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Linda Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 399 Location: Calgary, AB, Canada	Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 5:16 pm    Post subject: starch vs. flour Hello All, Newbie here! My 5.5 year old son was just confirmed Thursday as Celiac. I have borrowed lots of cookbooks from the library, and was going to attempt hamburger buns for an upcoming barbecue. The problem is, I don't know if there is a difference between (for example) potato starch and potato flour, or tapioca starch and tapioca flour. Are they interchangeable? Also, how many watts is considered a "heavy duty" mixer? Thanks, Linda
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aklap Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8505 Location: WI, USA	Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:15 pm    Post subject: Hi Linda, Welcome! Sorry to hear about your little one Hopefully now he get on the road to health!! OK...here's the difference...(as I understand it ) Flour is the result of grinding up a food item (potato, corn, wheat , etc) Starch is what is extracted from a food item. It's also much finer in it's consistancy. Used a lot for thicken sauces. It's much lighter than flour. Potato starch and potato flour are not really interchangable. You could...but it's best not to. To confuse matters you may see something labeled "Potato starch flour" - This is potato STARCH not flour. Tapioca Starch and Tapioca Flour are the same things. Potato Flour: http://www.ener-g.com/store/detail.aspx?section=10&cat=10&id=1000014 Potato Starch: http://www.ener-g.com/store/detail.aspx?section=10&cat=10&id=111 This is kind of cool - lots of info on differnet starches: http://www.foodsubs.com/ThickenStarch.html Some basic guidelines on what to use when (look towards the bottom of the page): http://www.csaceliacs.org/recipes.php As for mixers...you probably would want around 250 - 300. Peg (my wife) burned out our hand mixer we got when we were married 12+ years ago making me a loaf of bread . We ended up getting a KitchenAide Pro 5 mixer. I think that has 450w. We probably didn't have to go that high...but...it was on sale...and I'm a guy...more wattage is better, right? hehehehee. The GF dough is harder on the motors than NGF doughs. That same goes for bread machines too! Linda I hope this helps!!! _________________ Al “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa Last edited by aklap on Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Guest	Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:19 am    Post subject: aklap wrote: Potato starch and potato flour are not really interchangable. You could...but it's best not to. To confuse matters you may see something labeled "Potato starch flour" - This is potato STARCH not flour. Tapioca Starch and Tapioca Flour are the same things. Thanks for responding so quickly, Al. I am glad they make all these GF baking supplies clear as mud . My little guy, Ty, never had any of the classic symptoms of CD, just a bit underweight for his age and height. We were a bit concerned about that, so our family doctor referred us to a pediatrician who ordered a bunch of blood tests and Celiac came back positive, and then of course, so did the biopsy. The dietitian is on holiday, so we are reading all labels, etc. and then will meet with her in September and then have a followup with the GI doc who I think will order blood tests for the rest of us. I'm happy he didn't suffer with all the classic symptoms as so many of you suffered, but because he has no obvious symptoms I worry that we won't know if he's cheating on the diet when he's older, or getting accidental gluten . Now, about your mixer, do you and Peg use it only for gluten-free foods or do you use it for gluten filled stuff and then wash the bowl well or do you have two mixing bowls/blades, one for each of you? Thanks, Linda
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aklap Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8505 Location: WI, USA	Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:33 am    Post subject: Hi Linda, Glad to hear they caught things early!!! Also glad that the rest of you are getting checked - it is genetic. You need to keep an eye on that...just because you test negative now...does not clear you for life. It sounds like your family doc & Ty's Ped are on the ball! Good for them!! Also try to determine if the dietician has much experience with the gluten free diet. Just like everything else...there are good ones & bad ones. I was at a Gluten Intolerance Group Conference in Chicago in June and one of the speakers was a dietician...she herself said..."Make sure you get a good one". Her husband was recently diagnosed with CD and she admits that she didn't know much either (before the dx). Her joke was "I was trying to kill him by making sure he had enough fiber!!". As for the mixer...nope we have just one bowl used for both GF & NGF. It has a stainless steel bowl which washes easily and will not harbour (I hope that makes you feel at home with the alternate spelling ) gluten. Glass works well too - anything that is not porous. We do have seperate GF spatula/rubber scrappers. Have you seen the cross contamination threads around here? They might be something for you to checkout. This should get you started: http://www.celiacforums.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2787& Good luck on your GF journey and the Ty will be the healthiest and happiest can be!! Hope you hang out for awhile and learn with us. _________________ Al “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa
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aklap Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8505 Location: WI, USA	Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:13 am    Post subject: bump for David _________________ Al “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa
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aklap Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8505 Location: WI, USA	Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:26 am    Post subject: bump for Os _________________ Al “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa
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aklap Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8505 Location: WI, USA	Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:23 pm    Post subject: bump for Sharon _________________ Al “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa
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BassistKara Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 51	Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:24 pm    Post subject: Tapioca Flour and Starch are the same thing?! Now i feel like an idiot for looking specifically for tapioca starch at the health food shop...i was almost about to ask for it too haha!
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mrsppmrxky Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 1469 Location: GF Kitchen	Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:51 am    Post subject: That's an easy one...........to remember, just do not get it confused with potato starch and potato flour........those are 2 entirely different products. I just went and bought 15 packs of tapioca starch at the Asian market for .69 for each 14 oz bag. I have been making the chebe bread recipe and using a lot of it lately. _________________
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