Despite the misleading name, buckwheat is entirely unrelated to wheat and contains no gluten whatsoever. It is a seed from the same family as rhubarb, and its flour has a bold, slightly earthy flavour with a pleasant nuttiness. It is high in protein and magnesium, and it is one of the more flavourful gluten-free flours — which means it works best in recipes that benefit from a stronger taste rather than a neutral backdrop. Buckwheat also contains rutin, a plant compound associated with improved circulation and antioxidant activity.

Brown rice flour is the closest thing to a neutral all-rounder in the gluten-free flour world. It has a mild flavour that does not overpower other ingredients, and it blends smoothly with other flours to create a more balanced texture. Unlike white rice flour, the brown version retains the bran layer, which adds fibre and a slightly earthier taste. It is a staple base flour in most gluten-free flour blends for precisely this reason — it provides structure without imposing flavour, and behaves predictably in most baked goods.

Coconut flour is made from dried, defatted coconut flesh and is among the highest-fibre flours available — containing more fibre per gram than most other alternatives. It is also very low in carbohydrates, which makes it a popular choice in keto and grain-free baking. The key characteristic to understand is its extraordinary absorbency: it soaks up liquid at a far greater rate than other flours, meaning you need only a fraction of the quantity. As a rule, expect to use roughly a quarter of the amount of coconut flour that a recipe would call for in wheat flour, and increase liquid and eggs accordingly.

Extracted from the cassava root, tapioca flour is almost pure starch and is essentially tasteless. Its value in gluten-free baking is structural rather than nutritional — it adds chewiness, helps bind ingredients, and creates a lighter, less crumbly texture when blended into flour mixes. It is the ingredient that most closely replicates the elastic, stretchy quality of gluten in baked goods. Used alone it produces an unpleasantly gummy result, but in a blend — typically 10 to 20% of the total flour weight — it transforms the texture of everything it touches.

Also known as gram flour or besan, chickpea flour is naturally gluten-free and exceptionally high in protein — containing more protein per gram than most other flours including wheat. It has a dense, slightly savoury flavour and binds well without eggs, making it useful in vegan cooking as well as gluten-free baking. It is the dominant flour in several traditional cuisines: socca in southern France, besan chilla in India, and farinata in Italy all rely on it as the sole flour. In savoury applications it is excellent; in sweet baking it works best when the other flavours are strong enough to balance its earthiness.

Quinoa flour is one of the few plant sources of complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids. It has a mild bitterness when used alone — lightly toasting it in a dry pan before use reduces this noticeably. Because of its strong nutritional profile it works well as a partial substitute in blends, contributing protein and a slight nuttiness without dominating. It is particularly good in flatbreads and wraps where a little extra chew and substance is welcome, and it pairs well with sweeter ingredients like banana or honey that offset its natural bitterness.