Thursday, August 8, 2013

Best Gluten Free Bread Ever!!


We have a gluten free bakery attached to our home where for the last couple of years we have been making gluten free buns (dinner, hamburger and hot dog) along with a few other products.  Bread was always the difficult one.  The dough that worked great for the buns would shrink in when made into a loaf.  I wanted a loaf that was like the whole wheat loaves I used to make.  After a bit of experimenting I have come up with a recipe that we feel is too good to keep to ourselves.  This recipe is very flexible and for me has worked out every time.  You are welcome to share this recipe but please give credit to our blog site.  Thanks!

Booy’s Gluten Free Bread Recipe- makes 2 full size loaves (pans are 8"x 4")

2 ¼ cup very hot tap water
1 teaspoon ground chia seed
1 tablespoon pysillium husk 
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup or 1 cup cup flax meal (if you like it more like whole wheat bread use 1 cup flax meal - it will make a darker loaf that looks like a whole wheat loaf)
Let sit in large mixer bowl for 20 minutes.
Add to mixer bowl:
1 tablespoon yeast. 
Let sit 10 more minutes.
Meanwhile in another bowl mix together and set aside:
2 cups cornstarch
½ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup sweet rice flour
1 cup teff flour or buckwheat flour
1/3 cup sugar (or 1/4 corn or Rogers Syrup - if using syrup reduce 2 1/4 c water to 2 cups water)
2 teaspoons guar gum
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
Add a few cups of the dry flour  mixture  to the mixture in the mixing bowl. Then add:
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vinegar
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup milk powder (or you can add cottage cheese or ¼ c whey powder instead)
Add remaining flour mixture.
Mix in mixer on med low speed for 15 minutes.
Scoop into two well greased loaf pans. I use the Fat Daddio's pan BP-5642.  The dough is like a heavy cake batter.  I run the tap with cold water and make my fingers wet to shape the loaves or buns.  You can make it fairly wet.
 Cover with a oiled piece of plastic placed loosely over the pans. Let rise until just above top of pan,
Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.  If it gets too brown reduce temperature but leave bread in at least 50 minutes otherwise they might sink.
For buns grease a baking sheet and scoop a “plop” of dough onto baking sheet and shape with wet fingers.  Bread tops are also shaped with a wet hand to give loaves a smooth top.
**chickpea can be substituted for part of the teff or buckwheat up to 1/2.
Bread Batter is scooped in loaf pans.



This is how it should look after you wet your fingers and shape it.

 loaves are made with less teff and 1/2 cup flax ,using chickpea flour and lighter flours to make more of a "white" loaf
See the nice texture!  Makes a great sandwich and also toasts great.  
For the other ½ cup gf flours I have used ¼ tapioca and ¼ cup sorghum, or  brown rice and potato starch, or millet.  
I have also doubled the chia and pysillium husk with good results. 
For a round pumpernickel loaf I have added a bit of cocoa powder to give it a nice dark colour and then let it rise in a round pan to give it the traditional shape - great for use with spinach dip.

Cool  loaves a little and remove from pan.   We slice the bread and eat it fresh for lunch.  The remaining bread is sliced when cold and then frozen.  You can either defrost and eat it or if you want it more like fresh, just zap in the microwave until quite warm.  You can then make sandwiches without toasting the bread.