Hi, I'm Dr. Jean Layton. In diverse jobs from chef to doctor, I've used my analytical skills to address the ongoing goal, "There has to be a better way." When not seeing patients, I'm in the social media world, teaching people to thrive gluten-free.
If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time ( and thank you to those following from the beginning in 2006), you’ve watched me evolve from a blog who was following prior bakers for inspiration to one that leads the way.
My tendency to research the heck out of a problem leads to gaps in my posting, as I follow a rabbit trail of information to process to a valid conclusion while striving to eat as cleanly as possible.
Then I try to figure out how to make sure the efforts can be replicated by you with ease, like this
pixie dust xanthan gum replacer to replace GMO rich gums.
Pixie Dust with Black Chia Seeds
You are BUSY folks after all. So many have children and elders that you are caring for while still holding down jobs.
I relate, believe me, I relate.
Sometimes the gaps in my blog are just pauses when real life gets the focus. Like the paucity of posts while I co-authored Gluten-Free Baking for Dummies.
I just didn’t have any more time to write here.
I just didn’t have any more time to write here.
And sometimes, I’m in intensive testing of recipes, cooking and baking up a storm to be certain that the recipe works, every time.
When my husband began to react to the baked goods I was testing last year for the book, I just figured it was a quantity problem.
After all, who actually makes 12 kinds of cookies in two weeks typically? So many cookies that their children plead for a simple muffin? Then the pleas for a pie instead of the muffins pouring forth from the oven in a steamy flood.
We ate our way through 25 pound bags of brown rice flour, sorghum flour, sweet rice flour, millet flour, potato starch, tapioca flour , 20 pounds of sugar and 30 pounds of butter in about 6 months.
That’s enough to make anyone not feel well, right?
Ed didn’t improve when we went back to our typical diet of vast quantities of vegetables, grass fed meat and organic dairy though.
Every time he ate a baked good, he reacted with the same reaction he has to gluten.
I don’t want to get graphic, let’s just say it is a massive downstream digestive purge and leave it at that. 
Every Time. Until one day I baked something using flax seeds as the binder, and he was fine.
Lightbulb!
He wasn’t reacting to the flours, he was reacting to the gums.
And if you’ve read my book, you see the transition there. Many of the recipes I created late in the writing incorporate flax seeds as the binder with wonderful results.
The baked goods hold up fine to being formed and baked.
Only one problem though.
Texturally, the flax-only stuff gets tough very quickly. Wonderful on day one, not so much on day two.
So this past year, I’ve been playing with different seeds and such to figure out how to get around this problem.
Then I worked for a while longer to make it simpler for you.
The two concerns I hear about my blog and book is that you have to weigh everything and that you need to make a batch of my two mixes to bake.
I’m unapologetic about the need for a scale. Everything about the chemistry of our baking depends on making sure you know how much of something is in your bowl. When you weigh, you are absolutely sure what is in there.
When you don’t, you can get problems like these oatmeal cookies Katie made.
On the left, she hadn’t remembered to pack down the brown sugar, she just scooped the cup. The cookies were ok but not fabulous.
On the right, she had weighed the sugar and created these lacy tuiles instead.
1st try-Oatmeal Cookies
With added brown sugar-Oatmeal Cookies
Big difference, huh.
So weigh everything, it really is simpler and far fewer things to wash afterward.
The other concern about the mixes? I get it. Having to make one recipe to make another one is tedious.
But once you have a batch mixed up, you are good to go for a while.
And isn’t it easier to just pull out two containers than a bunch of bags every time?
When I figured out the recipe for a seed mix replacer for xanthan gum and guar gum, I wanted to make it simple.
So here is another recipe for a mixture.
This one you can prepare in minutes and then have it ready to leap into action to hold our baked goods together.
Pixie Dust to the rescue!
Pale Pixie Dust-Xanthan and Guar gum replacer for gluten-free goodies
When I get more time, I’ll be going back to remake all my older recipes, updating them to use this in place of the xanthan and guar. Yes, even my sourdough.
I have that one almost all worked out again. That was a lot of gums to replace.
Feel free to use whichever color chia seeds you wish for this mixture. The cost difference can be substancial between the green/black and the white.
Remember that the pigment will still be there in your baked goods.
I made a batch up both ways, using the pale mix in white baked goods and the colored mix in brown baked goods.
Pixie Dust-Seed Mixture to replace the gums
Author: Dr. Jean Layton
This seed mixture was created to take the place of xanthan gum and guar gum. Xanthan is created on corn, a genetically modified organism plant. If you are attempting to keep GMOs out of your food, this is the way. Organically grown Flax and Chia are readily available. If you find organic psyllium, let me know.
Ingredients
- 20 grams golden flax seeds
- 10 grams chia seeds- either color
- 5 grams psyllium seed husk
Instructions
- Grind all of the seeds and husk in a coffee grinder till floury.
- Store in the freezer till you need for a recipe.
- I’ve discovered that 10 grams of this powder stand in well for ½ teaspoon of xanthan.
The seeds I use are organic golden flax from Bob’s Red Mill, Chia from Nutiva and pysillium husk powder from NOW.
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Hi Jean. Cool recipe that I will have to try. In a pinch, Bob’s Red Mill xanthum gum is non-GMO.
Still, this is a great way to get extra nutrients into baked goods.
Hi Andrea,
Got to take a look next time I’m in the store.
Glad you found this recipe. Last time I looked, Bob’s didn’t have any no-gmo labeling on the Xanthan gum. Most is sourced from Cargill
Hi there, I only have red flax seeds… Will they work?
Hi Kate,
Pixie dust works so well because of the combination of seeds. Flax alone won’t work the same.
I’m not sure what you mean? I’ve only seen brown and golden flax seeds
DAMN, I cannot eat flax seeds……..since they are estrogenic and ‘feed liver cysts’, so now I’m back to the ‘gums’
Kate
Hi Kate,
I’m not sure where you are finding that Flax seeds are estrogenic. The lignans they contain actually work to block estrogen receptors, decreasing the possibility for estrogen dominant cancers. See this post on Web MD
What is a liver cyst?
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello!
Just a quick question that I can’t see answered so far: how would amaranth work in there? Cooking it whole certainly gives wallpaper paste with tiny grains mixed in!
Hi Beth,
Do you mean as an addition to the mixture or in place of one of the components? Either way, I haven’t tried it out since my husband doesn’t do well with amaranth. If you do, please let me know how it works
Dr. Layton,
I would like to THANK YOU FOR THIS PIXIE DUST!!! My friends have gone gluten-free and I love to cook for them, so I started reading up on the key ingredients for gluten-free baking… I did NOT like what I read about the gums. Since I live in South Korea where the concept of GF is absolutely new and considered “absurd,” I am mixing up my own GF flour and have been trying to bake without corn-based anything and gums… I just got some fresh golden flax, chia seeds, and psyllium husk powder in hopes of completely eliminating gums! I am SO GLAD you came up with this mix! Now, my question is… would this work for artisan bread-ish recipes as well? Apparently many GF people say nothing can truly replace xanthan gum for GF bread and especially artisan bread… Is that true?
Hi Angela,
I’ve been using it with all my bread baking, including my gluten-free sourdough, so the quick answer is yes. You might need to tweak the recipe a bit to reduce the flours and increase water just a tad but it works.
Thank you so much! I modified Dan Lepard’s Basic White Bread recipe and used your Pixie Dust and adjusted the amount of GF flour and water. I was able to make some really nice, chewy gluten-free egg-free dairy-free GUM-FREE bread with nice crunchy crust! Very hearty
I cannot thank you enough!
While I was doing more research online, konjac flour came across as another alternative to gums. Have you used it before?
Also, I want to attempt making gluten-free phyllo/filo dough… I wonder if your Pixie Dust would work here as well. I made the Pixie Dust but my grinder doesn’t make it all too fine.
Thank you and Happy Easter!
Hi Angela,
Glad it helped you get to your goal. I haven’t used konjac flour but now I’m curious.
Gluten-free phyllo dough sounds like a great challenge. What recipe are you using?
For the fineness, I just make sure to use no more than 40 grams at a time.
I can’t thank you enough for posting this recipe. I have noticed that I am having trouble with gums as well. I tried chia seeds and flaxseeds before, but now I have a good recipe to substitute!
I am looking forward to trying this, I have purchased the chia and pysllium I already had flax seed but it is already ground. Is there a way to still use that or do I need to buy more seeds.
I encourage using whole golden flax seed and grinding it yourself to insure freshness. Flax goes rancid very quickly once exposed to air.
Thank you for getting back to me. How long does the flax seed that has already been ground last if it is in the frig. I am concerned now if it is bad or not.
Hi Sarah,
Typically one to two months. This is why I encourage a grinder.
I am super impressed with the pixie dust recipe. I have been having trouble baking gluten free b/c if I use guar gum it becomes gummy and my family doesn’t really like it, I have been eliminating guar gum for this reason and then the baked good falls apart. I have made 5 zucchini bread loaves using the pixie dust and it’s the closest to regular zucchini bread I have made yet. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.
Hello Dr. Layton! Maybe I already missed this, but when do you add the pixie dust? Do you add it at the same point you would have added the gum, or at the end? Do I need to add water to the pixie dust? I’ve used chia seed in the past, and the way I used it was to grind it up and add water to it; it was the last ingredient to add to the recipe. I think it was the same way with a bread recipe I tried using psyllium husks. Thanks!
Hi Jackie,
I stir the pixie dust into the flours before adding oil, butter or water. This allows it complete distribution in the mixture before beginning to create its structure.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Jean
Sorry, do not speak English. The following is a translation of Google:
PLS be the same or flaxseed powder ground flaxseed and psyllium powder obtained because achievement of Psyliumm whole seed and linseed powder had already. For your answer, thanks.
I’m going to ask a friend for a Spanish translation for you. check back next week or I’ll email you once I get the translation
Frustration doesn’t even begin to express what I’m feeling. I just found this site, I’m “new” to “trying” to go gluten-free. Don’t have celiac, but probably a major intolerance for wheat/gluten that I’ve eaten my entire life. My refrigerator is full of a huge jar of a flour blend I put together recommended by a top-selling gluten-free cookbook. It’s full of corn starch, and now I’m reading that corn is a GMO product! Is that true of corn starch also??? My freezer is full of flours that I don’t know what to do with. They also were recommended as “flour blends” from another gluten-free cookbook. I tried experimenting with a recipe I found online for a quick bread that called for 1 TBL of xanthan. It was so rubbery and hard I couldn’t get a knife through it….and these flours are all so very EXPENSIVE!! And we are on a fixed income.
Honestly, I can see why some people just give up and stay sick!! Something in these flour blends makes me not feel well, so it might be the xanthan. I don’t know. But I’ll hang in here and see what I can learn from you. Thanks for letting me express my feelings.
Hi Jody,
Frustration is not fun. Going gluten-free is a process that can take some time.
Yes, all corn that isn’t labeled non GMO or organic contains GMO ingredients unless you got some from Europe.
Many of the gluten-free writers create flour blends to make it simpler for readers to just cook rather than having to mix from individual flours each time. Some of those writers use xanthan gum or guar gum.
I’d suggest using up the flours you already have in what ever recipes attracted you to the book. As a rule of thumb, I avoid all recipes that call for more than 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum per cup of flour to avoid the gummy inedible product.
Feel free to ask more questions, it is better to ask than feel incapable.
Thank you, Dr. Layton. I will try the pixie dust combo instead of the xanthan. It could be the corn and the xanthan causing me to not feel well. It’s certainly worth a try.
Let me know how it turns out, will you?
I am allergic to flax and react poorly to the “gums”. Do you think I could use just the chia and the pysllium?
Hi Laurie,
I haven’t tried using only chia and psyllium much. the combination created a texture that I didn’t care for much. I think if I were to try again, I would use equal parts chia and psyllium but add a bit more fat to replace the fat that isn’t in the psyllium. Mix that combination together first then go on with the recipe. Please let me know what happens, will you?
I am excited to try this, as I know the gums are not a healthy thing. Here is my question: We are egg-free right now. Does this still work in combination with egg replacement, and what kind of egg replacement do you recommend using with your Pixie Dust?
Hi Kelly,
I knew this would come up. Which egg replacer are you using? Ener-G foods brand has cellulose gum in it already. Chia, Flax and Psyllium are all sources of cellulose wrapped up with a bit of fat.
I’ve only had a single baking session trying to replace both gums and eggs. Wasn’t thrilled with my results. They were good but not stellar.
I used double the amount of pixie dust in a loaf of bread and deleted the egg. The bread rose beautifully but sank back a bit.
Next time I think I’ll use 2 1/2 times the xanthan gum . I’m in the process of moving though, so next experimental baking time will be in February.
At various times I have used Energ-G. I’ve also used flax gel and chia gel too.
I’m guessing you are referring to Ener-G egg replacer? That actually contains both cellulose and modified cellulose.
Hi Jean! So, the results are identical? This is fascinating!
Hi Silvana,
Actually the textures improve. Large open airy holes, tender crumb and a crust that is both firm and tender at the same time. Much more like typical gluten full bread.
Try it out in one of your recipes and let me know, ok? I’ve got Annelise Roberts testing her recipes too.
This is great! Thank you so much! How many grams of “pixie dust” do you use to replace grams of gum? I would like to make this recipe and it measures the gum in grams, not “spoons”
http://glutenfreedoctor.com/basic-gluten-free-sourdough-bread-recipe/
Hi Kayte,
This is a bit more complicated question. If you are replacing xanthan gum alone, then I use 35-40 grams to replace 10 grams of xanthan and reduce the other flours by the 25 grams. So a recipe with 350 grams of flour mix and 10 grams of xanthan gum would become 325 grams of flour mix, 35 grams pixie dust.
Try a simple recipe you love and let me know the results ok? This is an ongoing area of experiential learning for me.
Thanks so much! Ill let you know any results I have.
I’ve historically been absolutely awful with baking. Unless it’s a boxed mix, I screwed it up. I suspect that a lot had to do with measure vs weigh, which is why I like to see recipes now that use weights.
But the problem still remains that I was a terrible baker before going gluten-free. I worry that it’ll be even harder. I’ve purchased pre-made flour blends (like Better Batter) when I would see them on a decent sale, just because I couldn’t find whole grains to make into flours for an affordable cost.
Are these topics addressed in the book, like where to find the most economical items? I also saw too many dairy/casein free food bloggers giving recipes using cashews that all but required the expensive VitaMix. I admittedly gave up on dairy-free because of that. I’m 90% better being gluten-free but I suspect that the times when I have genuine upper-GI *pain* is down to all the gums.
I’m so new to all this. My head spins. So forgive me for asking one last question and then I’ll start reading over your site (I just found it): How well do things freeze in gluten-free baking world? Things like waffles and pizza crusts, etc.
Thanks
Hi Lisa.
You are not alone in having a problem with baking. It is a science and can be exacting.
I’m guessing you are referring to Gluten-Free Baking for Dummies when you say book?
Your concerns about flour substitutions, quality and where to find are in the book, inlcuding a chart that shows weights per cup for most flours.
You are correct that Gluten Free, Dairy Free folks seem to use a lot of nut flours for replacement. If you are ok with some dairy I would just stick with the GF.
Freezing any bread product can create one BIG problem. The water contained inside the bread structure freezes, and when defrosted can leave the bread dry and crumbly. This can occur even in “regular” bread.
Pixie Dust helps quite a bit to create a web for the water to be retained. I just wrap up the bread in two layers of wrap and freeze away.
Waffles are wonderful, just underbake them a bit to allow for retoasting. pizza crusts work perfectly because of the egg in the recipe.
Feel free to ask questions. Answering them and helping folks to thrive is why I write this blog.