November 2009 Archives

I finally found some millet flour! I think next time I may use equal parts millet and sorghum flour (1/2 cup each). Also, you can't really tell from the photo, but the bottom of the loaf is a bit concave and I don't understand why. All of the gluten-free loaves have been like this. I wonder if it's because of the steam I've used during baking (ice cubes in a skillet on the bottom rack). Next time I will try it with no steam. Also, I used the smaller pan this time and I like it better.

1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
3/4 cup millet flour
2 tbsp flax seeds, finely ground (about 1/4 cup ground)
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp rapid rise yeast
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut up
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs

Sift the flours and potato starch into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add ground flax seeds, xanthan gum, salt, and yeast. Whisk well.

In a microwave safe bowl or 2-cup measure, place rice milk, butter, and honey. Microwave for about a minute. The milk should be warm (120°-130°F) and the butter starting to melt. Add this mixture along with the eggs to the flour mixture. Mix on medium-high speed with the paddle attachment until well combined.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, then pour in the dough. Flatten the top with a spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

While the loaf is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Bake about an hour, or until golden and the internal temperature registers 205°F. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

I baked another loaf of bread this morning. I couldn't help it. This one turned out much better than the first. It tastes like bread!

I baked it in a slightly larger pan (9"x5") because the last loaf seemed too big for the 8"x4" pan, but it looks like this one would have been fine in the smaller pan. I also decided against the egg wash.

1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
2 tbsp amaranth seeds, finely ground (about 1/4 cup ground)
2 tbsp flax seeds, finely ground (about 1/4 cup ground)
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp rapid rise yeast
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut up
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs

Sift the flours and potato starch into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add ground amaranth and flax seeds, xanthan gum, salt, and yeast. Whisk well.

In a microwave safe bowl or 2-cup measure, place rice milk, butter, and honey. Microwave for about a minute. The milk should be warm (120°-130°F) and the butter starting to melt. Add this mixture along with the eggs to the flour mixture. Mix on medium-high speed with the paddle attachment until well combined.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, then pour in the dough. Flatten the top with a spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

While the loaf is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Bake about an hour, or until golden and the internal temperature registers 205°F. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

My foray into gluten-free bread baking has begun. I haven't been eating entirely gluten-free lately and I don't even know for sure if I should be avoiding it, but I have all these flours now and I might as well experiment with them. This recipe is based on one from Gluten-Free Girl. I couldn't find millet flour anywhere around here, so I took the millet leftover from the multigrain breads I was making a while ago and ground it up in a coffee grinder. The recipe called for 1 cup but I only had 1/2 cup, so I substituted oat flour for the remaining 1/2 cup. I also used about 1/2 active dry yeast and 1/2 rapid rise, and looking back I probably shouldn't have let it rise as long as I did. The last major difference is that I didn't have any guar gum so I left it out and added a little extra xanthan gum.

The final bread tastes more like a biscuit than a yeast bread. I also found it interesting that instead of letting the dough rise, then shaping it and letting it rise again, it only had to rise once. I wonder what would happen if I did it the traditional way. Would it not rise the second time?

Some thoughts for my next attempt:

• skip the beaten egg whites
• add some ground flax seeds
• use less yeast (all I have left is rapid rise) and don't let it rise too long
• replace the millet flour with extra sorghum and sweet rice flour (since I'm out of millet)

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (I used about 1 1/4 tsp active dry and 1 tsp rapid rise yeast)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup milk (I used rice milk)
2 egg whites
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1 cup millet flour (I used 1/2 cup ground millet and 1/2 cup ground oats)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, or butter substitute
2 eggs, at room temperature

» Full Recipe at Gluten-Free Girl