GF bread

It can be intimidating and somewhat expensive to start experimenting with all the flour required to bake something gf. Half a cup of this half a cup of that... it is definitely not as easy as wheat, but in my opinion ten times better. I think my biggest problem with GF baking has been finding bread I love. Even before the GF life, I really didn't eat a lot of bread, but sometimes I want a pb&j or a piece of toast. You GFers out there know that store bought gf bread is a pain. The slices are tiny and most likely frozen. I thought the alternative was a bread maker. I have hated every single gf bread mix so far. Many of them have too much vinegar and have a terrible taste. On the bright side, I have found the answer to my bread dilemma. Here is the recipe that made me love bread again.

Gluten-Free Crusty Boule

Makes enough dough for at least four 1-pound loaves

2 cups brown rice flour

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour

3 cups tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)

2 tablespoons yeast (can be reduced but you will have to increase the rise time)

1 tablespoon kosher salt (increase or decrease to taste)

2 tablespoons Xanthan gum

2 2/3 cups lukewarm water

4 large eggs

1/3 cup neutral-flavored oil or olive oil

2 tablespoons honey or sugar

1. Whisk together the flours; yeast, salt and xanthan gum in a 5-quart lidded round food storage container. Combine the oil, honey and water, set aside.

2. Add one egg at a time to your mixer then stir while you pour in about 1/3 of the oil and water. Unlike our wheat doughs we do not add all of the liquid at once and stir. If you do that it will result in a lumpy dough.

3. Continue to mix while you pour in another 1/3 of the liquid. The dough will start to come together in a thick dough. Add the final 1/3 of liquid and stir until the dough is nice and smooth. Remove from mixer and Cover with the a damp towel.  Allow it to rest on the counter for about 2 hours. 

4. The dough will be quite fluffy still and you want to try not to handle the dough too much. Just like our other dough, the trick is to keep as much of the air bubbles intact as possible. Use wet hands to remove 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough from the bucket. The dough will be quite scraggly when you take it out, just place it on a piece of parchment paper. Use wet hands to smooth out the surface of the dough. This may take dipping your hands in the water a few times…

5. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and resting on the counter for about 90 minutes. If your kitchen is very warm, you may only need about 75 minutes.

6. 30-minutes before baking time preheat the oven with a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven  in it to 500 degrees. Be sure it is fitted with a metal replacement knob; the original plastic knobs can heat to about 400 degrees. The dough will not have grown much while resting, but it will seem a little bit puffier. Use a serrated knife to cut slashes in the dough.

7. Lift the bread on the parchment and VERY CAREFULLY lower the parchment and bread into the pot, replace the lid onto the pot. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes remove the lid, turn the heat down to 450 and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

8. Once the bread bakes, remove it from the pot using a spatula.

9. Allow the bread to cool completely before eating or the center may seem gummy.

Brown Rice Flour: 1 cup = 5 1/2 oz = 160 grams

Tapioca Flour (Starch): 1 cup = 4 1/4 oz = 120 grams

Sorghum Flour: 1 cup = 4 3/4 oz = 135 grams

Corn Starch: 1 cup = 4 1/2 oz = 130 grams