bread

Discard Sourdough Bread Made with a Preferment

This is my new favorite bread recipe. You need to make a gf starter; lots of directions online. its not that difficult and you can buy a freeze dried one on-line. I prefer one made with brown rice flour and it needs to be at least 2 or 3 weeks old before using it. The weeks of forming it include lots of discarding a portion of it in efforts to get rid of harmful or poor tasting bacteria. I suggest you read up on the process, so you have a good idea of the process before you make one.

This is a pretty easy bread recipe for a beginner. You do need these assorted flours but trust me, if you have to eat gf you are probably sick of expensive and flavorless store breads so buying these flours is well worth it. I keep the sorghum, brown rice, millet and psyllium husk powder in the freezer, so they each stay fresh. You should put them in a freezer bag if their container is flimsy.

You could probably use a portable mixer, but a stand mixer is best. I use a scale to weigh most of my ingredients, necessary for exacting measurements. They aren’t that expensive and if you bake much, one is a necessity. My recipe is a take-off of one by Gluten Free Gourmand. I added the preferment step to my version to increase flavor and improve texture.

The preferment is a fancy term for a mixture of the sourdough starter, flour and warm water that stands around for 4 to 24 hours, some people let it stand even longer. Its purpose is to add sour flavor to the bread; without it your bread will be a bit bland, and it also can help the texture especially if you use an active starter (fed with flour and water that day so it is bubbly and active). I find the use of the preferment step makes this bread deliciously sour and with a lighter texture. It isn’t hard to do; I actually use a 32 oz yogurt container with a lid and just leave it sit for that day to get sour; simply dump the entire contents, including any separated liquid, into the bread dough mixture. Super easy and it definitely improves flavor and texture.

There is no tricky kneading or shaping of this bread. I roll it into a tube shape and bake in a metal loaf pan so I have the traditional bread shape for use in sandwiches. This bread made great grilled cheese or panini sandwiches. I slice up the loaf the day after baking it and freeze it in a freezer Ziplock; defrost in microwave for 50-60 seconds and you are ready to toast it or make a grilled sandwich! You can make it in a round or oval boule if that floats your boat; you might want to use a banneton to shape it as it rises and a cast-iron Dutch oven to bake it in. I generally like the boule recipe on Bakerita.com for that sort of sourdough but this recipe below could be shaped, risen in a mold called a banneton and baked in a boule. My Dutch oven is oval, so I tend to make oval loafs in it; they slice in nice slices which are mostly the same size.

Discard Sourdough Bread Made with a Preferment

Preferment:

200 gms (grams) active starter

80 gms sorghum

100 gms warm water (95-115 degrees)

Mix in a plastic lidded container and let stand for 24 or more hours

Dough directions – Ingredients:

Mix in stand mixer bowl

65 gms potato starch (you could do 115 gms potato starch and leave out the cornstarch)

50 gms cornstarch

40 gms millet flour

40 gms tapioca flour

9 gms sea salt

20 gms psyllium husk powder

Mix well and add 1 tsp active dry yeast

Add 280 gms warm water and the preferment. Mix with beater of stand mixer for 1-2 minutes until well blended. I have a beater with a built-in scraper; use it or a separate scraper to push all dough together into a rough ball. Cover with a damp lint free kitchen towel and put in a warm place for 60-90 minutes. I leave the beater in the bowl for this first rise.

Add these three things: 75 gms tapioca flour, 1 tbsp. sugar and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, Blend well with the stand beater. Turn out onto lightly floured bread board, form into a log; I like to roll it back and forth to smooth the bumpy surface. Place in a metal baking loaf pan sprayed with gf cooking spray. Cover with the damp cloth and put back in the warm place for 60-90 minutes. It should have risen some but doubtful it will double. I like it to be puffy but not too puffy or it might become over risen, not good!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees when the bread is close to ready for baking. While it heats put a low pan of hot water in the oven so it comes to a boil while in your oven. I like my baking shelf set in the middle slot. Bake the bread 30 minutes covered loosely with aluminum foil and then 20 minutes more without the foil. Remove from pan within 5 minutes and cool for a minimum of 4 hours; I like more than that. I often bake this in the later afternoon to evening and then cut it in the morning. Enjoy!

Super Simple Cloud Bread

 

Finding or baking decent gf bread can be problematic.  Poor texture (think crumbly), slightly odd flavors, big holes in the middle of the loaf, leaden or brick like baked products, high prices and lots of ingredients which must be compiled exactly according to the recipe.  It adds up to a fair amount of stress as to just having a sandwich.

A year ago I made some really interesting bread/rolls.  The name is “cloud bread” (also called oopsie bread) and it has no flour, no oats nor any grains.  I was intrigued when I saw this cloud bread popping up in my support group messages and just had to try it. My recipe has five ingredients but three should be in your pantry already.  It was very easy, quick and yes; tasty.  So it made a super bread for a ham and cheese sandwich and a ham/turkey and cheese sandwich.  I ate one warm out of the oven, also enjoyable. Great with a little jam or jelly on top.  Posted it back last March and sharing again so you who missed it can give it a try.

I added a couple toppings which add a lot to the flavor and look of it.  I recommend them but it sure can be made plain.   You have to use full fat cream cheese to make it work, only a few tablespoons so don’t get all freaked out over that issue!

Cloud Bread/Rolls

3 eggs, separated

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. honey

Pinch salt

Toppings; sesame seeds and a tbsp. of chopped fresh rosemary.

 

Directions

Beat the egg yolks with the cream cheese until it is very smooth, lemon yellow. Add the baking powder and honey, beat in.

Beat the egg whites until foamy, add a sprinkle of salt. Beat until stiff peaks form.  Fold together with the yolk mixture until mostly blended together.

While the egg whites were beating I lined a big baking sheet with parchment paper and sprayed it lightly with Pam.  Heat oven to 300 degrees. Some people heat the pan in the oven before spreading the dough; I didn’t bother but feel free to preheat your pan.

Using a big spoon spread the bread mixture on in six big circles spaced 1-2 inches apart.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and or finely chopped fresh rosemary. Bake until golden brown between 20 and 30 minutes.  Using a spatula separate them from the parchment paper. Let cool.  Store in a ziplock bag overnight; they will get soft and be ready for sandwiches.  Keep them in the fridge. I put slices of wax paper between them to avoid sticking.  They keep about 3 days there and a week in the freezer.  Wonderful for sandwiches: I used one for the top and a second one as the bottom of the sandwich.  Did I mention they are virtually no carbs in this bread? Yeap; great for my low carbing friends!

Originally published in 2016. Minor changes to text.

Gluten Free Rye Bread: YES!

Oh the quest for tasty gluten free bread continues. Missing rye bread has been one of the tougher things to deal with as I loved it back in my pre-celiac diagnosis days.  FYI: Rye flour has gluten in it and no other flour will give you the actual taste of rye.  Caraway seeds in the bread do help but to get rye flavor? I found but one solution: rye flavor powder.  Yeap; such a thing exists. Sold only by one company as far as I can tell; Authentic Foods.  You get a small shaker the size of a bottle of spices for about $6 but the kicker is the $8.99 shipping charge. rye flavor

  I hemmed and hawed for a long time (read two plus years) but finally chose to pay it.  I did get a bag of gf lemon cake mix which did not increase the shipping charge and was reasonably priced plus hard to find at a grocery store.  Still this was pricey; just under $21 for those two items plus shipping. I asked myself, will this rye bread be worth this cost for just a small bottle of flavoring?

The recipe I used came from Annalise Roberts’ Gluten-Free Baking Classics, Second Edition.  I made it just according to the recipe which uses her bread flour mix.  It is composed of several flours including brown rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch as well as millet.  I already had some in my freezer. Bing bing bing, the recipe is very straightforward, nothing tricky.  I let it rise in my 8.5 x 4 inch metal bread pan and baked it.  Not much rise in the oven but it didn’t fall either!  rye bread and cassoulet 022

The flavor and texture were outstanding. I used half the caraway seeds as it seemed like a lot.  Next time I plan on the full amount just to see how it tastes.  This bread gave me back my rye.  Now, I did see a few comments on the Authentic Food’s related selling website: http://www.glutenfree-supermarket.com/p-48-rye-flavor-all-natural-ingredients.aspx.  People quarreling whether this could possibly be gluten free.  I used it, I found it not to make me ill and therefore I feel it is less than 20 ppm of gluten.  It is labeled gluten free and for my purposes it seems to be just that. Nuff said by me on that issue. I know folks who will argue on this topic for hours but I am comfortable with the safety of this product and will buy it gain when I run out.

I suggest that if you are missing rye bread this recipe is exactly what the doctor ordered! I was and now I have back my rye bread.  So can you.  Just fork over your cash and get that powder! I suspect you could put it in any basic gf bread recipe and if you want the bread seeded; add them too.  The recipe book is widely available; Amazon, Ebay, book stores; only $4 on Ebay!  gluten free baking classics I use many, many of these recipes and this is definitely a keeper cookbook you will turn to over and over again.  It’s the source for my flaky pie crust, cookie crusts, muffins, cookies, quick breads, wickedly great brownies and very tasty Irish soda bread.  It is fairly inexpensive. If you are going to bake gluten free it is a must own cookbook.  The muffins and brownies are very easy and always turn out great. I can’t recommend it enough.

Time for some gluten free rye toast…had some the other day with my breakfast eggs. Yumm!

Artisan Bread and Gluten Free…Yes!

Ever in search of the elusive tasty gluten free bread…. I saw a fb post that promised just that.  So I couldn’t resist the temptation.  I tested out the recipe.  Made the flour mix, yeap ANOTHER gf flour mix… OMG! I must have a dozen mixes stored in my house between freezer and cupboards.  This time, I told myself,will be different, this will be the best freaking gf bread I have ever made. Will it be worth the effort…I hope… Hope springs eternal in the breasts of all celiacs for bread that we can enjoy, bread without giant holes in it or that crumbles to an unholy mess when made into a sandwich.

Okay, one giant jar of flour mix later and one batch of sticky dough whipped up.  You keep the dough in the fridge and use a big chunk of it when you want bread.  I only made a half batch.  There is just me here and the dough needs to be used up in 5 days. Ten if you make it egg free but I read a lot of comments on how the egg whites are very important to the texture of this bread.  So egg whites in, tick tick my bread baking clock is running down….

The flour mix isn’t all that different from my favorite mix, has some sorghum flour which is the new darling around gf circles for making great texture and flavor in gf baking. It also has the xanthan gum already in it.  The big jar is still ¾ full after my mixing efforts.

I had made the dough mixture up Saturday but upon reading comments that it was best eaten within 2 days and that the refrigerator time contributed to a sourdough taste, I delayed baking a test loaf until Sunday.

Laid down a piece of parchment paper after Sunday lunch and scooped up half my squishy dough. Wet my hands and carefully formed it into a round small loaf.  It seemed a tad flat.  But I let it rise the required hour; added maybe 15 more minutes. You use a bread stone to bake the bread on; slide it in right on it’s parchment paper. Paper gets brown but doesn’t burn…hopefully anyway!

pretzels 003

Baked okay; not as high a rise as I might wish.  I let it cool a long while per the directions.  Took it with me to my mom’s assisted living.  We had it with the lentil stew I made earlier this past storm weekend. She adored the bread! It has a good outside crunch, close moist texture. Great artisan look and taste.  Score!

pretzels 004

Here is the recipe; way too long for me to post. http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2014/11/03/master-recipe-from-gluten-free-abin5

Debating buying the cookbook…..maybe as there are a lot of other great recipes in it.

Anyway; if you miss that chew and flavor of artisan breads; this recipe is for you.  I have one more loaf to make; waiting until Thursday; I want to see if it gets like sourdough. Hoping!

Delicious Gluten Free French Bread – Easy and Fast

When my family asks for gluten free bread this is my go to recipe.  It always tastes great; the original came from food.com.  I have modified it slightly. I think it is better for my changes.  If you don’t like brown rice flour use double the white rice.  In my opinion the brown rice makes the flavor more like the real deal.  Don’t change anything in the recipe until you have made it a couple of times.  It is a remarkably forgiving bread.  The original recipe came from food.com

french bread pan

The only thing is you really need a French bread pan; metal, zillions of tiny holes, makes two loaves.  I can’t see how to successfully make this without my French bread pan. Just get one! I made this bread several times a year and get many compliments from people who don’t need to eat gluten free.

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It is very easy and quick to mix up.  You need to keep an eye on it rising; should be in a warm but not hot location.  Sometimes I turn on my oven and let it heat to 105 degrees upon which I turn it off and put in the bread.  Just warm enough and no drafts inside there.  Don’t over rise it or it will deflate; disaster! Once it is getting close to ready you need to preheat the oven; take the bread out first if yours is rising in there…

It is still tasty the next day.  Makes good crumbs, great croutons if you fry it in some olive oil and garlic and if you slice extra thin this bread is excellent with a cheese course if you are into that sort of thing.

These pictures below are of my golden raisin French bread – they illustrate the process, look very much the same and I don’t have any photographs of the basic French bread in the rising process.  I will snap some next time I make it.

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Gluten Free French Bread

Makes two loaves

1 cup white rice flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup tapioca flour

3 tsp. xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp. sugar

1 ½ cups lukewarm water; about 90-95 degrees

1 tbsp. yeast

2 tbsp. melted butter

2 large eggs or 3 egg whites, room temp. I use the two whole eggs generally.

1 tsp. cider vinegar

Directions:

Put the flours, gum and salt in bowl of stand mixer, blend.

In two cup measuring cup or small bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water; let stand 3-5 minutes until foamy.

Dump into the dry ingredients; add the butter, egg whites, and vinegar.  Beat on high for 3 minutes.

Spray French bread pans, those ones with the tiny holes everywhere and the half round shape; spray them with cooking spray and dust all over with yellow cornmeal.

Glop in the bread dough; it will be like soft putty.  Smooth the top with your fingers that you dampened in water.  Cut 3 slashes diagonally on the top. Sprinkle it with more cornmeal if you like.  I often do that.

Let rise for 30 minutes until doubled.  Bake in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool before slicing.  It doesn’t have to be stone cold to slice but cutting it hot is a bad idea; gets all gummy….not a good thing.

This is a version of a recipe I found on food.com. I put in brown rice flour and use whole eggs.  I also have a version with orange rind, golden raisins and fennel seeds elsewhere on my blog.