I used this recipe from Gluten Free Goddess, if you haven’t already been to her site in search of answers about becoming gluten free or how to bake some cookies – you totally should. She is my mecca right now.
Also? Let’s be honest, here. This, first try, loaf didn’t look as pretty as I was envisioning.
But it tasted just fine. I think my issue was the size of pan I used. Her recipe calls for a 1.5 pound loaf pan, and really? I have no idea what that means. I just grabbed one of the 3 (two of which are Ikea pans … and probably weird 8 oz pan sizes or something) loaf pans I own and went for it.
I have a Fearless Kitchen. It’s liberating. I encourage you to forget the rules and add some cinnamon. You’re SO allowed.
Now. Baking gluten free is scary if you’re new to it. There isn’t one flour you can frivolously throw into the mix and get something to rise or not taste like stone. So get to know your GF flour mixes first.
I’ve used Pamela’s Baking Mix with wonderful results. We make our pancakes and waffles with this religiously and LOVE it. Pretty sure you can use it to make breads, scones, cupcakes, birthday cakes, muffins etc etc as well.
I just bought some Red Mill All Purpose GF flour to try out – a trusty GF friend said she felt this mix held up better to an egg replacer.
That’s as technical as I’m getting. If you have questions as to what the heck I’m talking about, leave them in the comments, I will respond to them all.
So – let’s make some bread. For this Tutorial I followed the recipe to a T, I do not have a bread machine so I used her instructions farther down on the page to tell me how to prepare the dough manually. But because those instructions were farther down on the page then the actual recipe, I compromised and came up with this so I wouldn’t get lost:
These are the “wet ingredients” you’ll need:
And the “dry”:
I started by proofing my yeast like so:
Add 2 TBSP Honey to 1 1/4 C warm water …
I missed, oops! But once it’s in the water you’ll have this.
Now stir to dissolve the honey:
Add 1 TBSP Yeast to Honey/Water mixture and stir it up, then forget about it …
Now in a clean bowl we’re going to mix the dry ingredients together – we’ll start with the Sorghum Flour:
You need 1 Cup of this bad boy.
Now we’ll add the Potato Starch, not to be confused with Potato flour.
1 Cup of him, too.
Check your yeast at some point, it’s starting to get happy.
Next, to your dry ingredients, you’ll add the Xanthan Gum. Weird.
2 tsp of it.
Then the Millet Flour:
1/2 cup of his badself
Aaaand the sea salt. Her recipe says “fine sea salt” but I had coarse – throw caution to the wind people! DARE YOURSELF TO UNFOLLOW RULES. Sorry, something came over me.
About this much is fine. The recipe calls for 1 1/4 tsp.
Stir up the Dry Guys
How’s the yeast?
Vondervil!!! Now add the proofed yeast to the dry ingredients
Add 3 to 4 TBSP EVOO
Then the 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar.
In another clean, small bowl quick whip up your egg replacer – 1 TBSP Egg replacer with 4 TBSP warm water until frothy.
Add your “eggs” to the rest of the dough batter
And mix it up, stir stir stir
Until it looks like this
Find yourself a 1.5 pound loaf pan then oil it, WELL. I must have skimmed on the oil part because that’s half the reason my loaf fell apart – I couldn’t get it out of the pan. So … Liberal use of oil.
Plop the batter into your loaf pan
Use a wet finger to smooth out the top of the dough before you set it in a warm place to rise for one hour.
Ready to rise!
I put my loaf to rise underneath a towel on the preheated stove since my kitchen is uber drafty. No chances here folks. I need a warm nest for that bread.
An hour later – here’s the difference:
Bake at 350 for 45 min to an hour. Just knock on the bread, if it’s hollow, it’s done. Cool on a wire rack.
We had BLTs for dinner that night. YUM!
I have a few comments/questions:
1. Millet Flour – not to be confused with Mullet flour, correct? ; )
2. Where would someone even GET potato starch!?
3. The Egg Replacement box looks like its form the 1980’s.
4. Please explain the Egg Replacement bit. Can “gluten free” people not have eggs!?
5. What can “gluten free” people NOT eat?
Thanks Martha ; )
P.S. I think you may have found your niche : ) Gluten free cooking & healthier living (I LOOOOVE your photo demonstration)!
Ok Meghan – here’s your answers 🙂
1. Millet Flour – not to be confused with Mullet flour, correct? ; )
Correct! haha. I don’t think Mullet flour exists. Scary.
2. Where would someone even GET potato starch!?
I got Potato Starch from a natural food store, Apple Valley in Holland, but I’m pretty sure Natures Market would have it too – otherwise. Online. And in some bigger stores they carry the Bob’s Red Mill brand flours and such – and you can find it with those too.
3. The Egg Replacement box looks like its form the 1980’s.
Agreed.
4. Please explain the Egg Replacement bit. Can “gluten free” people not have eggs!?
ok. yes we/they can have eggs – some people who are GF are also allergic to eggs, some just choose not to eat them. Depends on how serious the allergy or lifestyle is for a person. I bought it to try because it was in so many of the recipes – and it’s great to have because we actually eat eggs, like, 3 or 4 dozen a week, so when I get stuck … I always have a replacement.
5. What can “gluten free” people NOT eat?
Gluten free is not wheat free. Wheat and gluten are two different things. Most of the time if you’re Celiac (which is intolerant to gluten) you are also intolerant to wheat, but not always. Get tested. If you can’t have wheat along with gluten, you’re choices are pretty slim … We stay away from wheat as well as gluten (most of the time) I still buy store bread when I’m in a hurry.
But it’s pretty much just a grain allergy – so there’s grains we can’t tolerate and then there’s grains we can. Unless you have a broken pancreas, then you can’t tolerate any of them and you stomp your feet in disgust.
I’ll post a list of them here soon.
PS. I don’t know about this niche. I love it – but it takes FOREVER to write a post like this. haha. I won’t stop though. Just might not be very regular. But who am I kidding? I love it all.
If you haven’t checked http://www.kingarthurflour.com, you should. They have all of the flours and other stuff you need, including a new set of gluten-free mixes. I use their stuff…first quality. I have to admit, though, that I’ve had no reason to try their gluten-free stuff, but the other stuff is great. They’ll send you a catalog if you wish. They often run sales where if you buy 5 or more mixes, you get a decent discount.
I also just bought a new bread book called ” More Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day”. It’s written by a doctor and a chef. I’ve tried one thing in it so far, and it came out fine. They have a gluten-free section. The neat thing about their technique is you mix it up (no-kneading), then put it in the fridge for up to 14-days and at least overnight. Take some out and bake it when you need it with no more mixing or kneading…neat! and it works. Walmart on line had it for about $18 delivered.
I am all about eating healthy and more earth-friendly/green too. In Jan ’09, me and my family did a major diet overhaul and have done pretty well at eliminating all processed foods- replacing it with fruits and veggies. But this gluten-free thing has got me wondering if my hubby isn’t allergic to gluten. He’s somewhat lactose/dairy intolerant as it is. I may do another overhaul and try out this gluten free lifestyle. Maybe I can even convince the hubby to go get tested-stubborn as an ox, he is! 🙂
Oh, I’m curious, what do you do for breakfasts? We are a cereal family (one of the last processed items we have) and typically eat Kashi brand. But, hubby can’t handle that – between the milk and possibly the gluten. Eggs and sausage? Then what about the cholesterol and sat. fats? Anyways…I’ve rambled and need to stop. Thanks for a great post!
Jolibe – Breakfasts: yes, we do a ton of eggs and sausage/bacon etc. There is such a thing as good cholesterol and fats 😉 We eat plenty of them! Don’t be afraid of the fat – it’s good for you! You’re body needs fat to work with in order to build muscle and burn the stagnant fat that hangs onto our bellies, thighs and bottoms. The fat you should be worried about is when you buy something that says “Fat free!” … chemicals and higher processed goods are not beneficial in any way whatsoever. That’s my soap box.
As far as cereal goes – Corn Chex are gluten free and in our grocery store (we have Meijer) there’s a whole aisle with GF food and quite a variety of cereals. We’re also lactose sensitive so we don’t have dairy, period. Goat cheese once in a while – and Rice Milk, Almond milk, Coconut milk … All great alternatives for cereal and baking. (Although rice milk doesn’t have a thickening agent, so it won’t make pudding very well ;))
For some reason I’ve never cared about calories or fat. Don’t listen to a label, listen to your body. I feel blessed to have somehow blocked those “supposed worries” because I grew up with a calorie counting mom so thats how I was modeled to enjoy food … but it wasn’t very enjoyable.
I’ll do a few posts about breakfasts … we do hardboiled eggs, scrambled … those are my go to’s if we’re in a hurry, but we make quiche and all kinds of things if I have a little time. this morning we had GF french toast. (post coming later today).
You can still have your “sweet” breakfast – just make it GF.
Hope that helps!! Feel free to keep asking questions 🙂