Gluten-free bread can be intimidating. But I, along with many other cooks and home cooks, are here to share my results and my flour blends so that the process can be as smooth as possible for you. I can assure you it is possible to make extremely good, nutritious, and healthy gluten-free bread. See my previous post about it: You Should Start Baking Gluten-Free Bread Today.
The list of ingredients and flours to use in gluten-free bread baking is also very intimidating. I will provide you also with simplified versions of recipes, where I try to reduce the list of ingredients without compromising too much on quality. But let us get to it, see below a review of what you will need to bake bread using my recipes.
Binders
Must have: psyllium husk.
Good to have: xanthan gum.
Gluten-free breads need binders to try to mimic the behaviour of gluten, especially in keeping the dough together and retain gases. If the dough retains gases, the bread will be lighter, with open holes, and tastier (those gases develop flavour themselves, as they are produced by yeast during fermentation). Holes in bread are not only there because they look nice! They considerably improve texture. I found lightness to be one of the most difficult characteristics to achieve in gluten-free breads, that often come out dense (although a dense bread can be good too!).
I generally bake bread with Psyllium Husk. Psyllium is a soluble fibre made from the husks of the Plantago ovata plant. It works very well with binding water with other ingredients. It really loves water and creates a gel when mixed with it. It does a good job of keeping gases within a bread dough. Most of my recipes have been developed with coarse psyllium husk, but I intend to experiment also with powdered psyllium husk and provide both in the recipes. If you measure it by weight, however, results should not be too dissimilar (especially for long fermentations, where coarse flours and husk will have a chance to hydrate). What is good about psyllium is also that is a fiber, so it is expected to be good for digestion and to lower glycaemic index of our bread.
Other binders that are very widely used are xanthan gum and guar gum. Guar gum is extracted from gum seeds and present itself in powder form. Xanthan gum is made by bacteria through a process of fermentation (also then sold as a powder). I am really giving you the long-story-short here. I have not experimented much with Guar gum (but I plan to do it). I have experimented a bit with Xanthan gum. Many people try to avoid these gums. Personally, I have no issues with xanthan and guar. They are considered safe to eat, up to a certain amount. However, they are present in most commercial processed foods, so I think it can be good to diversify when cooking at home. Everyone can make their own mind on it and decide for themselves.
Flours and starches
Must have: white rice flour; tapioca starch; one or two whole flours (gluten-free oat flour; brown rice flour, sorghum flour, buckwheat flour, teff flour).
Good to have: potato starch*.
*not potato flour!
You are going to need to mix flours if you want to eat wonderful, tasty, nutritious bread. However, I make great bread and pizza just with White Rice Flour and Oat Flour (plus tapioca starch)! I really use oat flour a lot. When you buy oat flour, you must make sure it is labelled as gluten-free, as it is extremely often produced with certainty of gluten contamination.
Most often, my recipes use flour blends that I share with you and you can make yourself, even in advance if you prefer, so you always have them ready. See my post Gluten-Free Flour Blends.
For starches, I prefer tapioca. It is available and cheap in UK. I usually do a mix of 50/50 tapioca starch and potato starch, but you can use only tapioca (using a bit less water, as potato starch is very thirsty). For more nutritious flours, I love sorghum, brown rice, buckwheat. I have used tigernut flour as well. I am beginning to experiment with Teff flour, which is supposed to be extremely good in terms of fermentation. These flours will make great bread, which is healthy, nutritious, and with lower glycaemic index. You will make wonderful and delicious pizza, which is way healthier than anything you can get in a pizzeria!!!
Yeast, Salt, and Water
Must have: either one of active dry yeast, instant yeast, fresh yeast, gluten-free sourdough starter; salt (non-iodised and without anti-caking agents)
Must have (for sourdough): filtered water.
Well, you need yeast. Difficult to make bread without yeast (although I have some ideas I am testing to ferment bread differently). Instant yeast and active dry yeast can be used interchangeably, although it is best for active dry yeast to be bloomed in warm water for 10/15 minutes before using it. Fresh yeast is generally used with a weight of 3 times what you would use in instant yeast. These three types of yeast include the same species of fungus: Saccharomyces Cerevisiae.
But the real fun starts with sourdough!!! See my article on how to make a Gluten-Free sourdough starter, or get some from a friend or specialised seller. More details in “What is sourdough and why should I bake with it?”.
When you bake with sourdough, being a live culture, it is important to use filtered water (tap water includes chlorine, which has the objective of making it difficult for microbes to develop) and salt without iodine and anti-caking agents. I generally use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which is very quick to dissolve, but generally it is advised to use fine sea salt without added iodine.
Ingredients for the obsessed cooks!
Suggested ingredient: Whey Protein Isolate (unflavoured);
Still under research: Ultratex (E1440, or hydroxypropylated starch).
The obsessed cook in me goes the extra mile. While experimenting, I have come across Nicole Hunn’s blog Gluten Free on a Shoestring. I also bought and read her book “GFOAS Bakes Bread”, where she shows her way of making bread by adding whey protein isolate and modified starches to the bread mix. I have baked from her book. I think she is a pioneer and I truly respect her. Her bread is great!
However, I came across her book once I was already deep into my process and with my ideas on diversifying ingredients vis-à-vis all the gums and additives used in the products I already buy. So, I took inspiration from her, learned from her, and I am trying to make whey protein isolate work with psyllium husk instead of xanthan gum and ultratex/expandex tapioca starch.
You might ask: why add proteins? Gluten is a group of protein, which creates networks that give doughs strength, elasticity, and ability to retain gases. Gluten-free flours have different types of protein. Whey Protein Isolate, having 90%+ protein content, allows us to increase the protein amount of gluten-free flours and might help improving the elasticity and “strength” of the dough. It clearly works well in GFOAS’s recipes, in conjunction with xanthan gum and modified starches. I am still experimenting with it with psyllium husk, but I feel like bread and pizza textures are generally improved by the proteins. They also help improve colour and taste. However, I am trying to develop recipes where I use as little as possible to improve the dough and make it more nutritious, but still never exceed the amount of proteins available, for example, in a strong bread flour. Strong bread flour can generally have up to 14% protein content. I balance my blends in order to get, based on the other flour’s protein content, about 12% to 14% total proteins. Therefore, you should not be worried of your protein intake more than you would be when eating normal bread!
N.B.: this is a bit of a conservative approach on my side, because I prefer to get most of my protein from a balanced diet rather than adding them to food. However, for many diets, adding a bit more Whey Protein isolate probably would not hurt. See link below for more information on daily intakes, and you can make your own mind based on your diet.
https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/protein
I am also experimenting with modified starches. We do not have Expandex Tapioca Starch in UK, but I have used Ultratex (E1440 or hydroxypropylated starch). Unlike Xanthan Gum and Guar gum, there seems to be less experience on the effect of these additives to our bodies. However, the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) re-evaluated E1440 and other starches in October 2017, deeming them safe to eat in the amounts that they are generally used with as food additives. The EFSA also felt that there was no need to specify an “accepted daily intake” amount. They also observed that modified starches should be tolerated by humans up to a daily single dose of 25g per person.
So I am experimenting, and I will post recipes if the resulting breads are superior. Still… I have a conservative approach, and I know we already have intake of additives from other processed food we buy. My objective is to get you the best bread by using flour (and starch), salt, water, yeast, and psyllium husk.
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4911
Equipment
You do not really need much!
- Absolutely, a digital scale. They are cheap and easy to use. If you want to be very good at bread, scale recipes, understand what you do, you need to weigh ingredients. Metric is also more convenient for scaling than imperial measures.
- A few large and medium bowls to mix the dough, possibly a container with a tight or airtight cover to do bulk fermentation.
- No need to buy bannetons (although they are nice). Just think that the proofing (or “second rise”) of your dough will generally be done in a container of the shape of the final bread. Medium bowls lined with floured kitchen towel (or even kitchen paper!) can do the job of a round banneton. I will show you also how to proof panini/hoagie-shaped breads just with small baking trays and kitchen towels.
- Either a Dutch oven or a pizza stone are particularly important in order to achieve superior results. However, if you plan on baking sandwich bread and have a good quality bread baking tin (e.g., made of stainless steel), that would do as well. The Dutch oven must be oven-safe up to high temperatures, say 250C (or whatever is the maximum temperature of your oven).
- A couple of large freezing bags and some rubber bands to seal them are very handy, as they work well to insulate bowls and trays with dough that you need to proof or refrigerate.
- A digital thermometer is extremely handy for: 1) checking if your bread is ready; 2) learn how to understand and manage fermentation/rising time of your doughs based on the temperature of the dough after mixing it.
- You do not need a bread proofer. I do not have that, but… my apartment is extremely warm. If you live in cold places and want to be very consistent with your bread rising time, get one! But they are expensive, I would live without it until you are sure you need it.
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