GLUTEN-FREE BAKING DAY-- ONE SUCCESS, ONE FAIL

  My Gluten-Free "White" Yeast Bread
I have several friends and a relative or two who are gluten-sensitive, so I've been doing some research on gluten-free vegan baking.  We're having one Thanksgiving dinner at my son's tomorrow and his wife is not eating gluten but wanted to make her special stuffing recipe.  So, I volunteered to make her a couple of loaves of gluten-free bread.  I also decided I'd make a gluten-free pie.

THE SUCCESS:

I had already developed a vegan, high-fiber, gluten-free bread loaf for a friend a few years ago, and I decided to follow that recipe, but make it more"white" (even though it's still high-fiber-- brown  rice flour is quite pale-colored).  I changed my original recipe by using golden flax instead of brown flax seeds in both my flour mix and the bread recipe itself; by using maple syrup instead of molasses; and omitting the soy or rice milk powder.  Otherwise it was the same.

  The dough (actually a thick batter) is beaten for only about 3 minutes.

  Then it's divided into two prepared 8 x 41/2" pans and set to rise for an hour to 90 minutes.


  When it rises to the top of the pan it's ready to bake.


The result-- not a high loaf, but it slices well, is moist and tasty (maybe a bit sweet-- I'll have to work on that) and toasts nicely, too.  My DIL was pleased with it. (See the recipe below.)





THE FAIL:

Sorry, no pictures!  I didn't even think about photographing the debacle that was my first gluten-free pie crust until afterwards!  So, a description will have to suffice.  I should have known better and started with a conventional crust, but, instead, I decided to try my low-fat olive oil pastry for a freeform pie using the same flour mix I used for the bread.  Bad idea!  It was difficult to roll out and kept cracking, unlike the pliable and easily-handled wheat flour olive oil pastry.  I soldiered on, however, and cobbled together a very sad-looking apple tart.  When baked, the filling was lovely (I added some homemade crab-apple butter to the apples), but the crust dry and hard.  Not one to waste food, I served it anyway, with almond milk poured over it in bowls, like a sort of pudding.  This softened the crust and it was edible, especially with the delicious apples.

Tomorrow I'm making a pecan pie for the dinner at my son's house, with a conventional high-fat pie crust  made according to the recipe in Silvana Nardone's book "Cooking with Isaiah" and my own vegan filling.

BRYANNA'S GLUTEN-FREE “WHITE” VEGAN YEAST BREAD (GF, SF)

Makes two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2" loaves

Even though the flour mixture contains high-fiber brown rice flour, chickpea flour and ground flax seed, this makes a nice “white” loaf.

NOTE: Grease the pans really well with non-hydrogenated shortening-- this bread sticks easily.  (I like these pans.)

Yeast Mixture--mix and let stand 5 minutes:

1 3/4 c. warm water

1 packet regular active baking yeast (2 1/2 tsp.)

(NOTE: If you have only instant yeast, use only 1 3/4 tsp.)

1 tsp. sugar

Flax Mixture-- meanwhile, whiz in a blender:

1 c. warm water

1/4 c. golden flax seeds
The result:

When the mixture is frothy, with just bits of flaxseed hull in it, add and blend:

2 T. plus 2 tsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder or Orgran No-Egg

1/4 c. olive oil or melted Earth Balance

1/2 tsp. agar powder

1 1/2 tsp. vinegar

4 tsp. maple syrup, agave nectar, or brown rice syrup

Dry Mix--in a bowl, mix well:

4 c. Bryanna's Gluten-Free “White” High-Fiber Flour Mix (see mix recipe below)

1/4 c. instant mashed potato flakes

6 T. unbleached organic sugar (I’m going to try using less sugar next time)

1 T. + 1 tsp. xanthan gum or guar gum

1 T. salt

Add the frothed-up Yeast Mixture to the Flax Mixture in the blender and blend briefly. Dump this into the bowl of a stand-up electric mixer. Using the whip attachment, gradually beat in the Dry Mix until it is all mixed in. Beat on high for about 3 1/2 minutes. Scrape the dough (it's actually a really thick batter) evenly into the prepared pans and smooth the tops flat. Cover and let rise in a warm place 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or level with the tops of the pans. (You can slash the top of the loaf with a sharp knife or razor blade, or not, as you prefer.)

Have the oven preheated to 400 degrees F. Bake the breads for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and cover the breads with loosely foil. Bake for 30 minutes more. Loosen the edges with a table knife and carefully remove the loaves from pans to a rack to cool before slicing.  This really looks, smells and tastes like bread.  You can toast it and make breadcrumbs or bread crumbs out of it.

BRYANNA'S "WHITE" GLUTEN-FREE HIGH-FIBER FLOUR MIX    

Makes about 13 cups
I designed this mix to work in most simple recipes as an all-purpose flour, but to be higher in nutrition and fiber than most GF mixes.

7 1/2 c. brown rice flour (as finely-ground as possible) (I used Bob's Red Mill organic)

2 1/2 c. potato starch (NOT potato flour—it’s not the same product)

1 1/4 c. tapioca flour (or tapioca starch—in this case it’s the same thing)

1 c. ground golden flax seed

1 c. chickpea flour

4 1/2 T. xanthan gum

Mix well and store in a moisture-proof container in in the freezer. Use cup-for-cup instead of regular flour in breads, muffins, simple cakes, etc. 


Good luck with your gluten-free experimenting!