My obsession knows new bounds. For the last couple of days I’ve been obsessing about bread making. Gluten free bread making. The more I read, I think the less I knew! In the end, the only way to see what works was to get in the kitchen, and well, see what works.
So for Vegan MoFo 2013, Day 20. I’m giving us this day our daily bread. Sans gluten.
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup wholemeal teff flour
1/4 cup sorghum
3/4 cup cassava (tapioca) flour
1 tbs psyllium powder
2 tbs ground chia
1 1/2 cups warm vegan milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pink salt
1 tsp white sugar
Bake at 180 degrees for 55 minutes, then five minutes extra with aluminium foil over the top. I took it out of the oven at 50 mins and tapped the bottom but it did not sound hollow enough so I popped it back in again. When it is cooked, remove it from the loaf tin. Leave it to completely cool before slicing. I had to go for a once around the lake at the end of my street, to cut into it was too great.
I read on one website that it was better to introduce the quick acting yeast to warm liquid before adding to the flour. I have no idea what difference this made but I went along with it.
Use a tsp of olive oil to make smoothing down the top easier and also improve the crust. If you don’t want to use oil then wet hands will help to smooth.
I let it rise in an lightly oiled mixing bowl for 1.5 hours. The house was warm, this is important. Yeast is a bit like me, performs better when warm. The risen dough then sat in the loaf tin for a further ten minutes whilst I waited for the oven to heat up.
I’ve read so much about gluten free bread in the last three days. Some recipes have had such a long list of ingredients, all the ones that looked like they were triumphs used a high ratio of starch. Some said 2:1 ratio of gf flours to starch, others said 60% starch 40% flours. Some said flours with high protein content best, some said rice flour best. Some used vinegar to create a little chemical friction in the baking, thus resulting in a more tender loaf, others didn’t. Some used baking soda…some, not.
Am I happy with my first home baked loaf of bread? It was denser than I’d hoped for. I liked the flavour and the crust had a nice chew. It was lovely toasted. Overall, my first attempt was more like a German Brot. Denser than sandwich bread. The wholemeal teff defined it a brown instead of a white loaf.
I’m making another loaf in the next few days, I will be tweaking the recipe here and there to see what the effect is.
It’s not perfect. No, let me rephrase that. It is a perfect, dense and flavoursome, bread. Perfect and lovely in it’s own way. What it isn’t, is the hoped for, spongey, chewy crusted, flavoursome copy of the freshly baked sandwich loaf I used to slather with whatever took my fancy, atop an artery clogging layer of butter (pre-vegan days), type bread. That will come in time. For now, I’m loving what I have. It’s kind of exciting. The idea of a bread making journey, with failures and successes. I will learn as I go, make little adjustments, discover new ideas. I sometimes can be rather uncomfortable with learning something new. At times, want to skip to the finish line without all the stuff in the middle. But, can a craft be truly learned without study and time to proof?
If you have any gluten free bread making tips or stories please do tell.
These sites were some of my inspiration and places of learning.
Gluten Free 4 Goofs
Book Of Yum
Gluten Free Girl
Today is Day 20 of Vegan MoFo. I missed a day of posting so this is the 19th post. I’ve a minimum of one more post to go. It is going to be a good one.
See you tomorrow! x
I have baked lots of glutenfree breads. With or without yeast, with or without gums and so on… so far none of them have come close to how I remember normal gluten breads. But they are really good in their own right. (clicking on my name will take you to the bread posts on my blog). best wishes
If you say it isn’t perfect it looks it! There is only one recipe I use that turns out every time and the key is to following the directions exactly.
@Liane
Hi Liane, well that is good to know. I will check out your links to your recipes. thanks x
@dreaminitvegan
hey dreaminitvegan,
aw, thank you. is your recipe like gluten sandwich bread? would you share the link for it here? I’d love to try it.
Every German gluten-free person would steal this bread from your hands! me included and I am the opposite of gluten-free! I recently made a gf bread with sourdough. I could still taste that it wasn’t a rye bread, but it was close!
That bread looks really good for an early attempt at GF! I’ve tried my hand at GF breads but didn’t pursue it too much. As you said, they are nice in their own way but not like the breads I’m used to.
I can’t believe you’ve already covered your quota of 20 MoFo posts! Way to go!
I’ve still got about 7 posts to cover.
That is really lovely! Glad to see you’re getting some good results. I’m another that just kinda quit on it after a few tries (years ago). May just have to give it another go.
@Mihl
aw, thanks Mihl! ha. I’d be happy to share it! 😉
@Veganosaurus
Thanks Veganosaurus! I call it rookie enthusiasm! Good luck with your remaining 7 posts! 😉
@Veganosaurus
Thanks Veganosaurus! I call it rookie enthusiasm! Good luck with your remaining 7 posts! 😉
@Dawn
Hey Dawn, Thanks! Don’t quit…you may just have the key to tender white gf bread!
I hope this leads to you opening a bakery and selling this to masses. I have yet to find a place in the Coachella Valley that sells gluten, wheat & sugar free breads without charging obscene prices (and all you get is a frozen brick).
I’ve started an obsession with bread myself recently. I don’t eat much bread, but read up on sourdough bread this summer. I recently made a sourdough starter that I keep in my fridge. Once I mastered this I will try to go gluten free.
Hey Veronica, thanks for stopping by! I’ve not made gf sour dough. I would be interested to know how yours turns out!