Gluten-free bran bread

Ingredients

• 600g Tritamyl flour (gluten-free flour)
• 325g soya bran
• 150g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100ml sundried tomato pesto
• 1L buttermilk
• 2 tsp bread soda
• 2 tsp Xanthan gum (if freezing)

Direction

1. Preheat oven to 180C and lightly grease a loaf tin.
2. Place all ingredients into a bowl and combine well together.
3. Bak bread for 45min to 1 hour or until it sounds hollow when tapped.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top while cooling.
6. Allow to fully cool before cutting.

Sundried Tomato Pesto

• 6oz semi-sundried tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 8 basil leaves
• 200ml extra virgin olive oil

Place ingredients in a food blender and blend for 2 min, season and set aside.

Gluten Free Bread

I think this recipe originates from the kitchen of Nevin Maguire and if so, it is very much appreciated. This makes 1 loaf of gluten-free bread.


Ingredients 

• 7g sachet dried yeast
• 2 tsp sugar
• 400g gluten free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill or Dove's Farm)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g milk powder
• 1 tbsp xanthan gum
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 60ml oil
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Direction

1. Lightly grease a 22 x 5 x 5.5 cm loaf tin. Place the yeast, sugar and 440ml warm water in a small bowl and stir well.
2. Leave in a warm place for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface. The mixture should be frothy and slightly increased in volume.
3. Sift the flour, salt, milk powder and xanthan gum into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture, egg and oil. Using a wooden spoon, stir together well until it forms a soft moist mixture. Beat for 1 minutes.
4. Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and smooth the surface with moist hands. Sprinkle with sesame seeds over the top.
5. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until risen to the top of the tin.
6. Place in a preheated oven at 190C/Gas 5. Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes or until it is golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Allow the bread to cool completely before cutting.

Easy bread rolls

Want a quick, easy, fool-proof gluten free roll? Buy a pack of Juvela fibre mix. These are a blend of flours that just need water, salt, sugar, oil and yeast (included). Just fire in the oven after 30min rise and you get decent springy rolls that surprised me.

Gluten-free Crusty Boule

Artisan Crusty Boule - ready to rise

UPDATE:
I revisited the 'Crusty Boule' again lately (Aug 2012) not having tried it in a while and having made do more often than not with some worthy shop-bought alternatives. However, it was time to try to improve on this and so I gave 'Crusty Boule' another try.
This time around I used a 'Dutch oven' - a Le Creuset large pan (lid on for 20 min at 250C, lid off for 15min at 200C). Haven't done the carb count but the slices feel heavy. But, the (fresh) taste was pretty wonderful - chewy, crunchy crust, great robust internal structure. It got the definite thumbs up from our chief tester. I've sliced and frozen some so we'll see how they work out. But following Jeff Hertzberg's recipe is probably best - keeping the dough in the fridge, take out to proof and bake as needed.
Note to self: Didn't have the second cup of brown rice flour so sub'd Doves' Farm strong brown bread flour.

In our (on-and-off) quest for a decent gluten-free bread, there have been many 'also rans' and too many too-bad-to-eat contenders. I'm a sucker for the one's that involve 6 or more exotic flours and ingredients in the hope that with that much science in the mix, the outcome must be amazing.
One such hopeful is a Karina Allrich's site Gluten-free Goddess. This beautifully produced site is hailed as supreme by many. There are plenty of tempting recipes in there (sweet and savoury) - I've tried chocolate chip gf cookies. However, they were very fragile and we've found the Dove's farm version much better, though it could just be me.

Crusty Boule - almost risen

The other problem I have with Karina's recipes is the array of flours she uses. Okay, I'm good with potato, tapioca, various gluten-free mixes, soya, brown and sweet rice, buckwheat. But coconut, hazelnut, quinoa! Please, my saucepan press is laden with flours! Seems you can take any nut, seed, flower or whatever and grind it to a flour. Every new recipe introduces yet another new flour so a halt had to be called. On top of that, some of the recipe directions are seriously detailed and need a carefully choreographed approach.

Ready for the oven (almost)

Fast forward to Artisan Bread in Five with Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. They offer up a very temptingly labelled Gluten-free Crusty Boule. I've tried this twice now and it works. Okay, we're not talking Parisian delight here but it has a crusty exterior, springy interior and isn't (too) heavy. The taste is satisfyingly chewy and there's plenty of bounce. It doesn't crumble to dust when you approach it and the recipe isn't complicated (no overnight, multi-step rises).
Now we're still still some odd-ball flours in here - tapioca, brown rice and sorghum flours. I had the first two for months while trying to track down the last. Tir na nOg (in Sligo) have tapioca and occasionally brown rice. Or try Cosgrove's on High St. who have a great gluten-free range, by the way. But sorghum is another matter. Shout out to Anu, a brilliant friend from India, who ran down what she would call Juwar (Sorghum) flour, apparently very popular in Africa and India where wheat is more expensive. I've only sourced it to Eurasia ethnic food supermarket in Fonthill, near Liffey Valley, Dublin. It can be had online but don't come cheap.

Ready to eat!

You'll also need Xanthan Gum which you'll pick up in most supermarkets but the making up is easy and the dough keeps for a few days in the fridge though I've found it best to bake on the day. After all, there's only one rise needed.
I can rest now - this works and is especially good with cheese or pate. This is said to be great for pizza dough too and I can see how that would be - I feel a trial coming on but after recent efforts on that front, I think I'll have to wait for the memories to fade.

And the final result, just fresh from the oven....

P.S. Worth mentioning here a gluten-free flour mix by Carol Fenster. Haven't tried it but from my experience, the flours are those I've had most success with and (most) are readily available.

Gluten-free bread Quest

And so the search continues. So far we've made a white and brown with Odlums Tritamyl bread mixes. Initially looked promising but no taste and wouldn't freeze. Seems to self-destruct after a day or so. I could grate it into crumbs just rubbing it gently. To be fair, it was the version I put in the bread-maker that didn't survive the freezer.

We then bought the brown seeded loaf from M&S. This is a small pan which needs slicing (tricky!) and freezes well. You'll need 2 slices to make a 15g CHO sandwich. Not a bad loaf but uses largish seeds to give that bite that the gluten would have given. Not a big hit with the taste-tester though I thought it was reasonable - seeds/nuts are not favourites when visible, though I pack small mountains of them into the peanut and honey bars.

And now to the Gourmet Parlour. They I learned do a white and brown loaf (pic) as well as bakewell tart and chocoloate brownie slices. Not cheap: loaf €3.95 and slices €1.95 though they'll last the princess ages. Bakewell tart not that great and won't see a repeat purchase though it wasn't all that bad in fairness. The brown loaf review has come in and it's getting a thumbs up. Seemed very heavy, dense and moist to me and I'm fearing the CHO count once I get to weigh it. But it has a firm crust and can be cut into thin enough slices to use for sandwiches. I'm hopeful with this so long as it freezes okay to use for lunches.

Speaking with one of the owners, they use Doves Farm Gluten-free brown bread flour and I think add some extra baking powder and xanthan gum. Have a pack of the white Doves Farm flour in the press but hesitant to use it - it's the one I'm most hopeful about!

Odlums Gluten-free bread mix

A tale of two breads: breadmaker on left, over-baked on right

It's been a tough week on the diabetes/coeliac front so I was due for a turn of fortune. It was back to our quest for something that could be called bread, coeliac-style. Having tried using Odlums Tritamyl self-raising flour to make a lemon 'cake' recently, I wasn't too optimistic - actually, the cake wasn't that bad, just not worth the carbs!
So with fingers crossed I took Odlums Tritamyl White Bread mix and did a test of two bakes. I'm a big fan of the Panasonic bread-maker (mine's a SD254) and have been happily churning out decent bread for a couple years now. So, I baked a small 2lb white loaf in it and a simpler version in the oven. Both followed the recipe on the pack - just the flour, water, oil. I added an extra tsp of rapid dried yeast and an egg to the bread-maker version but otherwise the same.


The result?
Great! Okay, my expectations have been well-tempered recently but having just downed a fresh slice with some brie, I really can't complain. Having baked the Odlums Brown bread mix a week ago, I was expecting little by way of flavour but this was miles better. It took the full 45min in the oven, or about 2hrs in the bread-maker. The texture was good and not crumbly with plenty of holes; the crust reasonably was crispy and there was that bit of chewiness that makes strong-flour bread satisfying. Haven't tasted the bread-maker version yet but I'm hopeful of similar results.


Okay, the oven-baked is well, ugly looking while the bread-maker is slightly squat due to the shape of the bread-pan. Even the mixing of the oven-bake was easy, just a hand electric blender for a few minutes. I used a paper liner for the loaf tin which are a great time-saver.


Next up is Doves Farm flour... stay tuned!