I’ve been cooking and baking exclusively gluten-free for 22 years, thanks to celiac disease. Now, even before going GF, I was the kind of baker who would formulate my own recipes, and I still do that. But I can definitely give you some tips and point you to some resources.
Let’s start with the flours. I don’t usually use the flour mixes that are on the market, but when I do buy them, I go for the King Arthur all-purpose blend or their measure-for-measure. These are are not the same. The all-purpose blend does not have xanthan gum in it. I do some recipe testing, and when I test, I will use one of these blends because they are readily available at supermarkets. I do not use either of them for breads, but they work fine in cookies, pastry, pancakes, and such.
As for the individual flours, I buy Authentic Foods flours almost exclusively. This is especially important for the rice flours, as they grind theirs finer than other brands. These flours are not easy to find in stores, so I mail order them. You can order directly from Authentic Foods or get them on Amazon, or some of the sites that specialize in GF ingredients. If I could make you follow just one piece of advice, it would be to buy Authentic Foods flours. And no, I don’t work for them.
Another note on rice flour. I buy brown rice flour and sweet rice flour, both from Authentic Foods. I do not bother with white rice flour, because I have found that IF you buy the Authentic Foods flour, you can get by using the brown rice flour 100% of the time when white rice flour is called for.
For authors, I will keep it simple and recommend only one: Jeanne Sauvage. She has two books out and a blog, Art of Gluten-Free Baking. I have found that most authors who do not bake GF all the time do not create recipes that are as good as dedicated GF authors. That includes the famous people like Peter Reinhart, and yes, Alice Medrich. I get much better results converting recipes on my own, but then, I’ve done a whole lot more GF baking than they have.
A note on xanthan gum. Some people will tell you it’s an absolute must for GF baking. It IS very useful, but I don’t use it in everything. Some things just work perfectly well without it. Think about a traditional Southern cornbread. Naturally GF and no gums in sight. Same for a Brazilian pâo de quiejo. For yeasted breads, I prefer to psyllium husk. It is a little tricky to work with, because it takes some time to hydrate, so your dough mixture will stiffen up over time. You have to mix it to be thinner than you think you want. But using psyllium, you can actually get a kneadable dough. Not that kneading is necessary for GF breads, but still…
Pizza crust: I will give you my formula. I will preface this by saying that yes, I do have a scale in my kitchen and often weigh my ingredients, but I don’t for this. You simply do not need to be that precise here. It’s a very forgiving recipe.
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup garbanzo flour
2 Tbs psyllium husk powder
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
To these dry ingredients, whisk in some water. This part I do by feel, but for this quantity, start with 1 1/4 cup. You need to do this quickly, and you are looking for a thick batter. You let that dough sit for about 15 minutes, and it will thicken to where you can work it. Dump it onto a piece of parchment and with oiled hands, press it from the center outwards into a disc of the size and thickness you want. Let it rise for about an hour, then top it and bake. I preheat a stone in my oven placed about 4" from the top element at 500F, then when I put the pizza in, I switch to broil and cook for 12 minutes. Sometimes my oven complains about this, and you will definitely need to experiment. This recipes also makes a great flatbread, with just some salt and za’atar sprinkled on top. As I said, this is a very forgiving recipe and you can mess around with the flour mix, specifically the brown rice flour. I will sometimes replace 1/2 of the brown rice flour with millet or sorghum. Millet is good if you are looking for a lighter texture. I will often use it if I’m making focaccia.
I guess I should say something about the garbanzo flour. Some people do not like the taste. In my pizza crust recipe, I not only don’t mind it, but I like it. Once again, the brand matters. Besan from the Indian market will have a stronger taste. And I can also taste Bob’s Red Mill chickpea flour in small quantities, and don’t particularly like it. But the Authentic Foods garbanzo flour is pleasant to me. YMMV.
I have adapted a ton of stuff to be GF, so if you have questions about a specific dish, just ask. Oh, roux… sweet rice flour works perfectly as a 1:1 sub for wheat flour.