Community Bake - Gluten Free Bread
I was excited when Abe asked for interest in a Gluten Free Community Bake. I haven't done much GF baking lately, but I will be again once my daughter comes home from college for the summer. It definitely has its own challenges and skill sets, but there are some very tasty gluten free breads to be made if you go into it with the understanding that you probably won't have big voluminous loaves. These loaves are much more like high rye breads in size and crumb.
So with the spirit of the other Community Bakes put together by Dan, Allan, and Abe, I'm starting this thread in hopes that others will post some of their bakes or maybe try a gluten free bake for the first time.
To get things started and give folks an idea on the diversity out there with gluten free baking, I have three bakes listed. By all means, try one of these or feel free to post your own recipe. The only rule... It must use all gluten free flours/grains.
I assume for some folks, the apprehension with gluten free baking comes from the flours/ingredients needed. It's tough to go out and buy bags of flour to try a single loaf. So with that in mind, the first two bakes I have listed can be done with items most of you probably already have or can easily get the exact quantity needed with a trip to the bulk food store. (Click on the hyperlink to take you to the blog/forum post for each bread).
Every Day Pantry Item Loaf - I made this one today and it was simple but fun. Getting the batter consistency right can take a little practice, but overall, an easy loaf to make. Use these ingredients or see what you have lying around in your pantry! For batter breads, it's better to err on the low side with hydration and slowly add water to get the right consistency.
Buckwheat Bread - Abe steered me to this technique when I first joined TFL. I tried it and the flavor of buckwheat really grew on me! After making this loaf, buckwheat is one of my favorite grains to use in all types of bread. This loaf of bread is excellent when toasted. I especially like it with raspberry jam.
The third example loaf uses gluten free flours and may require a purchase or two.
Gluten Free Pumpernickel - While I haven't tried this loaf, it does sound delicious and I love the look of it! There is some really good information in the post about the flours used and what they bring to a bread.
I look forward to seeing your bakes in the comments!
I responded enthusiastically to the original query from Abe but the timing couldn't be worse for me. I am traveling with no access to an oven or ingredients for a while. BUT, I will eagerly follow!
I have dabbled in GF baking a bit and did learn a few things. Maybe I can participate a little that way.
There are a few principles I learned even in my limited dabbling with GF. First and foremost, I discovered there was a LOT of deliciousness to be made with non-wheat flours but I am a "glass is half-full" kind of person. The people that cannot conceive of "delicious GF bread" would say there is a lot of awful wheat-based bread substitutes.
Non-structural foods, like pancakes, moist cakes (brownies, pound cakes,),soft buns (wraps,burger buns) are more forgiving for lacking gluten.
Gluten is a structural protein in bread products so if there is no gluten, another structural protein needs to work in the dough. Gums (xanthan, guar) are helpful but not everyone can use them. Psyllium-both ground and milled- can be used as well as ground flax, egg white, fresh mozzarella, peanut flour(not peanut butter), bean flours, gelatin and whey. Most of these are fairly moist so I have found GF breads tend to have a moister dough (like rye bread or batter bread) and a moister crumb-again, like a high percentage rye.
Actually, if you work with high percentage rye doughs, you will use those same dough handling skills with GF baking-they handle very similarly.
There is a GF whole specialty of drier dough (handles like wheat-based bread dough) that I have never explored and even a SD GF specialty that looks great but I have never done. I was hoping to see some of that demonstrated here. We used to have a GF person on TFL (years ago) that went on to sell her book on her technique. Look back on the early "Special Needs" forum.
TEFF flour adds a WONDERFUL taste to any GF product. There is brown and ivory teff, if the crumb color is important.
Asian grocery stores have the best selection of GF flours and starches. IMPORTANT to know that there is a Potatoe STARCH and a Potatoe FLOUR-both have different characteristics. Different starches can behave differently. For example-tapioca starch can add a little more "chew" to the end product.
For those that need to hear this-"Daily bread" is different for each of us. It isn't "Daily wheat bread". Flat or fluffy, Round or square. Grain or tree bark. It is our daily bread.
I will pop in and out but I hope this helps someone out there.
Bake some GF deliciousness!
GF BUTTERMILK BREAD
FROM RED STAR YEAST
WET INGREDIENTS-WARM AND WELL MIXED TOGEHTER
INGREDIENT
WEIGHT
VOLUME
COMMENT
WARM WATER
¼ C +1 TBSP
MILK/BUTTERMILK
1 CUP
EGGS
2
ROOM TEMP
OIL OR MELTED BUTTER
¼ C
CIDER VINEGAR(OPTIONAL)
1 TSP
ADD IF USING SWEET MILK
HONEY
2 TBSP
DRY INGREDIENTS-BLEND WELL TOGEHTER
WHITE RICE FLOUR
296G
2 C
POTATO STARCH
78G
1/2C
TAPIOCA FLOUR
55G
½ C
SALT
10G
1 ½ TSP
YEAST-INSTANT
2 ¼ TSP
PSYLLIUM
6G
1 TBSP
Beat for 10 minutes in mixer.
Cover and sit for about 1 hour (dough rises quickly!)
Fill well greased bread pan ½ full (this made slightly more than 1 pan)
Rise to top of pan
Bake in 375 oven.
Internal temp 180-200 or test like cake.
Let cool in pan laying on its side for 10 minutes before de-panning (think angel cake). It will remain fluffier.
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HERE IS ANOTHER RECIPE AND LINK INFO FOR A GREAT SITE
Flour Mix--Jeanne's Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Mix
http://artofglutenfreebaking.com
You can use this flour mix cup-for-cup for the flour in most of your favorite recipes! I use it for all of my gluten-free recipes. Each cup of Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour is equal to 140g.
Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (mix together and store in a cool, dark place, or in fridge for long-term storage):
1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum
From Land o Lakes:
Gluten-Free Flour Blend
To make flour blend, combine
· 2 cups rice flour,
· 2/3 cup potato starch,
· 1/3 cup tapioca flour and
· 1 teaspoon xanthan gum.
Use appropriate amount for recipe; store remainder in container with tight-fitting lid. Stir before using.
Thanks for the info and tips! Sorry you won't be able to participate at the moment, but really appreciate you taking the time to contribute to the CB with your insight/experiences.
I agree with you on the similarities with high rye (at least the pan loaves). I tried a free standing GF loaf once and it didn't go well. Could have been the method and ingredients I tried though. I've had the most success with batter breads, and my experience has been that a 20-30% PFF (usually a poolish with Active Dry Yeast) adds a ton of flavor as well.
Teff flour is one that I haven't tried yet. I like using GF flours in any of my regular multigrain breads as well, so I'll have to give it a try in both kinds of bread.
Travel safe and thanks again!
I will join in, likely at the end of the week as I already have something on the go today so hopefully Friday I can get the ingredients and get started. Thanks for organizing this Troy.
Benny
You bet. Looking forward to seeing your bake Benny!
Follow.
I have read about various GF recipes that don't require a binder or gluten substitute. Typically a binder is considered to be eggs, psyllium husk, flax or chia seed, gelatin, pectin, or hydrocolloids like xanthan gum. There are a few GF flours that don't entirely need a binder because their starches and/or proteins lend some structure. Abe's naturally fermented buckwheat bread is an example of this style of bread. I'm new to baking without binders, but I came up with a riff on a buckwheat bread recipe that I liked and I thought people here might find it interesting.
From my little experience with it, and from seeing what other people have accomplished, I put structural flours in two categories: flours that need no binder and flours that need very little binder. GF flours that don't need a binder:
- Buckwheat flour, either light or dark. I've heard buckwheat contains pectin naturally which strengthens it.
- Rice flour, white or brown. It's possibly something in the starches that works as a binder.
- Possibly Oat flour, or it might be whole oats. It's the most gluten-like of all gf flours, so much so that some GF people cannot eat it even if it's completely free of wheat cross-contamination. Anyone who has eaten oatmeal can probably attest to oat's glutinous properties.
Flours that are strong and can be used in flat breads without a binder:- teff (injera)
- millet (sourdough millet is used in pita-like breads)
- sorghum (also used traditionally like teff for sourdough flatbreads)
- potato flour, though I don't like the taste of it when fermented
With these flours in mind, I decided to heavily modify a buckwheat bread recipe I heard about from Estonia. This method creates a very sour flavor, and I was going for a light rye style of loaf. If you don't want it super sour, try doing a longer room temp or warm second proof instead of a hot proof. First stage Mix in a large bowl:- 100g ivory teff flour
- 150g light buckwheat flour
- 50g ivory teff starter
- 450g spring water
Ferment overnight 12-15 hours Second stage Mix into the fermented batter:- 125g oat flour
- 125g light buckwheat
- 8g salt
- 100g honey (or reduce, this does leave a lot of residual sugar)
- spices to taste if you want a rye type bread. Coriander or caraway would do nicely.
Put the mixture into a greased Pullman pan. Proof very warm in the oven, say 100f or 40c for thirty minutes or just until you see a little bit of rise with the top of the dough doming. Then turn on the oven to 400f/200c and bake about one hour or until done.I do find that buckwheat flour loses the glutinous binder, which seems to only come from whole buckwheat groats when soaked, but you've added that back in with oat flour with some marvellous results. Definitely one for me to try. Thank you.
Abe, I have done a loaf like this with 100% buckwheat flour, but I do grind it fresh from groats. So I'm not sure if it's a freshness thing, but I can attest that grinding dry does work to maintain the gelling/pectin agent in buckwheat! Wet milling does seem like a good idea though, and I've been eyeballing those recipes that sprout the groat before grinding and fermenting. It must add a nice complexity to the flavor.
That looks amazing and has such a lovely crumb. How is the flavour and texture for you?
Benny
Hi Benny,
I did this loaf without spices, but I kind of missed that element and wish I'd added coriander. The high amount of honey was a little much, and gave it kind of a sweet and sour flavor. I did really enjoy this loaf but I would change things a little if I did it again, maybe trying a little more water to see if I could get more volume out of it. The bread was very good the first day but did dry out by the second day. I'm not sure if oil or more liquid would improve the shelf life, but it would be worth trying. The texture was good though - my husband, who is a white bread gluten guy, liked it well enough even though he doesn't usually go for whole grain bread. This bread definitely sidesteps the whole issue of GF bread sometimes coming out gummy - it had zero gumminess or stickiness to it, it was nice. There is very little flexibility in the slices but I don't always need that.
Gina
Great looking loaf and thanks for the insight on the binding strength of the various flours! I’ve never tried naturally fermenting buckwheat flour. Only the whole groats. Might have to give that a try! I do like the buckwheat and oat combination, so this one sounds (and looks) really good to me.
The crumb looks good! I am curious as to how it ages and how "bendable" it is. Does it stay moist for a day or 2? Can it hold up without crumbling as a sandwich? Those are 2 factors I find often happens with GF bread and I would think especially so with no binder. I wonder if ivory teff gives the same nutty flavor as the brown teff?
Your comments about some starches having more inherent binding capabilities is a great concept for further research. At one time, one of the GF websites (written by a chef) talked about her categories of GF flours in categories as you describe. She put sorghum,millet & brown rice in a more structural forming category and the starches like corn starch,tapioca,white rice,etc as forming a starchy gel. I wish I could find her website but I think it's gone! Her flour mixes had to have a certain percentage of the "structural" flour to be the most successful.
Has anyone run across an unusual factor about sorghum and millet regarding taste? In the distant past, I made a number of bakes with fresh sorghum and fresh millet flour (shipped directly from Bob's Red Mill days after being made) and there was an extreme bitter afterflavor I could not stand. The loaves lokked great. After researching this, I did find information that there is a genetic disposition for this just like for cilantro. To some people, cilantro tastes like soap.(Not me!) Same with sorghum/millet-to me they are extremely bitter.
This is why a Community Bake for GF is so important. A lot of expertise and a lot of pertinent observations.
Great posts!
I wish I would have read this before eating my lunch…. Would have taken a picture. I had a grilled turkey sandwich with the Everyday Pantry bread I made last weekend. It has oats, rice, psyllium, and chia seeds. Almost a week old and holding together very well. Not crumbly at all. But I would also say it’s not overly bendable either. I wonder if oils/fats would help with that?
I've been thinking about writing up a post about how to extend the shelf life of GF bread. It is famous for going dry and crumbly very quickly, but it doesn't have to be that way. This bread that I made was great on the first day and a bit dry on the second day but still passable. I suspect it might last longer if I either put more water into it or maybe pull the bake time a little. It did hold together well, in spite of not being very flexible. I think it's a bit like a 100% rye texture - though keep in mind I haven't eaten any gluten products in 15+ years so my ability to compare is sketchy at best.
In short, there are several things that can make gf bread last. Off the top of my head:
puree like steamed rhubarb. Or Applesauce? Maybe a little carry over from softening Rye breads.
Interesting idea Mini, I would never have thought of rhubarb for softening gf sourdough. It does seem like rye bread techniques transfer over well but I’m not always familiar with them. I have a couple of rhubarb plants growing that might get experimented on soon!
The Gluten-free Alchemist talks about structural grains - her post on flours and blends can be found here: https://www.glutenfreealchemist.com/p-gluten-free-flours-and-flour-blends/
I mostly agree with her but I had to learn that they call corn starch "corn flour" in the UK. Confusing!
The issue of some people finding millet and sorghum to be really bitter is an interesting one. I find both to be pretty neutral and normal tasting. Millet does get bitter as it spoils, and it spoils more quickly than other flours but I usually grind it fresh which helps. All my flour blends are based on sorghum and millet, and it's only within the last year or so that I realized some people just dislike these flours intensely. I have started to wonder if there was a genetic component to it like cilantro. Has this phenomenon been studied scientifically?
I talk about the texture of this bread in a few other comments - in short, it was good but could probably be improved!
Gina
@clazar,
I think this is the web page that you're thinking of:
Ingredientshttp://www.thebreadkitchen.com/recipes/gluten-free-flour-mix/
4 parts by weight of any combination of
- Brown rice flour
- Buckwheat flour
- Corn (Maize) flour
- Mesquite flour
- Millet flour
- Oat flour
- Quinoa flour
- Sorghum flour
- Teff flour
6 parts by weight of any combination of
InstructionsThat sounds like a similar concept but was not the website I was thinking of. THIS is the website! Found it! She has a lot more ads than she used to so it is harder to read.
I can't find the article on the genetic link to sorghum tasting bitter. That was an obscure food science article from several years ago.
Just a word of caution…. My guess is her Mock Better Batter and Mock Cup4Cup blends work well. But…
I have experimented with her bread flour recipe that uses Expandex. Spent a lot of money buying ingredients and was very disappointed. The Expandex has a very strong chemical odor and that flavor came through in the bread. I think it’s the only loaf of bread that I threw in the garbage after the first slice.
Others may have better experiences with it. Mine was not good,
@clazar: That's a good G/F website. Thanks! I'm bookmarking it. And you're right about the excess ads and pop-overs -- difficult to read on a mobile device.
white rice flour in the wrong category. and the 60 - 40 ratio..... not a given it depends on what you are making..... so best advice, keep the flour vs starch separate and combine for the recipe optimum ratio needed.
and btw.... cassava flour should be there, as well as potato flour.
My first attempt at a Gluten Free bread. I used a recipe I found on the net, since I needed somewhere to start and wanted to bake a hearth loaf. I think I had some success but overproofed. I would certainly reduce the IDY more than I did already to slow things down. By the time the oven was ready, there were quite a few holes in top of the dough in the banneton. Hopefully the combination of toasted buckwheat, millet and rice will taste good and have a decent texture.
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INSTRUCTIONS
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Wow Benny! That looks great and as a hearth loaf! Was it sticky to handle when kneading/shaping? Did you give it the same level of action as a traditional bench knead, or more of a gentle fold type kneading?
Anything that has toasted buckwheat will taste good in my book. 😉. Hope you like it!
Here are photos of the crumb. I’m actually quiet pleased with the crumb. The crust is lightly crisp and you can tell how the lack of gluten is beneficial there. The flavor is good, but I do miss the flavour of wheat. The crumb isn’t gummy which I was worried about.
AF2669C4-2D7B-4032-A8FB-E102670E7F74.jpeg
7622C658-7650-4C7D-9E90-029C185708AB.jpeg
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That crumb looks great Benny! Congrats on your first GF loaf. The profile on the loaf looks really good and that’s loads better than my first attempt at a hearth loaf!
Glad it wasn’t gummy and you liked the crust. For a flavor boost, I like to do a 20-30% PFF (usually as a poolish).
Thank you Troy, I was happy that it wasn’t a total pancake. Your idea of a poolish is a good one. Would you just use a portion of only one of the flours or all of the flours? And would you include the psyllium in your poolish?
Benny
For sure! I've made wheat loaves that were a LOT flatter than your bake. :-)
I've never used millet flour (only the whole grain in a soaker) so I'm speaking a bit out of ignorance on this, but for your flour blend, I would try 80g of the millet flour for a poolish. You could also try about 80g of the buckwheat flour, but leave out the IDY and let it naturally ferment as Gina recommends in her bake above. That may take a try or two as the buckwheat flour can get quite sour when it ferments.
Thanks for the suggestions Troy, something to ponder and do next time.
I have only one question, Just to be clear on the scoring, was that one score across or two scores in a cross?
I wonder if bread spices help with flavour. Is there gluten in wheat bran or if tossing some in is too close for comefort for gluten free sensitivity?
Thank you Mini, I’m pretty happy with my first GF loaf. I did a single score since it was a batard. In terms of bran, I would be concerned that someone who has celiac disease might still be exposed to gluten if we added the bran. It’s hard to imagine that the process of sifting out the bran fully separates it from the rest of the grain and that there would still be some gluten in there with the bran albeit only small amounts.
Benny
Admiring that crumb there. Judging when a GF bread is ready to bake is much more difficult than a gluten bread which can be a challenge itself. Since gluten free breads don't rise as much and yours was freestanding to-boot i'd be very reluctant to score it. However that is a marvellous bake and looks delicious.
Thank you Abe, I’m quite pleased with the crumb. On the website I found the recipe, that baker was able to bake a beautiful boule with the # score on it with a good rise. You’re right it is a challenge to know when to end the final proof. I assumed it would be similar to judging rye, those pinholes being present telling us that the ability of the dough to hold the gases in is at their limits. It is so rare that I pull out the IDY and it moves so quickly, I’ll make adjustments in the future to see if I can get a better ovenspring and possibly an ear if I don’t over ferment.
Benny
Here's my attempt at the Gluten Free Pumpernickel shown in the original post. I've never tried Teff flour and it has buckwheat, so that was enough convincing for me! I followed Gina's ingredients and method very closely, so I won't relist it here. I'll just spell out my tweaks...
1) I made a poolish with all of the sorghum flour. Combined it with 106.3g water (125% hydration) and about 0.1-0.2g of Active Dry Yeast. Let ferment for 12 hours at 66-68 deg F (my basement is running a little cooler these days).
2) I didn't have buckwheat flour or quinoa flour, but I did have buckwheat groats and tri-color quinoa in the house. I toasted the buckwheat groats and then ground them and the quinoa into flour using my Mockmill.
3) I only had 15g of psyllium husk flakes and my bulk food store was out of husk, so I had to substitute in 10g of psyllium powder.
4) I used a total of 550g of water (including the poolish). I needed a little extra to get the batter consistency where I thought it needed to be.
5) I baked in a declining oven temp as my oven has been known to run a little hot and I didn't want to burn the crust with the molasses in the bread. I started the bake at 450 deg F and covered in my Pullman pan for 15 minutes. When I removed the lid, I dropped the temp to 425 deg F for the next 15 minutes and then to 400 deg F for the final 15 minutes. With the lower temps, it took another 12 minutes directly on the rack to get the hollow thump Gina recommends in her post.
The toasted buckwheat aroma really came through during mixing and in the final bread. After letting my last GF bake rise too long, I was overly cautious with this one. I had the oven pre-heating right away and the loaf went in as soon as I saw the first hole in the crust (left side front in the picture). My crumb looks similar to Gina's but a little more dense. Not sure if that's from the psyllium powder or if I jumped the gun when I saw that first hole. I might have been able to ferment a little longer. Regardless, the baked loaf smells great! The toasted buckwheat dominates but there's a definite hint of molasses/sweetness there too. I'll have a slice later today.
Looks like a delicious pumpernickel bread you baked Troy. I’ll be very interested to hear how you like the flavour of it. I’ve never had Teff before but I wonder if you’ll be able to taste it with the rest of the ingredients in that loaf.
Benny
This looks great! I usually consider it a good rise if it’s nicely domed on top like yours.
One thing about psyllium is that it doesn’t sub 1:1 by weight once it’s ground. I usually sub it 2:3 ground to whole. So you might have a little more binder than the recipe calls for, but it’s not a big deal. It works either way but it can be a little fluffier and more tender with less psyllium.
Yours looks delicious and now I have to try toasting my buckwheat! I can only find the hulled groats. I’m on the lookout for dark groats. I’ve considered growing it myself but I can’t decide which strain to buy. I think the seed that’s sold as cover crop, which I can get locally, might not be the best tasting.
Thanks Gina. It’s always nice to have a well spelled out method to follow.
Makes sense on the ground vs husk usage. Thanks for the heads up on the ratios!
Funny you should mention trying the toasted buckwheat. I was thinking I’d have to try it without toasting it. 🤣. The toasted buckwheat has such a strong flavor that I’m not getting much else from the other grains (at least not that stands out). I really like toasted buckwheat, so no issues there. I was just hoping the Teff flavor would be more prominent. I’ve never had it before and was hoping to get a good dose of it. However, maybe it’s there and I’m just not picking up on it. Only one way to know…. 😉
I originally had more buckwheat in the recipe but decided on reducing it to let the teff balance it out. Teff has a great flavor but buckwheat can overwhelm it. I tend to do something a little different each time I bake to try new things and toasted buckwheat is on my list, but I highly encourage you to let the teff come out next time! Teff is one of those grains, maybe like rye, that can have really different flavors depending on what it’s paired with and how it’s fermented. It’s really interesting!
Gluten free pumpernickel is something i'd like to try. Even more so now i've seen your bake. Looks lovely and wholesome. A hearty loaf.
Thanks Abe. It’s a great method and the only change I would make next time would be to skip toasting the buckwheat. I’m hoping that will let the flavors from the other grains come through a bit more.
I am also unable to participate in this CB because of recent shoulder surgery but the bakes so far look very inviting.
I have never made a GF bread, but I have put this recipe on my list of breads to try; I was intrigued by using only oats. It doesn't require special flours and with GF oats and a GF sour culture would meet the requirements of the CB.
Now there's some bread for a horse. (named Nichol?)
I'm really curious to see how this one would turn out. I'm thinking it would be very dense and moist-like oatmeal with a crust. I think that a good fermentation flavor will help this bread. It might be a good bread for additives like fruit and spices. Interesting.
My oven has been playing up recently with the thermostat going haywire. It's on its last legs and I think it has expired with this bake. Thought i'd have to sit this community bake out but decided to see if I can squeeze one last loaf out of this dying oven. Sometimes it didn't get hot enough and other times it was on full blast with grill to-boot while the gauge was on zero. So with some toggling and luck i've managed to produce a gluten free loaf of sorts!
Everything was done by eyeballing but here is a rough recipe:
Gluten Free Bread.jpeg
Not bad at all. Taste is nice especially the crust which is like a wheat bread. It wasn't a fancy recipe so good for toasting. The only thing that gives it away is the crumb texture but then again it's not been that long out the oven. So at first you think it's a normal bread but you soon know it isn't. It's interesting as one part of the bread is saying it's a normal loaf but the other contradicts that. Crust is the saviour and i'm sure with toasting it'll pass for a gluten bread. The only binder was psyllium husks and it was a quick recipe. I'm sure with more preparation, alternative methods, sourdough/yeast water and a working oven this recipe can be improved upon. For now i'm glad I got a nice loaf for the week and I managed to contribute to this community bake.
crumb.jpeg
I'm more a fan of the naturally fermented buckwheat bread recipe which is the tastiest gluten free bread i've tried to date. When toasted it's one of my favourite breads. Either I get a new oven soon or i'll try a slow cooker version. Thinking hat on. This bread does have some buckwheat flour in it so it might shine through when toasted.
Handsome loaf Abe, really well done and quite amazing given your oven challenges.
Benny
I'm just glad the last thing this oven baked was a success. Would have been a shame to miss out on this community bake.
Very nice looking loaf! I also like the flour blend you used. I've never seen a GF flour blend with buckwheat in it.
Is the psyllium powder you used so finely ground as to be almost a flour texture? I've seen several grades of ground psyllium in the US (whole-chopped-finely ground-powdered).
When you say you scalded half the flour, how much water did you use for that? Did you do it like a tang zhong with a 5:1 water to flour ratio or did you add enough water to achieve a custardy texture similar to what a wheat flour would give. I'm not sure how GF flours behave with water but they are usually VERY thirsty.
Sorry to hear about your stove. Sounds like it finally bit the dust.
Nice looking loaf!
Bread flour is normally called bread flour because of its strong gluten. This company has a gluten free bread flour and a gluten free plain flour. Now since they both have no gluten i'm not sure why one is a bread flour version and the other isn't. What's more the plain flour had better ingredients imo.
Psyllium husk powder! works best. There is one which is more grainy but for superior results go for as fine as possible. The one I used is like a powder.
For the scald I eyeballed half the flour, added in enough hot water (estimated 65C) and stirred till it resembled mashed potatoes. No ratios like tangzhong. The method behind my madness was to gel the starches which would give it more structure. It can also hold more water.
Scared to use the oven. Making funny sparking noises and the temperature can't be controlled. Glad the last loaf was a success.
haven't had an electrician take a look at it. Here we have a new repair kick-back which makes getting large repairs easier than piling up machines at the recycle depot. Most times it's a cheap fix. My dishwasher and washing machine are on their "second lives."
Not worth fixing as I might as for what it costs to get it fixed I might as well get a new one. While it isn't the most expensive oven it's an expense I don't need. I've had it for quite a while and got a lot of good use out of it. My biggest issue is how to dispose of this one.
EDIT: Just found out how to dispose of it. Can arrange for the council to pick it up. Now I need to find a new oven.
Great looking loaf Abe! It looks like it held its rise well throughout the bake. Definitely not a flat top on that one!
Curious if the buckwheat flavor came through when toasted. I wasn’t surprised to see it listed last in the flours because it is such a strong flavor. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever tried corn and buckwheat together. Will have to give that a go in the near future.
Sorry to hear about the oven, but if it had to go, at least it went out with one last good bake! 👍
As far as timing and rise goes it was a success. As for taste it is good for a quick plain yeasted loaf. Nice crust but crumb has a slight grainy feel to it. The buckwheat comes through a but doesn't come close to the naturally fermented buckwheat bread which is by far my favourite gluten free bread to date. And I love the process.
Nice for the very last bake of this oven to be a good bake. A fitting send off.
Technically, this doesn't qualify, because it's leavened with rye sourdough, but it's probably fairly trivial to make it actually gluten-free, if you're so inclined.
I don't follow the diet, some time ago I got a large quantity of whole grain oat flour for free and I needed to find a way to get rid of it all. Bread seemed like the fastest way. First tin loaf was a failure. There was a huge cavity in the middle, probably due to starch attack. But if you made it flat, it would heat up on the inside quicker. Reikäleipä it is, then.
Formula:
I usually make 4 loaves at a time and proof 2 in the proofing box and 2 on the counter.
Sourdough:
Final dough:
It tends to be hard to tell when this bread is proofed and it could probably be baked straight away, since it doesn't rise much, but I think it looks more attractive with some cracks on the surface.
Freshly shaped:
Cracked, puffy & ready to bake:
I have two baking stones in the oven, one on the bottom and one in the middle and bake two at a time. To prevent the top one from burning, you have to switch them in the middle of the bake. 20 min @ 270C + ~20-25@ 270 after the switch. You can bake this bread without the sunflower seeds and if you do it right the crust is very tasty (crisp and just sweet enough), but I tend to forget I even have it in the oven and usually burn at least one of them and the seeds are there to try to cover that up a little.
I don't like breads with oats in them, but I can tolerate this (but still not enough to actually pay for this flour).
After all you still had exactly the same challenges as a 100% gluten free bread and anyone replicating this lovely looking recipe with a gluten free starter will get the same results.
Oats can be tricky and that is an amazing 100% oat bread. Oat bread is not very forgiving and easily over proofed which makes your results even better. That's got to toast up very nicely.
Thanks for posting! It looks good and I agree with you on the cracked surface look.
Curious how it holds up if toasted... Looks like it would hold together well. Sounds like it would be great toasted with jam!
Haven't tried toasting this bread, but I probably wouldn't, because I usually burn at least one of the loaves.
...with recipe. Makes a lovely bread. Ingredients are wholesome and simple with great results. Use very fine flour and psyllium husk powder!
https://food52.com/recipes/82284-gluten-free-bread-recipe
I think I'll give this one a try. My daughter's been placed on a gluten free diet, and I've been searching for a bread that tastes fairly good, or she won't eat it.
Richard
Look forward to seeing your bake if you give it a try.
Thanks for sharing Abe. Interesting that she hydrates the psyllium in the yeast. Almost like an autolyse. I'll definitely give that a try!
I am very interested in gluten free baking and will be checking out the links you’ve posted. Thank you for starting this!
Thank you to my kind neighbour who allowed me to bake in her oven until I replace mine. This is Aran Goyoaga's gluten free bread recipe converted to a sourdough with some other minor changes. I realise by the time i've finished with the recipe it's different enough to not be the same bread but I did use her recipe and method as the basis for mine. So, thank you Aran. The original recipe is well worth doing and produces lovely results. It's a good introduction to gluten free bread and gives you the tools to come up with your own recipes. Please see the video above.
RECIPE:
METHOD:
Gluten Free Bread Converted.jpeg
Reduced the temperature and baking time. Different oven and it did seem to be baking quicker than expected. So after the initial 20 minutes I reduced the temperature to 180C and total bake time was 1 hour 25 minutes. Hope it's baked through ok.
Kind neighbor indeed! Loaf looks great! We’ll risen and I like natural scored look.
For the buckwheat starter, is that using buckwheat flour as a sourdough starter or something from the naturally fermented buckwheat? Assume sourdough but want to be sure.
Any updates on the flavor? Did you notice much rise during bulk?
Used a buckwheat sourdough starter that was converted from a wheat starter sometime ago so pure buckwheat by now.
First of all it needed more time in the oven. When she says 1hr 45m that's quite accurate even if it appears baked sooner. On top of that I did increase the recipe by 1.5x but cut the time of baking. It needed atleast the full specified time if not more. I also did change from tapioca to cassava and added some kefir yoghurt. However the taste is excellent and toasts up really well. Will be repeating this recipe with some changes to method but aiming for the same flavour.
Definitely a handsome loaf Abe even if it might be a bit underbaked for all the reasons you mentioned.
Definitely a bread made for toasting but that's how I mostly enjoy bread anyway. I'm thinking if the saltolyse was good for this formula or not. So many ways to turn it into a sourdough but I can see how a quick strong rise would benefit this type of bread. Perhaps next time I'll try a high percentage preferment and go straight into final proofing. Taste is spot on but room to improve with method.
Or is it all toasted already? :) That is a really lovely loaf!
Almost gone. Got a bit left. Will try and a post a pic before it all goes. Very tasty and toasting fixed the rest.
I just did a quick search here on TFL for the phrase and it doesn't seem to have been around a long time. Has this developed as just a convenience or is there a functional reason to do it this way?
Salt does have an effect on how the starches are released in a mix but with GF dough, I don't think that is an issue as it is a very starchy dough. OTOH, in wheat dough, it is important to get the starchy gel to develop/hydrate well for a nice creamy crumb and is part of the reason that salt is withheld until the flour/water is well kneaded and developed. At least that is the theory. Frankly, I've done both but haven't noticed much difference in the dough or final loaf. I did notice it was easier to get to windowpane on some doughs if the salt was added later (if I remembered).
I've done it myself but never named it. In my case it was so I didn't forget to add the salt! I have made many a loaf that looked great but were very bland.
I believe Trevor Wilson does a Saltolyse in one of his bread formulas but mainly out of convenience. Everything is done and all one needs to do is add the refreshed starter/levain.
Autolyse is done without the salt for the reason you have given but because a saltolyse is extended it still has the same effect + convenience. The salt stops unwanted fermentation and enables a long "autolyse". I like the way how the bread turns out and think it does have a good effect on the final loaf when it comes to texture and flavour. However i'm also thinking what benefits comes with gluten flour is different for non gluten flour where starches are added and it is the hydration and bake where they gel giving more structure and a better crumb.
Just my theory. I'll need to experiment.
looking forward to examine....
I believe I actually coined the term saltolyse as I found it very descriptive of salt added autolyze and hadn't seen it used anywhere at the time. It was functional because when I first started to do it I was doing a longish autolyze but wanted to control the enzymes so added the salt.
Benny
By Trevor Wilson on one of his recipes sometime ago. I do like it for a few reasons but not so sure anything is gained with gluten free where the same outcome is obtained through high hydration, starch and heat.
I'm sure there's nothing new under the sun and just like Italy is known for pizza there are many traditional flatbread recipes around the world which can be considered 'pizza.
Kudos to you both Benny and Trevor. I was aware of this technique from Trevor but it was your bakes and techniques that got me hooked on it Benny. Without you I wouldn't be doing it! There's a good reason both of you thought of it independently - great minds think alike!
LOL I certainly didn’t invent the saltolyse process I just gave it a nice little name to simplify describing it in my recipes.
Catchier than saying 'add the salt into the autolyse' 😀
It has not been as popular but it sure has produced some nice loaves and advanced the knowledge of GF bakers here. Shared experience is such a good teacher.
Thanks, Abe, for the ask on this Community Bake. I wish I had the opportunity to participate in an actual bake but maybe in the near future. I will definitely benefit from what I have read here. I am sourcing some buckwheat flour in anticipation. Why not add 1 more SD starter to the group (I have 3).
Is the naturally fermented buckwheat bread with no starter using whole groats. Produces a lovely gluten free bread with no special binders or starter needed. Even better when adding in seeds. I often use a sunflower seed, flaxseed, sesame and pumpkin seed mix. Toasted buckwheat bread really increases the flavour too.
I just started this bake:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/70663/92nd-bake-06112022-liezl-jaynes-oats-seeds-4th
Recipe here:
https://liezljayne.com/overnight-oat-nut-seed-bread-gluten-free/
This is the same bread that the "Josey Baker Bread" book calls Adventure Bread, but slightly different proportions.
Previous bakes here:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/65803/21st-bake-09142020-oats-seeds
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/65927/23rd-bake-092620-oat-seed-2nd-try
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/66513/28th-bake-11292020-3rd-try-seeds-and-oats
I wasn't totally satisfied with my last attempt. It was delicious, but fell apart. A comment here on TFL memtioned that ground psyllium husks behave and measure differently than whole psyllium husks, and that less is needed. So instead of 2.5 tbsp of whole psyllium husks, I used 2 tbsp of ground psyllium husks.
It's resting for now, and will be baked this evening.
Saw your blog post Dave and looks like it turned out really good. Almost like a banana bread but amazing that there’s no flour in it and it stays together. Looks really flavorful with all the grains/seeds in it! Will you keep the ground psyllium amount the same?
Psyllium seems right on this one.
It did come out a bit oily. I used sunflower seeds that were roasted in oil. I plan on trying dry-roasted sunflower seeds next. The almonds were raw, and the flaxseed and chia seeds were whole, not ground,
Also important, I think, is to use the thick old-fashioned rolled oats, which I did this time, not quick oats.
Thank you to everyone that posted and commented during this community bake! A lot of good information was shared, and I have a couple of new recipes I want to try in the coming weeks when my daughter gets home for the summer.
I will ask Floyd to move this post into the archive with the other community bakes. Feel free to make another post here and keep adding to the knowledge base on gluten free breads!
Now that my daughter is home and I have someone to help me eat all this bread, I was able to get back to some of the GF recipes posted here. I started with a variant on Abe's last bake and combined some of Benny's hokkaido milk bread components with my own techniques. To get a good idea on some of the method components, look at the video posted above by Abe and read up on making a mash with diastatic malt.
The upside with this bake... It smells great and I have high hopes for a soft, sweet bread.
The downside with this bake... I think I let it go just a bit too long in final proof and that may have caused the crumb to collapse because it was too tall. I'm not sure of that though because there were no surface cracks at the end of final proof plus I got an additional 1" of height from oven spring. Maybe the issue was the other learning piece to this recipe... I didn't learn from Abe and cut the bake too short as well (1 hr 45 min). It could have used another 20-30 minutes, which may have helped set the crumb. The sides sucked in a little bit as it cooled, so not sure if that is when the crumb collapsed. This was baked in a 7.75" x 4.25" x 4.25" Pullman pan.
Poolish
78.3g White Rice Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
90g Water
0.1g Active Dry Yeast
Combine ingredients and ferment at 70 deg F for 12-14 hours
Multigrain Mash
27g Rolled Oats
13.5g Corn Meal
4.5g Flaxseed
4.5g Chia Seed
0.5g Crushed Malted Wheat Berries (so not 100% GF. Could substitute any diastatic malt grain)
250g Water
1) Combine all ingredients except malt berries in a covered bowl and microwave until it just starts to boil. Remove from the microwave (should be about 200 deg F and let cool to 150 deg F). Keep covered.
2) While cooling, add about 1" of 150 deg F water to Crockpot and set Inkbird Controller to 150 deg F
3) When mash reaches 150 deg, stir in crushed malted berries and place in Crockpot for 3-6 hours (I went 6 hours on this bake).
4) After mash time is reached, increase Inkbird target to 185 deg F and keep mash in Crockpot until the mash temp reaches 180+ deg F as read by an instant read thermometer. This temperature increase denatures the amylase enzymes.
5) Remove mash from Crockpot and let cool on the counter until ready to use.
Final Dough
79.2g White Rice Flour
157.5g Sorghum Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
135g Tapioca Starch (Bob's Red Mill)
315g Whole Milk
9g Sea Salt
4.4g Active Dry Yeast
22.5g Honey
45g Softened Butter
22.5g Psyllium Powder
50-55g Egg, beaten (1 large egg)
Egg Wash
1 large egg
1tsp Whole Milk
1) Combine in a bowl and whisk thoroughly until evenly mixed
1) Combine flours, starch, and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix well and then push to the bowl sides creating a well.
2) Warm milk to 80-85 deg F. Add honey and Active Dry Yeast. Stir well and let sit covered for about 10 minutes.
3) Add psyllium powder to yeast mixture and let sit for another 10 minutes until the mixture begins to gel.
4) Combine yeast mixture, mash, poolish, beaten egg, and butter in a bowl and mix well. Pour mixture into the flour well and then slowly stir in flour. Continue mixing with spoon or spatula until evenly mixed and hydrated.
5) Butter and flour Pullman pan. Scoop Final Dough into the bread pan and gently spread/press until evenly distributed. Smooth the top of the dough with a damp spatula.
6) Place in a plastic bag and bulk ferment at 75-76 deg F until dough is just cresting the rim of the pan (approximately a 1.5-2" rise).
7) Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Bake at 400 deg F for 20 minutes. Drop temp to 350 deg F and continue baking for another 55 minutes. Remove from pan and continue baking for another 20 minutes. Apply egg wash and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Tent the loaf with foil at any time during the bake if concerned that the top is getting too dark.
8) Remove from oven and let cool completely before slicing.
I should have either kept the temp up or gone another 20-30 minutes. The crumb is very moist (not gummy).
Overall happy with this bake (pending it makes good toast or grilled sandwiches) and I will definitely try making this again!
Excellent crumb and nice combo of recipes. I know the 1hr 45 minutes seems very long and I too always think its done sooner. It is just right even for the smallish loaf in the recipe. Scale it up and I imagine it would need even longer. Toasting will help.
Thank you Abe! Any thoughts on the collapse of the crumb? Can’t decide if it’s too much rise, a consequence from not baking enough, or something else entirely.
However, in my experience, gluten free is less forgiving when it comes to over-proofing. They can very quickly go from perfect time to bake to over done and often what happens is it can sink under the crust.
Gluten breads are hard enough to know when it's just right to bake. Gluten free breads even more so. I'm always afraid i'll over do the proofing that I often jump the gun.
Although it does seem you caught it just in time. Any longer and you would have had a real cavern.
Thank you. I’ll start there and give it a little less rise the next time.
Will whole grain buckwheat flour provide enough"gel" for structure in a GF loaf? I have some Bob's Red Mill Whole Buckwheat flour. Will this provide enough "gel" for a loaf of GF bread-similar to the whole buckwheat groats in Abe's recipe? HERE
I might experiment with a miniloaf and will post my results but let me know your thoughts.
Too crumbly if nothing else is added. It seems some do have some success with freshly ground buckwheat groats without needing a binder but I'd advise trying to add something if using bought flour.
I'm also not sure about the success rate of not soaking the groats as in the recipe.
What i will advise is making the batter and inculating with some starter. Allow that to bubble up overnight. The next day add the salt and some eggs as a binder. Portion out into a loafpan and allow to rise for an hour or two then bake.
Try working off this recipe. Something like this...
When it looks like nice and bubbly then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Portion out into a prepared loaf pan and allow to rise but don't overdo it. Bake in pre heated oven. Because its lower hydration and uses eggs the baking time will be closer to the recipe attached.
Great looking bakes on this thread! Is there a list of Bradford assay protein content for all cereal grains? I googled and as usual far too much information and no sites I looked at answered the question directly. Thanks for any advice!
You may not want to limit your search to only the Bradford assay. I also found BCA and Dumas (combustion) assays of cereal grains.
https://www.cerealsgrains.org/publications/cc/backissues/1993/Documents/70_27.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aleksandra-Misan/publication/225620562_Rapid_method_for_determination_of_protein_content_in_cereals_and_oilseeds_Validation_measurement_uncertainty_and_comparison_with_the_Kjeldahl_method/links/00b7d531487c790376000000/Rapid-method-for-determination-of-protein-content-in-cereals-and-oilseeds-Validation-measurement-uncertainty-and-comparison-with-the-Kjeldahl-method.pdf
This chapter has a table of cereal protein content:
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/76782
So will a gluten free flour that has xantham in it be ok to use as a sourdough starter? I started one 3 days ago but have been wondering if the xantham will not be good in it??
Glad you followed up on the links!
I don't think that the xanthan gum will do anything but thicken the sourdough starter. The question is-do you want xanthan gum in your diet? A lot of people are not bothered by any of the gums (xanthan and guar gum to name the 2 most prevalent) but a few people are bothered.
Going this different in diet IS a steep learning curve but it can be done. Keep asking questions! You WILL find your way to altered deliciousness. Did you know that for thousands of years, most of the world never knew what wheat was. The world of bread was barley, rice, oat and other grain based. I theorize that there is a whole world of deliciousness that was lost when wheat came along. Persist and you will find some.
BTW, the easiest way to find deliciousness is to first try forgiving, moist recipes like flat breads, cakes and pancakes. You have to eat something while you are on your journey of discovery. Also look into some keto options to reduce carbs.
A few more links-couldn't find them yesterday:
GLUTEN FREE GOURMAND
CELIAC COM
RICE FLOUR SOURDOUGH