. I started down a rabbit hole far enough to learn it is used in manufacturing. Examples are in face powder, baby food, soups and sauces, ready-to-eat meals, as a confectionery coating, in organic food products and dairy products. I'm not buying it so I stopped there.
Thickener: Guar: Guar gum and xanthan gum are common binders in gluten free baking. This flour blend includes guar gum.
Natural flavoring is another ingredient used in food manufacturing. My understanding is that it may contain artificial chemicals. Many of us are excited to learn how to use wheat starch in the kitchen but I was a little disappointed that this was listed as an ingredient.
King Arthur Wheat Starch Flour Blend
King Arthur also sells two gluten free flour blends that contain wheat starch; a Pizza Flour and a Bread Flour. Here are the ingredients as shown on their labels.
| King Arthur Gluten-Free Pizza Flour | King Arthur Gluten-Free Bread Flour |
|---|---|
| gluten-free wheat starch | gluten-free wheat starch |
| corn starch | corn starch |
| sorghum flour | cellulose and psyllium fibre blend |
| cellulose and psyllium fibre blend | sorghum flour |
| inactive yeast | pea protein |
| xanthan gum | xanthan gum |
| enzymes |
As you can see cellulose, pea protein and enzymes are not typical ingredients you have in your kitchen, even if you are a gluten free cook.
Why Bake with Weight Measurements
All bread bakers know that baking with weight measurements is more accurate than using cup measurements. Whether you live in a humid or dry climate, at sea level or a high altitude, you simply need to accept this and make small tweaks to your recipes as you bake and learn.
- Caputo says 1 cup of their wheat starch blend weighs 100 grams.
- No matter how many times I weigh it, 1 cup of this wheat starch blend in my kitchen, weighs 130 grams.
I bake muffins and pancakes using cup measurements but when it comes to yeast breads I use weight measurements. Having a set up that makes this convenient is one of the secrets of gluten free bakers. Check out these posts if you're ready to get set up for baking by weight.
What to Make with Gluten-Free Wheat Starch
The most challenging recipes to make gluten free are yeast breads, puff pastry, phyllo pastry, croissants and more. I've been experimenting with pizza and bread. I'm excited to keep learning and sharing so watch for my pizza dough recipe coming soon.
As you may know my Banana Muffin recipe is written to experiment with different gluten free flours and I've tried them all. I made that recipe and substituted ½ cup of wheat starch blend for my EGFG flour blend.
My muffins had a significant dome and they felt more firm than I'm used to. It was just an experiment and I'm not trying it in all my recipes. Instead I'm focused on the most challenging yeast breads first and there are many of them.
Let me know in the comments below what you're making with these wheat starch blends and how you're tweaking the recipes.
Where To Buy Gluten-Free Wheat Starch
I don't think you can buy gluten free wheat starch as an ingredient, just flour blends that contain it.
In Italian shops near me I can buy Caputo Fioreglut flour in 1 kg and 5 kg bags. It isn't inexpensive but like most things the price goes down when you buy a larger quantity.
I also looked in German shops for Schär gluten free flour blends but was told they are not sold in Canada. I see five different flour blends on the Schär website in case they are available to you and you want to try them.
On Amazon I couldn't find the King Arthur gluten free Pizza Flour but I did find these two.
Ingredient FAQs
According to their website, Schär uses wheat starch in only a few of their products and they have been using it for over 20 years. Schär gives an excellent overview of wheat starch on this page, What You Should Know About Gluten Free Wheat Starch.
No, gluten free wheat starch, also called Codex wheat starch, is not wheat free. This means gluten free wheat starch is not safe for people with a wheat allergy.
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Chrishy
I have been looking for other options, and came across Juvela (UK), which shipped through Innish Pharmacy in Ireland, but they don't anymore. It was very good, I also tried Semper, Finax and Sunnuntai - the last one was the least exciting - I made legit cinnamon rolls with Semper and Finax. I paid a ridiculous amount for shipping but it was on par with mixes in Canada when the dollar was better. IKEA used to carry Finax bread mix, and I asked if they would consider the GF line but that got nowhere. I wish a Canadian grocer would consider producing a mix. The Caputo is good, but smokey, and the King Arthur tasted very - I don't know - maybe it was the pea, or maybe it was the type of psyllium - not great for shortbread type bakes. I know there are more brands, but those are the ones I have tried.
Cinde Little
Wow Chrishy, thanks for doing all that research and sharing it. Each of these wheat starch blends contains slightly different ingredients and that is of interest to my readers who have multiple dietary restrictions. I will keep my eye open for different brands but as you know they are slow to come to Canada. Great job and happy baking!
Janet
Great article on gluten-free wheat starch. It is a counter-intuitive sounding product, but my research parallels yours. As you noted, these flours have been used in Europe and the UK for years. The research, combined with the reality that g-f bread products are so much better in Europe than here, encouraged me to give the Caputo g-f flour a try. It is a game-changer for my g-f breads. With it as the primary g-f flour, my bread is rising higher and has a much lighter density/texture - more like gluten-full breads. I find that on its own, the Caputo flour makes a bread that is too close to a "wonder bread" texture for me, so I combine it with g-f buckwheat and oat flours. It does go stale quickly, but slicing and freezing the loaf gives me bread for a number of lunches. I'd encourage others to give it a try - all the celiacs in Europe can't be wrong!
Cinde Little
Thanks Janet! I agree, all the celiacs in Europe can't be wrong. I'm exited to learn along with you and am looking forward to attempting croissants.
Sharon Calianno
Do you have recipe for your bread?
Cinde Little
Hi Sharon! I have not made any bread using wheat starch, just pizza dough and I tried it in muffins as well. I have 2 bread recipes posted; a single flour Millet bread and a round crusty loaf. Use the SEARCH bar in the top right on any page to find these recipes or just enter the word BREAD and you'll see them. Happy baking!