Is my child the only one that plays in the sandbox with pretend cakes and guar gum? Yep, the bubble blower wand became the teaspoon measurer and the sand was guar gum for a spell. I had to wonder how many other four year olds know what guar gum is? 
Anyway: Q: Why is xantham gum so much more expensive than guar gum and can I use the cheaper one?
A: I don’t know. And some times.
They are both gums, producing a binding effect in gluten free baking. Unfortunately we are not able to use other grains to the same effect as wheat, wheat seems to contain a particularly binding quality and also a unique flavor (that is difficult to replicate). So we use several binding agents in combination:
- eggs
- guar gum
- xantham gum
- sweet rice flour
- unflavored gelatin
Since I’m not sure how they all work, I follow the recipe with the exception of xantham gum – I couldn’t stomach the cost of it without knowing why it was preferred over guar gum. What I have found, and it works for me too, is that guar gum reacts with the function of yeast in breads. For all my baking, I use guar gum except when using yeast, then I use xantham gum to prevent any weirdness. So I have my trusty guar gum (much, much more economical) and use xantham gum in my bread.
As a note: I also use quite a bit – 1 Tablespoon – in each loaf of bread in place of 2 of the eggs. I find that most loaves require 4 or more eggs and that they tend to have that heavy egg texture – like in cruellers or other egg doughs. So using less eggs and more xantham gum works for me. You’ll have to figure out what your family can stomach when it comes to the texture of things, and then adjust your budget accordingly.
Please send your questions to cathy (at) tibbles (dot) net!
Two rules for converting a baking recipe to its gluten-free counterpart.
When adding milk to soup
About Cathy Tibbles
