Gluten free bread, vegan

I saw an amazing looking recipe for gluten free bread by Cara over on Fork and Beans.  Check out the post – her pictures are wonderful.  Actually, save it for a time when you’re not hungry or you’ll be diving head first into the bread bin!

I had to make it!  So first stop was to buy some milled white chia seeds and gluten free bread flour.  Cara makes her own gluten free flour mixes, but I’m sorry, but I didn’t want packets upon packets of half finished flours and powders hanging around my kitchen if it didn’t work.

Of course, Real Foods came to my rescue. But unfortunately my order was held up as they didn’t have everything in stock.  Then it took me a while to actually get on with it, so that is why it has taken me so long to bake the bread!

Take a look though!

Gluten free bread

I was sure it wasn’t going to rise.  The yeast didn’t start to bubble in the warm almond milk, and there wasn’t much rise when I left it to proof/prove.  My kitchen is pretty cold at the moment, so after I had baked some granola bars I turned off the oven, and placed the covered dough in there with the door open.  Cara said to give it 30-45 minutes, I gave mine a good two hours.

As I said, I bought a gluten free flour mix, enter Bob’s Red Mill:

It even comes with it’s own little sachet of dry yeast.

Ingredients: stone ground chickpea flour, potato starch, corn starch, sweet white sorghum flour, tapioca flour, evaporated cane juice, fava bean flour, xanthan gum, active dry yeast, potato flour, sea salt (magnesium carbonate as flowing agent), guar gum, soy lecithin

Cara’s recipe is amazing because it doesn’t contain any xanthan gum, which can cause problems for some people, but I thought this was ok for a first attempt.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, if something contains 10% of the carbohydrates in the form of fibre, then it counts as a wholegrain product – Bob’s Red Mill is 3g of fibre per 22g of carbohydrate – so it counts – WIN!

Health and Fitness Magazine March 2014

Gluten Free Bread

• 1 sachet dry yeast from the bread mix (sub with 2 1/4 tsp yeast)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 240 ml warm unsweetened almond milk
• 240 ml warm water
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 35 g ground white chia seeds
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• 387 g Bob’s Red Mill Bread flour
• 30 g Bob’s Red Mill all purpose flour
• 1 tsp gluten free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Warm the almond milk and add the with the yeast and sugar.  Leave for 10 minutes to activate  the yeast – it should go frothy on the top – Mine didn’t.
2. Add the water, coconut oil, and vinegar into yeast mix and whisk until well-combined. Sprinkle over the chia seeds – be careful not to allow them to clump, I had to pick out some clumps and blend.  Stir in and allow to sit for another 2 minutes so the chia seeds swell.
3. If at this stage you have a clumpy mixture run it through a food processor, or use a stick blender to break it down.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt ingredients.
5. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour mis and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Spoon the batter into a 1lb loaf tin. Smooth the top and press to ensure there are no gaps in the pan or in the dough (note it will be wetter than regular bread dough).
6. Place in a warm place in your kitchen and leave to rise between 30 to 45 minutes – 2 hours or more.
7. Heat oven 190C
8. Place the loaf in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 1 hour. Keep an eye on it, and if it starts to brown too much cover with some tin foil.  This may lead to a softer crust – mine crisped up again.  Allow to cool in the pan until you can safely handle it and transfer to a wire rack.
9. Enjoy!

Tagged: allergy friendly, Bob's Red Mill, Bread, bread flour, egg-free, Fork and Beans, gluten free, gluten free bread, gluten free flour, loaf, Recipe, recipe posts, vegan