Easy gluten-free bread - Eat Well Recipe - NZ Herald (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to making good gluten-free bread? ›

One of the challenges is that when gluten-free dough is thickened with additives like starches and gums, it becomes sticky. Some bakers dust sticky dough with flour, but that's problematic with gluten-free formulations.

What type of yeast should be used to bake Gluten Free Bread? Active dry yeast and instant yeast both work well and are often interchangeable. Be on the lookout for any Rapid Rise yeast that is best for one rise. For most of us that's the way gluten free bread is baked, a single rise in the tin.

Apple cider vinegar or another acid lightens up the dough. You can add up to 4 Tbsp of acid for 500 g gluten-free flour. Don't worry, you won't be able to taste it afterwards. To lighten up a yeast dough even more, you can add a packet of baking powder or cream of tartar baking powder to 500 g flour.

Dense loaf- you may need to use more liquid, gluten free dough is usually wetter than regular wheat flour dough resembling a thick brownie batter. How much liquid is enough in a recipe ultimately depends not on formulas but in observation. You may need more or less liquid than the recipe specifies.

Aaron Reed, senior food technologist, Cargill, echoed that bread is the hardest product to replicate when developing a gluten-free product. To help maintain loaf form, he suggested using setting ingredients, such as egg whites or other proteins, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose or methylcellulose.

Eggs are natural leaveners that help boost the rise and volume of bread. Eggs also add moisture, flavor, and protein to gluten-free bread recipes. If you select a gluten-free bread recipe that includes eggs, you have a better chance that the resulting bread will have good color, more volume, and softer texture.

Mix the Additives in Before the Wet Ingredients

Without it, gluten-free products can be dry and crumbly. There is a way to compensate for this however — use xanthan gum. Some bakers also use gelatin or agar. If you're using additives, mix them thoroughly with the dry ingredients before adding the wet.

Fresh yeast requires two rises, so it is not ideal for gluten free breads, which require only one rise.

It's important to know that peanuts, peanut butter, peanut flour and peanut oil are considered naturally gluten-free foods. Gluten is a form of protein found in wheat, barley and rye (2).

Does oatmeal have gluten? ›

Yes, pure, uncontaminated oats are gluten-free. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration considers oats a gluten-free grain under its gluten-free labeling regulations and only requires that packaged products with oats as an ingredient contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten overall.

Promoting Better Rise

Achieving a good rise is essential for light and airy bread. Cream of tartar acts as a natural leavening agent when combined with baking soda.

Most vinegars are gluten-free. Most varieties are distilled and made from inherently gluten-free ingredients such as grapes. The only vinegar that needs to be avoided is malt vinegar. Malt vinegar is not distilled, and malt is derived from barley, a grain that is not gluten-free.

Gluten-free bread lets you enjoy bread without the risk of causing harm to your intestines. And when you swap out white flour for a gluten-free alternative, it might make your bread healthier in certain ways. Other flours often have nutrients you wouldn't get with white flour.

Gluten-free flours often contain fine starches, so they absorb more liquid than conventional flour. To address this, gluten-free recipes usually call for more liquid and produce looser batters. They may also call for a larger quantity of leavening, like baking powder, to help add volume and lighten the texture.

Gluten-free baked goods often benefit from extra liquid to hydrate the flour blends, eliminate grittiness, and achieve a less dense or dry texture. However, it's very important to drive off this extra moisture during baking, or you'll wind up with a gummy texture. The best way to do this? Longer baking times.