If you have gluten intolerance, one obstacle to enjoying a normal diet is that gluten-free bread can be expensive or difficult to find. This can make meal planning a challenge, especially if you have gluten-intolerant children who want to eat sandwiches. One solution is to bake your own gluten-free bread. With a few tricks, you can successfully, and inexpensively, bake gluten-free breads at home.
Experiment With Flour
You can buy a variety of gluten-free flours, but you can also make your own, which allows you to modify the exact ratios of flour and starches according to your preference. “The Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook” has a bread flour recipe that uses 2 parts whole-grain millet flour to 1 part each of sorghum flour, cornstarch, potato starch and tapioca starch, to create a blend that mimics wheat flour in texture and density.
Use Room-Temperature Ingredients
Julie Shepard, author of “Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten-Free Eating” says it is essential to use room-temperature ingredients. Make sure all your ingredients, such as eggs, milk and butter, are at room temperature before adding them together and mixing. It is particularly important for yeast recipes because yeast needs warmth to grow and if your ingredients are too cold, they may prevent full yeast growth.
Proof in the Pan
Unlike bread made with ordinary flour, gluten-free bread is heavier and only rises once, notes “Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies.” This means instead of punching it down halfway through the proofing process and letting it rise again, you only have once chance to get it to proof. The book recommends placing the loaf directly in the baking pan to rise, because that minimizes the amount you have to handle it, and the chances of it collapsing.
Keep Dough Moist
The trick to getting your gluten-free bread to rise well is to keep it warm and moist, recommends Nicole Hunn in “Gluten-Free on a Shoestring.” Gluten-free dough is denser than normal bread dough, and also needs more water, so it needs a humid environment to rise. Hunn suggests placing the dough in a microwave oven covered with a steaming hot kitchen towel and allowing it to rise for at least 25 minutes. If necessary, reheat the towel after 25 minutes and let the bread continue rising for another 15 or 20 minutes.
References
- “The Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook”; Annalise Roberts, Claudia Pillow; 2009
- Celiac.com; 7 Easy Tips for Baking Better Gluten-Free Bread; Julie Shepard; November 2009
- “Gluten-Free Cooking For Dummies”; Danna Korn, Connie Sarros; 2011
- “Gluten-Free on a Shoestring: 125 Easy Recipes for Eating Well on the Cheap”; Nicole Hunn; 2011
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