We have tried various GF breads including bakery made and those found in the frozen food section of the grocery store. None have been particularly great, but they have generally toasted pretty well or made a good grilled sandwich. Well, I am excited to share this bread recipe! I have now made it several times with consistent results and the best part is: it makes great sandwiches!
Tender Gluten Free Bread
(recipe adapted from Barefeet In The Kitchen)
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour)
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer. I make this with my KitchenAid mixer, but you could use a hand mixer.
With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in the warm milk. The mixture will be crumbly at first but will start to form a dough once all of the milk is added. After the milk, add the 1/4 cup softened butter, cut into small slices. Mix until thoroughly blended.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each egg until thoroughly combined. Once all the eggs have been added, beat the mixture at high speed for 3 minutes. THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT! The mixing adds air to this thick batter which helps take the place of the missing gluten creating a fluffier loaf of bread.
After 3 minutes, the batter will resemble a thick, buttercream icing. It will not look like a typical yeast dough. The dough will be very sticky. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and leave the batter in the bowl for the first rise. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap letting it rise for 90 minutes. It won't completely double in size, but it will puff up considerably.
Lightly grease a 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan with butter. Gently stir the batter down. Scrape it into the prepared pan. The dough should still be wet and not at all knead-able. It should remind you of a very thick batter at this stage. Using dampened fingers, smooth the top, eliminating as many wrinkles, bubbles or creases as possible. The smoother your loaf is before the final rise, the smoother it will be once baked.
Loosely cover the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and let the dough rise again for 90 minutes. It will likely just crown over the rim of the pan. Near the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
(The dough will be delicate so avoid touching it as any marks will remain in the finished loaf.)
Bake the bread for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove and immediately turn your loaf out onto a cooling rack. Brush lightly with melted butter to help keep the crust soft. Slice when completely cool.
ENJOY!
I made heart shaped cut-out cookies for Valentine's Day. This is a recipe I adapted from an old family recipe passed down from my Grandmother, Vivian.
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Mix
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
With your mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs mixing between each until well blended, followed by vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine baking mix, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla mixing until well blended. The dough will be soft. Chill for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into 4 sections. Roll out each section on a GF floured surface to about 1/8" thickness. Use desired cookie cutters. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until edges are slightly golden brown.
Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
One of my husband's favorite Saturday morning breakfasts in years past has been pancakes. Finding a GF pancake that didn't seem grainy or incredibly fragile was the challenge. Using the GF All-Purpose Baking Mix I referred to in my earlier post in place of wheat flour, I made a long loved pancake recipe with success.
In working with GF ingredients I have learned you must combine ALL of your dry ingredients before adding your wet ingredients. By whisking your sugar, salt, baking powder, and other dry ingredients as called for by your recipe, your wet ingredients such as eggs, milk, etc. can immediately and evenly begin reacting.
When I homeschooled our younger son I referred to cooking as "Kitchen Chemistry". GF baking certainly qualifies. We are used to the chemical makeup and reaction of wheat flours. Any single GF flour or starch does not have the same properties. Therefore you will find recipes for most GF baked goods combine several flours and starches.
I am pleased to say these pancakes have all the qualities we enjoy. They are fluffy, tender and flavorful.
GF Buttermilk Pancakes
1 1/4 cups GF All-Purpose Baking Mix
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. GF baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 tbsp. cooking oil
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Combine egg, milk and oil separately; add all at once to dry ingredients, whisking till blended. Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Cook until golden brown, turning to cook other side when pancakes have a bubbly surface and slightly dry edge. Makes about eight 4-inch pancakes.
My family enjoys these with sliced bananas, pecans and maple syrup. Choose your favorite pancake toppings and enjoy!
January 3, 2012
Gluten free cooking! When you discover that you need to adjust your cooking techniques for either yourself, or someone else, this process can seem daunting. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!!
In the beginning I began just eliminating foods containing gluten. That seemed easy enough as I already made much of what we were eating at home, relying on few processed foods. Many processed foods use ingredients containing gluten as thickening agents, preservatives, fillers, etc. It was easy enough to substitute corn starch or a store bought GF all-purpose flour (Bob's Red Mill for example) for flour in gravies and sauces, or for dredging pork chops before browning, but baked goods like cookies, pie crust, bread, that was another story!!!
I purchased different GF breads and cookies with very mixed reviews and found nothing terribly good. Some were tolerable, but many were not worth eating, if not yucky! Dry, crumbly, flavorless. If you covered them with enough butter, jam, etc, you could do it, but enjoy them? Well, this all started to change when I recently found a recipe for a combination of GF flours that makes a great all-purpose baking mix.
The ingredients you will need in your arsenal are:
brown rice flour
white rice flour
potato starch
tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
sweet rice flour (do not confuse with "white rice" flour)
xanthan gum
No single GF flour makes a good substitution for wheat flours but by combining the above ingredients the characteristics associated with wheat flour baking such as chewiness, sponginess, crispness and flakiness are achievable. ,
I was totally blown away!
O.K. here is the baking mix recipe.
Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Mix
(makes 3 cups)
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour (you may find it as tapioca starch - same thing)
1/3 cup potato starch
2 tsp. xanthan gum
Wisk together and keep in an airtight container.
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| Buttermilk Pancakes |
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| Date Nut Pinwheels |
Gluten free baking has been the most difficult area for me to achieve positive results. That is why I have been so excited and just about everyone I know has been hearing about it! This baking mix can be substituted cup for cup in place of wheat flour for any cookie, quick bread, pancake, brownie, etc. The mix has totally transformed my GF baking and cooking! Yeast breads are different! In one of my next posts I will share the yeast bread recipe I have succeeded with. My husband actually took a sandwich with him today. It has been years!!!
A few GF baking tips:
How you measure your ingredients is extremely important. Flours and starches must be spooned into your measuring cup and leveled off with a flat edge, NEVER scooped with your measuring cup from the container. This is something I could sometimes cheat at with wheat flours, but in GF baking, it will give you very heavy dense results. To achieve positive results in your GF baking, air pockets play a huge role, therefore, spoon and level, don't scoop!
Another important aspect, where you CAN NOT cheat, unless other wise specified: all of your ingredients should be at room temperature. You can warm eggs quickly by placing them in a bowl of hot water, not boiled, for 5 minutes.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I am looking forward to sharing my adventures and discoveries in the Gluten Free World! Hope you all have had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and start to this New Year 2013.
Jocelyn
