Sunday, March 28, 2010

I made some bread

I've been on a bread-baking hiatus. Loaf after loaf of crappy bread just gets old after a while. I know I'm not alone with my bread woes.

I had a bag of Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour sitting on my counter, and Chris picked it up and (quite randomly) asked, "Have you tried making this bread?" There was a recipe for Walrus Bread on the back of it, and no, I've never considered making it. Why waste ingredients on a bread that will probably turn out like crap? And what the heck is Walrus bread?

After I voiced these comments, Chris insisted that I try it anyway, because you never know.

So I busted out my neglected bread machine for minimal effort, and made it. Actually I had help from Chris, which was kinda fun. No one's ever stood around and helped me make stuff, even if it's just putting ingredients into the bread machine.

I just dumped everything into the bread maker, set it, and left for three hours. When we came back, the smell was awesome. I peeked into the little window to see that it actually rose well.

I have a lot of trouble getting bread to rise correctly. I also have trouble with bread sinking after it's done. I also have trouble with gummy layers on the bottom of bread. I also have trouble with crumbling, dense, nasty bread. See why I stopped making bread? Suckage.

When it was finished, I let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then took it out. Afraid it'd sink like normal, I didn't wait around to watch it. We went bowling. When we came back from bowling, it had cooled and hadn't sunk at all! When I cut into it, it was moist and bendy. Look- you can bend it and it won't break. Small victories.

gluten free breadIt's one of the better loaves of bread I've made. Still distinctly gluten free, but not terrible. So here it is. The recipe is posted here.

I made a few modifications: Instead of bean flour I used sorghum, and instead of potato starch I used corn starch. I used apple cider vinegar, and instead of vegetable oil I used light olive oil. A packet of yeast worked just fine- I think it's just short of a tablespoon.

I'm hoping that it works well with french toast, as it's been a very long time since I've made some that actually tastes good. I have learned that not all gluten free bread transforms into french toast well.

I'm not 100% satisfied and am still on the lookout for a really good plain bread recipe, so if you have one please share!!

2 comments:

Drew said...

I so hate making bread. I went through a phase where I tried all these different recipes and then finally gave up because I didn't like any of them. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to make good break AND make it be gluten free! Why is a food as basic as bread so dang hard?

ec0983 said...

bread was one of my biggest challenges when i first found out i had to go g-free. but my mom, an avid believer in bread machines regardless of dietary restrictions, was kind enough to buy me a brand new one as a house warming gift, and i hit the ground running with it. so far, the best bread i've made with it was using gluten free pantry's "favorite sandwich bread" mix. totally moist without being gummy, no crumbling (which thrilled me to no end) and the best part- i didn't have to store it in the stinking freezer! i haven't had a chance to try bread that doesn't come in a box, but spring break is almost here, along with extra kitchen time, so we shall see!