Adventures in gluten free baking

I had originally intended for a different subject for this post, but it changed at the last moment due to a sudden idea that trying gluten free bread would be fun.  Of course I've never made gluten free bread.

Truth be told, up til about 4 months ago I would scoff at the idea of gluten free and refuse to do any sort of gluten free baking.  I will admit there were a couple of different reasons for that, from things like dealing with elitist health nuts to my sister's brief stint with being gluten free and sending me bizarre recipes and condemning me to a life of diabetes because I wouldn't give up gluten.

Anyways, obviously my views have changed since then and now I like to take recipes and try out gluten free versions of them.  I've had tremendous success with it, and for some things if people weren't told about it they would never know they were eating a gluten free cupcake for example.

On a related note.  I get asked what I use for baking, and currently it's Pamela's Artisan Flour Blend.  It's a mixture of rice flours, sorghum flour, potato starch and a few other things.  It's pretty bland tasting, unlike other mixes which contain things like garbanzo flour (which makes things taste like peas), so whatever  you make ends up tasting like what's expected.

So, back to the bread....

I started out looking for a recipe, and for me the easiest thing was french bread.  By traditional standards it's a relatively simple recipe and doesn't require any pans or anything.  I found a recipe that looked pretty good and had a lot of favorable reviews and comments.  I had almost everything on hand, I just needed some xanthan gum...which is fun to track down.  It's a requirement for gluten free bread baking, as it stands in for gluten and gives the dough elasticity and viscosity.  Some say  you need it for all gluten free baking, but I think you can get away without it with things like cakes & cookies.

Overall, the bread making process is relatively the same.  Measure out the dry ingredients and put them in the bowl, and mix them up a little.  Meanwhile, add  your yeast and sugar to warm water and let it sit until foamy.  Mix the remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

Add the water to the dry ingredients and add the remaining wet ingredients as well.  Let the dough mix for several minutes so that it's homogeneous.  The dough eventually becomes a sticky mass.  Unlike traditional bread making, you don't have knead the dough to develop gluten so the process is much quicker.

Divide the dough as desired, shape and place onto a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. It's not going to be the prettiest looking thing.  I found getting my hands wet with water helped keep the dough from sticking and making shaping the dough easier.

Place the dough in a warm area, covered, and let rise for 45 minutes.   I actually turn my oven into a proofer by heating up water in a pot until just boiling and placing that in the oven with the dough.  When the dough is roughly doubled, give a few diagonal slits on top.

Preheat the oven to 400 and bake the bread for 40-45 minutes.  I threw some ice cubes onto another baking sheet to produce steam and ensure the bread gets that nice crust.

After letting the bread cool a little, I had to see how it tasted.  The bread's got a great yeasty bread taste to it and the crust is thick and crunchy like you'd expect from french bread.  The inside's a little wet, but not gummy or dense.  Overall, I'm rather pleased with it and I'd gladly make it again.


Recipe:

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose GF flour
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons fast rise yeast
2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
3 egg whites, beaten slightly
1 teaspoon vinegar



Directions


In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, place flour, xanthan gum, & salt.  Blend with mixer on low.

In a small bowl dissolve the sugar in the water, and add yeast.

Wait until the mixture foams slightly, then blend into the dry ingredients.

Add the butter, egg whites, and vinegar.Beat on high for 3 minutes.

To form loaves, shape dough and place onto cornmeal-dusted cookie sheets in two long French-loaf shapes or place onto French-bread pans.

Slash diagonally every few inches.

Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from pan to cool.