Gluten-free Gourmand

It's one of the first things you learn when you start trying to bake gluten-free: use a blend of different flours.  No single flour can work.  Especially for bread. I based all my baking on this principle for years.  More like 1.5 decades.  Then this year, for the very first time, I asked myself: why?  And to single flours: why not?  Thus were born many, many little baby loaves of single flour gf bread. No surprise that it didn't work for everything.  Glutinous rice flour? No way. The surprise was that it did work for almost  everything. 100% Cassava flour.   100% Oat flour. 100% White rice flour.   100% Brown rice flour. 100% Buckwheat flour. Then, the other surprise that shouldn't have been a surprise.  My favored grains were the best of the bunch. 100% Teff flour (this one is sourdough, the rest are yeasted). 100% Sorghum flour.   100% Millet flour. There is a method to my madness.  This whole experiment was made possi...

I gave up on producing a showy loaf a long time ago.  I always rolled my eyes a little when I saw photos online of perfect bloom or wide-open crumb.  "The mustard is going to just fall right through," I would think to my self disapprovingly, shaking my head a little. It turns out, I was just jealous. After a decade of gluten-free bread baking and recipe development, and through a collaboration with some other bakers, I've come up with a gf sourdough bread recipe that produces an open crumb, a large bloom, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, an ear.   The bread has a very mild, pleasant sourdough flavor and is very light in color. The crumb is very open but not too delicate.  It has a chewiness to the texture that I associate with a good sourdough bread.  The crust gets a nice browning and it toasts up nicely. And I don't mind the mustard falling through as much as I thought I would. Many thanks to Michael Hollesen who came up with the original version of this reci...

One of the most popular recipes on this blog is The Best Teff Sandwich Bread Recipe .  This was one of the first bread recipes that I ever created.  I thought I'd follow that up with a recipe for a rustic, artisan loaf with teff flour using all the bread-making techniques I've learned since the beginning.  This bread is really soft and spongy.  It's a little more dense than the regular bread, but in a nice, substantial way as whole grain breads often are.  Check out the  boule bread recipe  for more tips and photos of the process. Artisan Teff Bread Recipe makes one 2-lb round loaf Mix time: 10 minutes Rise time: 2-3 hours Cook time: 35-45 minutes Mix in the bowl of your stand mixer or whisk together by hand: 520g (about 2 1/4 cups) warm water, 110-120 degrees 30g whole psyllium husk (or 20g ground psyllium husk)

I've been baking quite a bit of bread lately, and I thought it was high time to share some new bread recipes.  Almost a year ago I posted a very popular recipe for a traditional two-step, 24 hour sourdough bread .  I love that recipe, and I think that it makes a really delicious, sour bread.  However, sometimes I want my bread to come out less sour, or I just don't have the time to do the two-stage sourdough process.  This is the recipe I use for a bread that only takes one rise - then it's shaped and baked. 1-Step Sourdough Bread Recipe First mix: 10 minutes First rise: 6-12 hours Bake time: 45  minutes Whisk together until blended in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a fork:

This is a re-post of the 2-lb Boule Bread Recipe that I have updated with a better method for superior flavor and browning. Updated again on 7-16-2021 with some minor adjustments to ingredient amounts. For those who have been following my  gluten-free bread recipes , I'm giving you another in the series.  This one is very similar to the  Traditional Round Loaf  recipe, but you get a larger loaf, about a 2-lb.  This recipe uses my  Bread Flour  mix, or the Rustic White Bread Flour  blend, which are pretty simple to make.   Gluten-free Bread Recipe - Large Round Loaf makes one 2-lb round loaf Mix time: 10 minutes Rise time: 2-3 hours Cook time: 35-45 minutes Mix in the bowl of your stand mixer or whisk together by hand: 490g (about 2 to 2 1/4 cups) warm water, 110-120 degrees 27g whole psyllium husk (or 20g ground psyllium husk) Add to the bowl: 375g GF bread flour  (reserve an addit...

There is an updated version of this recipe here:  http://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2013/12/BouleBreadRecipe.html I'm sorry for the absence of new recipes lately.  I've been really busy with some major career events.  I'll post more on that in the weeks to come, but the long and the short of it is that I should have more time to post to the blog now that I've re-arranged my whole work life.  I'll be delving into some great recipes, including the ultimate bread recipe: sourdough.  I've been working on creating a nice, tangy, flavorful sourdough recipe for you, complete with an easy-to-use starter.  Keep checking back for that!  In the meantime, I have another nice traditional boule bread recipe for you to munch on. For those who have been following my gluten-free bread recipes , I'm giving you another in the series.  This one is very similar to the Traditional Round Loaf recipe.  In fact it's the same but you get a larger loaf, about...

Here's a recipe that uses traditional methods for a traditional round loaf (or boule) with a crisp crust and a chewy center.  I have a bunch of quick and easy bread recipes on this site.  Now it's time for a more traditional take on making bread.  The beauty of my bread flour mix  is that the dough can be handled a lot like traditional bread dough; it can be handled, kneaded, and shaped. You will get better, more consistent results with this recipe if you weigh everything - including the water.  However, I have given you volume measurements just in case you haven't yet bought a digital kitchen scale. Traditional Round Loaf Recipe makes one 1-pound loaf Mix in the bowl of your stand mixer or whisk together by hand: 225g (about 1 cup) warm water, 110-120 degrees 15g whole psyllium husk (or 10g ground psyllium husk) 2 tsp apple cider vinegar Add to the bowl: 225g GF Bread Flour ,  1 Tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp yeast (about half a ...

Rustic boules or round loaves have been made for thousands of years by people all over Europe.  It is one of the oldest forms of bread making there is.  Round loaves used to be cooked in simple clay ovens.  The fire would be built inside the hollow oven then swept out once the clay walls were very hot.  The bread would then be placed on the hot oven floor and the openings were stopped up to trap the heat  and steam inside, giving the bread a nice crunchy crust.  As the oven gradually cooled, the bread would gradually stop cooking, giving the inside a tender crumb.  This recipe uses a technique that simulates this ancient way of baking, but in reverse.  The bread goes in a cold oven to help it rise more than it would at room temperature.  Placing the bread in a heavy stock pot or dutch oven helps trap the moisture to get a nice crisp crust.  The bread finishes at a high temperature to brown the outside. This recipe makes a 1-lb loaf....

Did you ever wish you could find a gluten-free flour that gave you nice, soft, fluffy bread just like you used to eat?  A gluten-free bread flour that rose well, that you could knead if you wanted to.  That gave you a nice, crisp crust and a soft, chewy inside.  One that gives you flexible bread slices perfect for sandwiches. Now you can have that bread flour. I am very proud to introduce to you Gluten-free Gourmand's No. 7 Artisan Bread Flour .  This hand-crafted blend of specially selected gluten-free flours gives you loaves with consistent texture and mild but traditional flavor.  Containing no rice flour, this proprietary flour blend rises well and maintains flexibility. Knead it.  Using Gluten-free Gourmand's proprietary blend of flours, you can achieve doughs that are kneadable and stand on their own for beautiful boules, batards, and french loaves. Slice it.  No. 7 Bread Flour makes the best gluten-free sandwiches.  It slices e...

Editor's note: The flour mix for this recipe is no longer available.  Please see the Bread Page for updated recipes. Do you miss the opportunity to knead your bread now that you cook gluten-free?  This recipe is for you.  If you just miss crusty bread, this recipe is for you, too. My panel of taste testers included gluten-eaters and non-gluten-eaters.  Everyone was a fan of the chewy inside and the fresh-baked flavor very much like regular bread.  Even my super-picky  6-year-old niece loved it.  This is a girl who eats almost nothing and once declared that she doesn't like gluten-free food.  (She is not GF.)  She kept asking for more slices. "Quick" Gluten-free Bread isn't instant.  It's just fast relative to breadmaking in general.   This recipe is akin to the 1-hour bread recipes all over the internet for "regular" bread.  This recipe is gluten-free, so it's more like a one-and-a-half hour recipe, but it's the same con...