buckwheat flour

For pancakes, dumplings and breads, buckwheat flour brings a distinct earthy, nutty flavour that ordinary wheat flour does not. It is made from buckwheat, which is naturally gluten-free, so it can be useful in gluten-free baking when the rest of the ingredients are suitable too. Its taste is strong enough to shape a recipe, and it often works best blended with other flours rather than used as a simple one-for-one replacement for wheat. Buckwheat flour does not provide wheat gluten’s stretchy structure, so doughs may be more fragile and need a recipe designed for that texture. By our assessment, its character and versatility make it a worthwhile pantry flour, though it is less neutral than all-purpose flour. The result depends on the recipe’s balance of liquid and binding ingredients.