Benefits of the Cassava Flour in Gluten free Baking & Cooking.

Better flavour, better texture, longer shelf life, using expensive gums and binding agents are not required for gluten free cooking and baking applications… This is a must have ingredient for those who are on a combined gluten free and vegan diet.

What is Cassava flour?

Cassava flours are one of our main ingredients. It was actually Isabel’s experience with this ingredient and know-how for creating blends using cassava flours that inspired the Isabel’s range. The resulting dough has a versatile strength and elasticity, and it proves you don’t need wheat to make good dough.

Isabel’s Wholemeal All-purpose Cassava flour is made from especially selected roots and expertly milled to produce the highest quality flour.

Benefits

This Cassava flour can substitute 1:1 wheat flours in many recipes. Totally Free From cooking and baking– no wheat, gluten or grains.

Healthier digestion – the Cassava pulp is high in fibre and the easy digestive nature of this vegetable root makes it great for sensitive digestive system.

Helping your body balance – Cassava is low GI. As a low-GI food, incorporating cassava in your diet can help improve physical endurance, because blood glucose levels are moderated instead of dropping when insulin is produced. Cassava has even been called a ‘weight loss wonder food’ due to its ability to decrease appetite and decrease fat storage in fat cells as part of a healthy diet.

Both coeliacs and non-coeliacs love our quality cupboard staples, which certainly makes life easier for the person doing the cooking! I’d love to hear from you, let us know your thoughts.

Looking to learn how to use Cassava flour to improve your recipes?

This guide should help you and provide all the information you need to know about this lovely gluten free flour. We have a few tasty Cassava flour recipes available on the website to help you to get started.
This all-purpose Cassava flour is an exciting alternative flour for those who need or want to avoid gluten and grains and looking for more flavoursome, nutritional and inclusive option. I love this flour and cannot recommend it enough, but seems that for some folks the ingredient is still a bit of a mystery and difficult to use. This guide will hopefully help you to understand the flour’s behaviour, get comfortable using it and expand your gluten free, paleo and grain-free cooking and baking horizons.

How to use Cassava flour?

It has been over 4 years since I first came across the Cassava flour, I was so excited as I have loved the Cassava root and its derivate starches all my life. This new way of processing the flour to create an all-purpose gluten free flour was new to me and very exciting as I knew that this could be a revolution regarding flavour and texture improvement in gluten free foods.
The first production I bought was terribly expensive as only a couple of factories in the whole world were able to produce the new flour. That still the case and the ingredient continues to be expensive, but the Cassava flour seem to be gaining some popularity as the go to replacement for wheat flours when it comes to gluten-free and grain-free diets and that offers us all hope.
Usually people on gluten free diet have to replace wheat flours with a combination of different flours, typically you have to blend several flours to achieve the same consistency of wheat flour: Rice flour, potato flour, sorghum, tapioca starch, bean flour, brown rice, lentil flours to name just a few.
The blended gluten free flours never offer a perfect substitution for wheat flour as it can produce a grainy texture or unsavoury flavours. However, the Cassava flour gets about as close as it is possible of being the best replacement for wheat flour in cooking and baking. This is a brilliant flour for those living a gluten and grain free life style.

How is cassava flour made?

The Cassava flour is made from the whole root of the Cassava plant. A few varieties of the roots are selected, then processed, dried and expertly milled to produce the finest gluten free flour.
Is tapioca flour or starches and cassava flour the same thing?
No. Cassava flour and Tapioca flour are not the same thing. Many will sometimes interchange the terms Cassava flour and Tapioca flour there are definitely differences between the two. Tapioca is a starch extracted from the Cassava root. This happens using a process of washing and pulping.
The wet pulp is then squeezed to extract a starchy liquid. Once all the water evaporates the flour which is left over is the tapioca flour or starch. The Cassava flour is produced from milling the entire root. The only processes done on the Cassava flour is the roots are selected, peeled, dried, and ground. This process also means that the Cassava flour has a lot more dietary fibre than tapioca flour or starch, which is the reason we call the flour wholemeal.

Is Cassava flour gluten-free?

Yes. The Cassava flour is gluten, grain, and nut free. The Cassava plant originates and is a major crop in South America and the tropics. The Cassava root is also known as yuca, mandioca, Aipim or manioc. It is starchy root and high in carbohydrates. Not only the flour is gluten free but it is also a brilliant ingredient for vegans and paleo cooking and baking.

What makes the Cassava flour the most similar gluten-free flour to wheat flour?

Unlike other gluten-free flours such as rice, almond or coconut flour, Cassava flour is light and fine, not grainy or gritty in texture. Also, the Cassava flour is mild and neutral in flavour. But it is the perfect balanced selection of the roots varieties in the blend that makes the flour to behave so much like wheat flour. We have noticed that the flour also helps increase naturally the shelf life of baked items, some items over 12 months in our tests, like our fruit cake recipe.
You can usually use Cassava flour in a 1:1 ratio when substituting wheat flour, but you must take time to understand the behaviour of the flour in order to get it right every time. You’ll require 10%-15% less Cassava flour when substituting wheat flours. You’ll require adding a lot less liquid depending on the recipe and cooking method. Add a little too much liquid and you’ll end up with sticky concoction.

How do you bake with cassava flour?

While you can usually swap Cassava flour for all-purpose wheat flour using a 1:1 ratio, it is not perfect for every recipe. Cassava flour has a very similar consistency, but it is lighter than all-purpose flour, this means baking with it can be tricky.
Cassava flour is lighter, yet it absorbs more liquid, so just like any recipe you make substitutions for you will have to experiment a little to find the perfect amount for each recipe. It is best to start out working with a recipe you already know and are very familiar with or try some of the recipes we have available on the website. The more you understand the flour behaviour the quicker you’ll be at adjust your recipes. Baking something you have been successful with in the past, makes you more likely to identify exactly what needs to be changed to obtain the result you want.

Tips for baking with Cassava flour:

1. It will say you can substitute a gram for a gram, however, cassava flour soaks up more water and therefore is denser than other flours. You’ll need to use slightly less Cassava flour, about 10%-15% depending on the recipe.
2. If you need to add a second flour to the Cassava flour to make your recipe lighter or shorter the best combination I have found are cornflour and almond flour.
3. Cassava flour like all gluten free flours, is quite dusty. Be aware of this when wanting to throw it around like you would with wheat flour.
4. Cassava flour can be used as a binder, an emulsifier or thickener.

Is Cassava flour poisonous?

No, the Cassava flour it is not poisonous. The ingredients in cassava root naturally have cyanide components that can be toxic. However, the production process which the roots goes through removes the toxins making the flour safe for consumption.  Cyanide is compound also found in almonds, millet sprouts, lima beans, soy, spinach, bamboo shoots, apple seeds, peach and apricot pits.