I have one word to describe gluten-free
baking: sticky. I'm used to bread dough that is cohesive, kneadable,
and shapable. Gluten-free dough is none of those things. It varied
from batter to a thick, tacky dough.
I didn't take a lot of notes or
pictures along the way, because I was too busy visiting and just
plain forgot. Other than the bread I made, I only have one picture,
and that only because Randy asked if I took pictures of the process.
Whoops. I'll make up for it by posting about everything all
together.
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| My GF flour stock: rice, spelt, soy, flax, and tapioca |
First, the bread. When I was
researching recipes, I looked for recipes that a) called for
ingredients I had on hand and b) were simple. This was a bit
frustrating, since most recipes call for “gluten-free flour mix”
or something similar. That's just dandy if you want to go out and
buy some pre-mixed combination. I did not. I had several types of
gluten-free flour, and had to find a good mix or a recipe that
specified flour types. To compound it, I also had to make recipes
corn-free (the one mix I had all the ingredients for called for
masa).
I settled on
this recipe.
I liked it because it was simple...and I had a lot of brown rice
flour.
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| It looks neat, but not like bread dough! |
As I watched the batter (I can't call
it dough) mix, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact
that it would rise and turn into anything resembling sandwich bread.
The consistency was more like banana bread than any other bread I've
ever made. I poured it into
the loaf pan, for crying out loud!
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| Ready to rise |
It did rise well,
however – both times (more on that in a minute). I was surprised
with how much volume it gained, since the batter was so loose – I
wouldn't anticipate it being able to hold the gasses in like most
yeast breads, or at least without something like a lot of beaten egg
whites like angel food cake. Shows what I know!
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| The top does have a neat texture, though |
The difference
shows up when it's baked, as the loaf doesn't get the nice domed top
that normal bread does. It stays pretty flat, and the final product
is reminiscent of a sponge in appearance (thankfully, it tastes much
better!) and has a light texture. Randy described it as “floofy”.
I didn't try it, for some strange reason, but Randy and Megan both
approved.
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| This is my first attempt - the top fell in a bit |
Another difference
from the bread I'm used to is my ability to gauge doneness. Usually
I've got a pretty good eye, but not in this case. The recipe called
for using a thermometer to measure the internal temperature. “Bah!”
I said. “I'll be able to tell when it's done” I said. Then I
cut into my loaf after it cooled and said “Blargh! That's not
anywhere near done enough.” I started over, and used a
thermometer. The results were much better. Weird how that works
out...
One downfall –
the recipe says to not store it in the fridge, or it will get soggy,
and the shelf life is only three or four days. I know that part of
that is the lack of preservatives and high sodium content of store
breads, but part is also that I'm used to sourdough which naturally
has a longer shelf life.
PART DEUX: Bread sticks
A little later into
Megan's visit, I made bread sticks. Ok, I meant to make bread sticks,
and made mini-baguettes instead. Impatience mixed with the stickiest
dough ever seen on Earth got the best of me.
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| They're as tasty and healthy as they look |
This was a bit more
complicated recipe; not only did it call for multiple flours, the
dough is much more difficult to work with. I have no pictures
because I didn't think to take any, and if I had, I'd have had to
wash my hands even more than I did to destickify.
The recipe is
multi-purpose – make two baguettes, nine mini-baguettes, or 18 bread sticks. I ended up with 10 mini-baguettes, even though I was
aiming for bread sticks. It's completely my fault, too. The recipe
called for putting the dough in a gallon Ziploc bag, then cutting the
corner to squeeze the bread sticks out (again – bread dough you
squeeze like pastry? Weird...)
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| Again, these are more textured than I'm used to; the flax meal helped. |
The problem was
that I got frustrated putting the dough in the quart-sized Ziploc and
decided that rather than go through the process twice, I'd just force
it all to fit. That didn't work out well – I should have just done
two batches. The frustration that resulted from my efforts to force
the dough to submit led me to cut too large of a hole in the corner
of the bag. Since I was committed and NOT going to start over, I
just rolled with the giant bread stick idea.
I really should
have paid attention to the recipe when it told me to grease any dough
I was going to handle, since it wouldn't work otherwise. They
weren't lying. This stuff is sticky and uncooperative. It's also
delicious. I started with
this recipe
but made some changes based on the flours I had on hand.
As far as I can
tell, gluten-free flours can be interchanged with no difference in
consistency, just flavor. I've only successfully made four
gluten-free recipes, though, so I could be completely wrong.
And
now, the recipes! Hooray!
GLUTEN-FREE
SANDWICH BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups warm
water
1 packet (2 ¼ t)
yeast\2 ½ cups brown rice flour*
2/3 cup corn starch
2/3 cup dry milk
powder
1 T xantham gum
1 t salt
2 T vegetable oil
2 eggs
Combine water and
yeast in a small bowl to proof
Whisk the dry
ingredients together
Add remaining
ingredients
Using an electric
mixer, mix dough on med-high for five minutes (use paddle attachment
of stand mixer)
Lightly grease a
9”x5” loaf pan and pour the batter in, spreading evenly.
Cover the dough
lightly with greased foil or plastic wrap and let rise for one hour
or until dough is just over the top of the loaf pan.
Preheat oven to 350
Bake for 55 minutes
or until internal temperature is between 208-211 degrees
Cool on a wire
rack.
*Every gluten-free
blog, recipe, and advice column I read stressed that when measuring
GF ingredients, you have to use a spoon to fill the measuring cup,
then level it with a straight edge (back of a butter knife).
Apparently, scooping the flours directly with the measuring cup can
compact them too much and mess up the recipe.
GLUTEN-FREE
BREAD STICK RECIPE
Ingredients
1½ Cups Cornstarch ½ Cup Spelt Flour 2¼ Cups White Rice Flour ¼ Cup Soy Flour ¼ Cup Flaxseed Meal 1½ Tablespoons Xanthan Gum 2 Teaspoons Salt 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder 1 Package Active Dry Yeast 1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar 2 Tablespoons Sugar 1 Tablespoon Honey 1/3 Olive Oil 2 Eggs 1 Egg White 1¾ Cups Warm Water (110-115°F)Yield
(9) mini baguettes (½ Cup of dough each), or (2) baguettes (half of dough per baguette), or (18) bread sticks (¼ Cup dough each)Directions
Place cornstarch, flours, flaxseed meal, Xanthan gum, salt, garlic powder and yeast in mixing bowl; mix. Add, vinegar, sugar, honey, oil, eggs, egg white and lastly the warm water; mix (slowly). Increase speed to high and beat for 4 minutes.
Coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray.
Work with the amount of dough necessary to form a single baguette, mini-baguette, or bread stick - whichever you prefer (half the dough, ½ cup dough, or ¼ cup dough) - at once.
Place dough on cookie sheet (allow room for the baguettes or bread sticks to expand as they rise).
Spray all exposed batter generously with cooking spray (this will help you form the baguettes - without cooking spray, dough will be sticky and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to work with).
With hands, form dough into long thin ropes, with thickness of shape depending on which variation you are making. Repeat as necessary making enough loaves to use all your dough. For mini baguettes and bread sticks, putting the dough in a gallon bag and snipping the corner can help ensure consistency in size.
Sprinkle tops of baguettes with salt and add any other desired topping (poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc). Allow to sit in a warm, dry location (free of drafts) covered loosely with plastic wrap for 40 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375° and bake (middle rack of oven): 35 minutes for baguettes, or 25 minutes for mini baguettes, or 20 minutes for bread sticks.
