Gluten-Free Blueberry Bread

Gluten-Free Blueberry Bread

Gluten-free Blueberry Bread

adapted from Real Food Made Easy‘s Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread

which was adapted from a Betty Hagman recipe

Here is my ingredients & proportion for this particular loaf:

Dry Ingredients:

• 80 g teff flour
• 30 g sorghum flour
• 160 g Bette’s Featherlight Mix (1/3 Cup each: cornstarch, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, plus  1¼ teaspoon potato flour)
• 2 Tablespoons almond meal (I grind almond sliver in an electric mini chopper)
• 3/4 teaspoon xantham gum
• 3/4 teaspoon guar gum (I don’t have this so substitute same amount of xantham gum, per The Cook’s Thesaurus‘ advice)
• 1/2 teaspoon Redmond real salt (red tinted salt)
• 1 teaspoon agar powder (or gelatin)
• 1  ½ teaspoons nutmeg **
• 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast (I used Gold instant yeast)
• 6 Tablespoons dried blueberries (I had just that exact amount, coincidentally) **

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup or 4 Tablespoons Agave Nectar **
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon chia seeds soaked in 6 Tablespoons + 1/4 teaspoon warm water
• 1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons warm water (72º F – 75º F)

Equipment:  one 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inch loaf pan.

** denotes my changes/substitution

Method:

Soak the chia seeds.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Measure oil and sweetener.  Add water and mix well.  Tips: measure the oil first then use the same spoon to measure the liquid sweetener so it won’t stick to the spoon; it works beautifully.

dry & wet mixtures

Mix in the wet ingredient mixture, the soaked chia seeds with the dry ingredient mixture.

mixing the dry and wet mixtures

The dough comes together nicely, feels and looks just like wheat-based dough.  I love the light brow reddish color that imparted from the teff flour.

mixed dough

Grease the loaf pan.  Scoop the dough into the prepared pan.  Spread it out evenly and try to fill the corners.  Loosely put a greased saran wrap on top and leave it at room temperature for 1.5 hours or until the dough rises above the pan but not fall out of it (about 1/8 inch).

I went out to grab a bite to eat and came back 2 hours later to a well-risen loaf ready to be baked.

well-risen loaf

The covered saran wrap comes right off and you can see the dough is very airy filled with lots of bubbles:

risen loaf

Turn the oven on 15 minutes before baking.  Bake the loaf at 400º F for 55-60 minutes, until test insert comes out with a few dried crumb or internal temperature registers 205º F.  Let the loaf cool completely on a rack.

Note: I did turn the oven down to 385º F the last 12 minutes so keep an eye on your loaf and check your oven’s temperature.

Well, here is a close-up of the crumb.  I am surprised how well the crust and crumb held together as a loaf.  Its color is stunningly beautiful, don’t you think?  It tastes delicious, just slightly & delicately sweet –thanks to the agave nectar–, the spice nutmeg goes well with the blueberries (I wasn’t quite sure when I first played with the idea in my head) which offers little bursts of sweetness here and there carrying out real blueberry flavor.  The chia seed was quite well blended in in the bread probably because it was soaked, unlike its pronounced taste in another gluten-free bread I baked just 2 days ago.

porous, moist, and blueberry studded crumb

I was quite taken when a chewy texture of bread hits my palate when I took the first bite into a slice; however further chewing reminds me that this is gluten-free bread I am eating because as I continue chewing, the crumb sort of crumbles into texture that tastes similar to that of cooked cream of wheat.  Not in a bad way, no!  How could it not be good with all the beautiful ingredients that made up the loaf?  What it would not be is an equal alternative to wheat bread although many people will voice their different opinions strongly.  I am quite satisfied with it and have been eating some with and without butter at breakfast and lunch.

It is the next best thing for people who are no longer able to eat  wheat bread. I am glad I can still enjoy wheat-based goodies but now appreciate gluten-free ones.  Wheat or wheat-free I like quality bread such as this one.

I am so pleased that I have already thought of a new flavor for  next loaf.  I am thinking perhaps dried pitted tart Montmorency cherries with a few small chunks of 70-percent-cacao chocolate scented up by just a splash of Tahitian vanilla.  That sounds really decadence.  Stay tuned.

A few things I’ve learned:

Baking gluten-free bread is non-threatening and no extra skills are required.

I would try adding egg to see if it helps taste & texture not that it needs improvement.   The original recipe used

soaked chia seeds as an egg alternative.  We are not vegan here and we love egg so egg will be in next loaf.

Happy Baking Gluten-Free Bread!

Gluten-free Hearty Seeded Bread

gluten-free hearty seeded bread, crumb & crust

Quest for gluten-free bread has been on my mind for almost a month and without baking any bread for over 3 weeks, I was more than anxious when I saw this recipe, –its loaf is in every way looks like bread to me–posted on last week’s Yeast Spotting.   I went to The Sourdough BBB site put in a comment that I would bake it very soon.   I mentioned to Alice about it but she decided to have this bread made first instead and so we did it on Saturday evening.

That  same evening I could not wait any longer so just before mid-night I mixed the dough for this bread –which I have been looking forward to, to use my newly favorite seed: chia seeds— stuck the mixed dough in the fridge for a short cold fermentation (about 3.5 hours) and then let it finish its first rise on the counter and followed the original recipe to bake it the next day on Sunday evening.  It’s well worth the wait and the small fortune I spent invested in the gluten-free ingredients purchased at the local Whole Foods market –which by the way was an educational and fun trip at the store–.

gluten-free ingredients

I have most but not all of the requested ingredients so I am going to post the ingredients I use for this particular loaf  because my friend Alice’s request it so that she can make it herself.  After all, my quest for gluten-free bread is for Alice, who has been diligently consuming wheat-free foods the past few months when she was diagnosed with gluten allergy but not celiac.

This recipe is closely based on the recipe posted by The Sourdough’s breadchick, who got it from Gluten-free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread by Nancy Baggett’s “Kneadlessly Simple”.

I will note my adaptions marked with ** and guide with lots of pictures since this is my first gluten-free sandwich-type loaf and  there are several people already interested in this particular loaf and waiting for its recipe.

Let bake some gluten-free bread, shall we?

The Dry Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 Cup brow rice flour plus 2/3 Cup corn flour **
• 1/2 Cup corn flour (added 3 Tablespoons more to thicken the batter/dough at mixing) **
• 1/2 Cup cornstarch
• 1/3 Cup tapioca flour
• 1/3 Cup roasted golden flax seed **
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 3 Tablespoon of mixed seeds (I used fox tail millet grain, roasted golden flax seed & chia seed) **

The Wet Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 Cup ice water plus 2 Tablespoons
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 Cup agave nectar **

Egg-Yogurt-Rice Flour Mixture :

• 1 medium-size egg, at room temperature, lightly mixed
• 1/4 Cup plain Greek-style yogurt (if use thin yogurt, drain of excess liquid)
• 2/3 Cup Asian Rice Flour **
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Topping:

• 1 Tablespoon of mixed seeds (1 teaspoon each: fox tail millet, chia seed, roasted golden flax seed)
• 1 Tablespoon of reserved mixed egg (from above) for egg wash

Method:

First Rise: Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

dry ingredients mixture

Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Mix the two together thoroughly.

the mixed dough

Add more water if it is too stiff, or more rice/corn flour if it is too soft to form a barely firm dough.  I already accounted for all the added flour in the recipe.  Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  For best flavor, refrigerated dough for 3  to 10 hours.  I took mine out of the fridge after 3.5 hours.   Let stand at cool room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.  Mine took 14.5 hours to rise up quite a bit.

dough after cold fermentation and first rise

Sunday morning I woke up went to the gym for a short and light workout and headed out for a medium-long walk at the Shoreline Park with my buddy Nate in the early afternoon.  We got home, had a light super of chicken kayu and slices of the first gluten-free crusted artisan loaf baked yesterday with Kerrygold butter.  Nate biked to go home just before it got dark.  I had more than enough time to clean up, took  a shower and leisurely started preparing the dough for its second rise.  This recipe is so adaptable to your own schedule.

I tasted the dough and it was already had a slight sour taste after being fermented slowly over 14 hours so I decided to go ahead and mix in the rest of the rest.  Up to this point I had a very good feeling about this bread.  Yummy!  The extra corn flour I used must have given a yellow hue to the dough dotted with darker shade of millet grains and golden flax seed.  It’s pretty!

Second Rise: Stir the yogurt, baking powder, and 1/3 Cup white rice flour into the remaining egg.

egg-yogurt-rice-flour mixture

Stir vigorously into the First Rise dough until completely mixed.  If it is too soft, you can add more rice flour.  Turn the dough into a well greased 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan and brush a little oil on top of the loaf.

well-greased pan, enough, no?

dough in prepared loaf pan

Brush the reserved egg and sprinkle seeds over the surface of the loaf.

egg wash & seed decoration

Using a well oiled serrated knife, make a 1/2-inch deep cut lengthwise down the loaf.  Cover the pan with a lightly greased piece of saran wrap.

slash on top of dough

Tried as I could but the wet dough did not make it easy for me to slash it.  Oh well, we shall see.

Let dough rise in a warm place (I turn the appliance light on in the oven and stick it in there) unit it extends 1/8-inch above the pan’s rim, about 2 1/2 to 4 hours.  Mine took 2 1/4 hours.  By now the dough was well risen, bubbly and you can hear some sound made by air bubbles popped up.

well risen loaf ready to be baked

Loosen the plastic wrap as dough nears top of pan to prevent dough from swooshing down, says the original recipe but I did not need to because I greased the saran wrap quite well and it helped.

Baking: 15 minutes before baking, place a rack in the lower third of the oven and pre-heat to 375º F.  Bake bread for 55-60 minutes, until the top is nicely browned.  Continue to bake until a test insert comes out with a few crumbs or the internal temperature registers 206-208 degrees.  Bake for 5 minutes more.  Remove bread from the oven and leave the loaf still in pan, on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Loosen the loaf from the corner and remove from the pan.

Let cool completely before slicing. 

In less than 24 hours from start to finish, we got bread, not just any bread but gluten-free bread that looks beautiful, smells wonderful and tastes?  you will have to wait for the loaf to cool off before we can cut into slices.  But here is the baked loaf, voilà:

the baked loaf

Alice likes the bread very much and said that it’s the most delicious seeded bread she has ever tasted.  That’s all counted for.  What joy to see my friend being able to enjoy bread again without being sick from eating it.  My quest is fulfilled, goal met and mission is accomplished.

gluten-free hearty seeded bread slices

This is bread I tell you:  golden scrumptious crust;  moist, airy, tasty seeded crumb which is tinted by yellow Corn Flour and different hues from the 3 kinds of seeds.  Can’t take my eyes of the crust color and beautiful crumb.

Simplemente  De.li.ci.o.so con Mantequilla!

Updated: on Monday night 29th March, I decided to make another loaf of the same bread, using the exact amount of brown rice flour called for in the original recipe and let Alice take care of the rest while I would go home.

2 days later, second loaf

It did happened, everything except that I did not go home yet but stayed over to participate in today’s Passover Seder & dinner tomorrow evening.  We shortened the First Rise to only 4 or at most 5 hours (in a warm oven) to see if it would compromise the taste.  It rose nicely the first 4 hours and then started to sink down.  We prepared for the bake just a little bit after noon to get it out the way before the dinner preparation kicked in.

prep gluten-free seeded bread

decorating seeds on top of loaf

The loaf rose and fell but the outcome is still delicious just like the first loaf.

the baked loaf

I hope you will give this bread a try.  To my bread palate, the bread taste like crumbly tasty cake.  But it tastes good enough that I had it for breakfast (read: more like lunch) twice in a row:

breakfast II

breakfast I

Enjoy baking gluten-free bread!

Gluten-Free Millet and Amaranth Artisan Bread

gluten-free crusty artisan bread

I am still working on the picture and detailed method for this post, please come back for more update later today.  Thanks.

Gluten-Free Millet and Amaranth Artisan Bread

My ingredient

** denotes my substitution

Dry Ingredients:

• 288 g high protein gluten-free bread flour mix (2 Cups) **
• 60 g millet flour (1/2  Cup)
• 60 g amaranth flour (1/2 Cup)
• 2 1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
• 2 teaspoon agar powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoon chia seeds (or substitute flax-seed meal or shelled hemp seeds)
• 2 Tablespoon Roasted Golden Flax seeds **

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 medium-size egg  **
• 1/2 Cup cold water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 Cups club soda at room temperature

Method:

Flour mix (by volume): 2 parts garbanzo bean flour, 1 part millet flour, 3 parts tapioca starch, 3 parts potato starch.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Place a lidded 3 quarts dutch oven in the oven to preheat.  Let it heat for at least 20 minutes.

Combine all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, whisk to combine.  Froth the egg.  Mix in the wet ingredient using 1 1/4 cups of club soda.  Mix the dry into the wet mixture.  Adjust liquid to achieve a thick-batter dough.

mixed dry ingredients

baked loaf

Pour the dough into the pre-heated pan.  Do this quickly.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 25 minutes with the lid on.  Ater that take the lid off and continue baking the loaf for another 25 – 30 minutes until the crust turn dark brown.