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The Alternative Bite.com
Making Wheat Free or Gluten Free bread is not as easy as it sounds. There are numerous factors that affect the crumb, crust, appearance and most of all taste. For the longest time rice flour was the the standard flour used for making wheat free or gluten free bread. As a qualified baker for me this was hardly an acceptable replacement for the staple we have all grown up on. For me the rice flour left an unpleasant after taste and a smell that matched, not to mention that it is more a batter than a dough which then limited you in the type of bread you could make. It is also difficult to slice and very crumbly. The bread seemed to be easier to handle if kept frozen. I found all these things unacceptable at best. As someone who makes food for people it had to be the best and it had to be like wheat bread was. In my opinion Wheat Free bread has to be comparable to wheat bread or it would only ever be a boutique type item and just not good enough to eat.
As time went on more and more people were discovering that they had some sort of food allergy. Mainly a Wheat or Gluten allergy, 1 in 133 people suffer from Gluten intolerance of which the effects can be quite debilitating and most serious in Celiac Desease. Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance differ in people, some being more severe than others, If you think you may suffer from Gluten Intolerance there is a full list of symptoms and articles to help you HERE.
The explosion of the internet has made it a lot easier to find out information on so many different subjects and the knowledge sharing is unbeatable and my research suddenly became much easier. I was able to find out about different flours, Gluten free flours used to make bread hundreds of years ago but that are now all but forgotten. My research also brought me to discover alternatives to gluten vegetable gums and psyllium husk to give a gluten free bread some of the characteristics of wheat bread. I found these flours to be best for taste and look. the finished product was comparable to bread using wheat flour.
Sourghum
Soy Flour
These Gluten Free Flours are now easier to purchase, most supermarkets of a large gluten free section and gourmet grocery stores also have a wide variety of gluten free flours and products.
As mentioned earlier I was not a fan of the rice flour type gluten free bread and using these flours and a process of trial and error I have managed to arrive at a product that is almost the same as wheat bread.
In another blog I have I explained what all these gluten free flours are, what part they play in the forming of a dough instead of a batter. You can read this information Here.
Guar Gum was an important discovery, used at the right ratio it brought the dough together and gave it some elasticity, although I did find that it has an awful taste and smell after baking and the amount used was very important. Too much gum gave a very rubbery dough that was difficult to bake. With more trial and error I discovered that tapioca flour was the real secret to making a "gluten free dough". From this I was able to drop the amount of gum which helped the baking and most of all the taste. The Tapioca is also what can be called a Gluten Substitute adding body and elasticity. This gave me the option of using any of the Gluten Free Flours with tapioca. These Gluten Free Flours are not the same as wheat flour, they all vary greatly in taste and texture giving a very wide range of products with a really different and full flavour compared to bread. The following recipe is one I arrived at by trial and error and worked well but was still difficult. I must stress that I just don't like the taste of rice flour based bread and this is so much better, although difficult to make and bake it is definitely worth the effort. The addition of seeds and grains or even fruit really brings out this type of gluten free bread. The recipe is as follows:
Sourgum 2 cups
Soy Flour / Corn Meal 1 cups
potato Flour 1/2 cup
Potato Starch 1/2 cup
Tapioca Flour 1.5 cups
Guar Gum Or Xanthum Gum 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
Baking powder 1/2 teaspoon
Yeast 80grams
Water 400-600 ml ( Water is extremely variable I start at 50% of the flour weight
and keep adding until A dough forms. Remember you can always put more in but you cant take it out.
Method
Mix all dry ingredients except yeast. Add 200 ml of the water to yeast and let sit till it bubbles. Once the yeast is activated add to the flour with the remaining water mix till clear and forms a ball, Try not to over mix.
as this will break down the dough. Once dough is mixed rest for 5 mins and then mould in to shape needed. Sit aside to prove, once the dough had doubled in size bake at 180-200c for 35-40 mins, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
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