Bread Recipe

This is my new favorite bread recipe. I don't remember where exactly I got it. I think it was a recipe that I found on a blog and then adjusted to my needs. My computer crashed and the site was in my favorites, now lost (back up your computers people!). The recipe can be used both in a bread machine or baked traditionally in the oven.

1 Tbsp dry yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups hot tap water (not too hot or yeast will die)
2 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour mix (I use Bavaria Mills)
2 tsp xanthum gum (1/2 tsp if flour mix has xanthum gum in it)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (or 6 Tbsp water + 2 Tbsp ground flax seed)
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp cider vinegar (I've always skipped this since Kayden wasn't allowed apples)

*For a yeast free version: skip the yeast and sugar, substitute hot water with carbonated water.

If using bread machine, add wet ingredients, then dry ingredients then create a well in the dry ingredients and add the sugar and yeast. Set the bread machine to a rapid cycle and voila! You have bread. :)

IF YOU DON'T USE A BREAD MACHINE...

1) Mix yeast,sugar and hot water in a small bowl, let sit until foamy.
2) Combine flour, xanthum gum and salt in a large bowl. Blend well to activate and web the xanthum gum.
3) In a third bowl, whisk eggs, oil and vinegar until eggs are a bit frothy.
4) The yeast should be foamy now, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix. No need to knead your dough since there is no gluten in it. Put dough into bread pan.
5) Place dough in a warm place with a towel over it. (see tips below) Let rise for 45 mins or until dough doubles in size.
6) Bake at 350 degrees until bread is done (oven times vary but you can use a digital thermometer, 206 deg = done)

Better Bread Tips (I haven't tried all of these but thought they were good to share):

*Work with room temperature ingredients.
*Use GF flour blends high in protein (aka sorghum, millet, amaranth, teff, oatmeal, buckwheat)
*Measure flour the right way.
*Look for recipes that call for eggs.
*Substitute carbonated water for water.
*Add 1/8 tsp powdered ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to dry ingredients, promotes better volume.
*Use olive oil.
*Use a digital thermometer. Bread temperature of 206 degrees Fahrenheit is done.
*Fill pan no more than 2/3 full of dough
*Gluten free bread requires more liquid than regular bread. Keep in mind when converting recipes. The dough should be too soft and sticky to knead but not as thin as cake batter.
*Easy warm environment: Warm oven to 200 degrees and turn off. Place a shallow baking pan partially filled with hot water in oven. Lightly cover loaf pan with damp towel and place in oven for 20 -30 mins or until dough rises to the top of loaf pan.

Bread

I needed a good bread that Kayden could have for sandwiches. I remember Kayden's doctor telling me at his 2 year check up that if I could get him to at least eat peanut butter sandwiches, he'll be all right (he's always been a picky eater). As I mentioned before, I was already on the gluten free diet but with that I gave up eating bread. There are gluten free breads but they just don't taste the same as wheat and are super expensive... so I gave that up all together. For Kayden, bread seemed like a must have since he lives off of peanut butter sandwiches. The problem I was running into was most of the breads and bread mixes that are GF have potato flour or starch in it, Kayden is allergic to potatoes. After a bunch of research, I found Namaste Foods makes a gluten free bread mix. You can find the link here.

I was able to buy the bread mix at Lingonberries Market. It was also available at Whole Foods Market. It cost me $5.99 at Lingonberries (Whole Foods cost more). The mix makes one loaf. Spendy compared to wheat bread but reasonable for a GF bread. I found Amazon sells the mixes too. You can buy it in bulk (6 bags). If you do Amazon's Prime combined with Subscribe and Save it totals out to a little under $5 a loaf (if I remember correctly).

I could also look into what it would cost to buy my flours in bulk and create my own flour mixture. I figure I'd wait and see how much flour I actually use to see if it's worth it. I don't have a lot of freezer space and I'd hate for the flour to go bad before I use it.

Anyway! We've made 3 loafs so far and it's worked great! Kayden loves the bread and for me, it was so nice to eat bread again! It's been perfect for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I try to slice it as thin as I can to make the loaf last longer. So far one loaf lasts us about 3 days. This last loaf I made is lasting a little longer. I don't know if it's because we're getting sick of it or just eating different stuff. I did notice that after 3 days, the bread isn't as moist and will start to be more crumbly.

Oh, I guess I should note that I've been making the bread in my bread machine. I haven't dared to try and make it the old fashioned way and a blog I read swears that the result are the same. I cleaned out my old bread machine and (hopefully) made it gluten free... I haven't felt sick yet and usually I do if there is cross contamination. It's really easy to do it this way. I just dump all the ingredients in... liquids first, then the mix and add yeast on top. The first loaf I made I just did a regular bread cycle. It turned out okay but didn't rise as well as I would have hoped. I think it was maybe 4 inches long. I read on a blog that GF bread doesn't need two rise cycles and to use a rapid cycle when baking. So I tried that on my next loaf and it worked beautifully! I swear it almost doubled in size.

Kayden is happy with his "special" bread and it definitely helped smooth the transition into his new diet! Next time I bake our bread I'll take a pic to show you.