Do I follow a gluten-free diet? I do not. I love me some gluten! But my friend Jen does follow one and we have had many discussions on how difficult it is to find a good gluten-free bread without a lot of additives and other crap that both of us try to keep out of our diets. So, I decided to try to make one. The good news is it turned out really good and was not that difficult to make!
I had to do some shopping to find some of the odd flours and ingredients. I can see why some of these breads are so expensive! The flours were a bit pricey. But now I have them and will definitely use them again! The ingredients for this bread are as follows: arrowroot flour (or tapioca flour), maple syrup (or honey or cane sugar), sorghum flour, psyllium husk, filtered water, olive oil, potato starch, brown rice flour, quinoa flour, active dry yeast, and sea salt.
To start, we need to activate the yeast. Combine the yeast with your sweetener (in this case, maple syrup) and some filtered water (warmed up). You will not taste the sweetener in the bread, it gets consumed in the process of activating the yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. It should get bubbly then foam on top. If it doesn’t, you have to start over.
In a separate bowl, mix the psyllium husk with olive oil and water. It will thicken into a gel.
Next, combine your flours and starches in the bowl of your stand mixer (I told you last week to get one)! You will also add the sea salt to this. Use a whisk to mix it together.
Add the Activated Yeast and the Thickening Agent to the dry mixture.
Use the stand mixer dough hook to blend the ingredients together. Use a spoon if necessary to scrape the sides and get the flours off the bottom of the bowl.
Place the dough on parchment paper and into a loaf pan or a banneton (basically a bread rising basket). Cover it with a tea towel and let it sit for an hour. Note: If you have cats, place the rising loaf out of range or they WILL sit on one side of it causing it to rise unevenly!!!! Luckily the tea towel was between the bread and the cat butt. Also luckily, Jen understands cats and didn’t seem all that bothered by the lopsided loaf or its cause.
Once the rise is over, score the bread (cut some slashes into the top). Bake it for an hour and 15 minutes.
Lopsidedness aside, the bread turned out delicious and Jen was a huge fan! Can’t wait to try some other recipes and maybe start making gluten bread as well!!
This recipe and all its great suggestions and information came from bakerita.com. Thank you, Rachel Conners!!!