Hi hi, I'm the friend frogie mentioned, and my gluten free shoggoth lives in my fridge these days because I can only bake every few weeks. But it plus a yeasted sourdough recipe produce an amazing loaf that is the best wheat-free bread I've found (like, my kids ask for it).
But yes, the wheat-free flours are annoyingly expensive; I tend to buy them in multi-packs online or on sale when I can.
I think I started with the Bob's sourdough instructions for my GF starter, although honestly, if you're not looking to go completely wheat free, you could probably just convert yours to lower gluten by switching up how you feed it. But the recipe I use for the bread might not work as well.
ALSO you are correct: there are a lot of blogs that say the fermentation process destroys enough of the gluten to safely eat. I haven't been willing to try it yet, I'll admit. I started the GF diet because of the anti-inflammatory effects which... did nothing for my pain. BUT. It changed everything about my digestive system so I kept up with it.
So uhhh... short version. Because this is already long.
I started with millet, but maintain with 1-1 from Bob's. I've found that gives me a slightly better baked product than just the millet. I also found that I needed more hydration than they say. So I'd do 4 oz flour to maybe 1/3c water instead of 1/4c. I'm lazy; I don't use purified water, but we do have a filter on the house. I also stopped measuring the flour exactly after a while. My baked goods can be awesome but my process isn't always exact... (whoops).
It took time to get Seymour and eventually Audrey II (after I destroyed Seymour by missing feedings when I went to back to working on campus) to a great level. Since then, I mostly bake pancakes/waffles, cornbread (I'll link the AMAZING recipe I use), and a yeasted loaf. I HAVE done the overnight non-yeasted rise, but neither my son nor husband like the really sour flavor. SIGHS. So I have less experience with that.
I use a 1.5lb goldtouch loaf pan from Williams & Sonoma mostly because those pans are worth the money. I want to try baguettes and have the cloth for baking, but haven't yet. GF dough has a very different quality to it.
How I actually make this recipe:
Half the weights are wrong in the Bob's recipe. I adjust based on the info on the bags, like 1c of millet is 160g not 120g.
I put the ingredients below in a glass bowl and whisk them together:
1 cup Millet Flour (120 g) [really 160g for a cup] [go half and half with buckwheat for nuttier taste] ¼ cup Psyllium Fiber Powder (48 g) ½ cup Sorghum Flour (68 g) [sub teff if I want a darker bread] 1 Tbsp Honey or Sugar 1/4 c cornmeal (my addition) 1/4 c ground flax (my addition)
Then I add the following and stir quickly. It'll get thick!!
1 cup Millet Starter (275 g) 2 ¾ cups Water (75°F) (651 mL)
DO NOT use a rubber spatula that comes apart. You will lose the scrapy part in the batter. Ask me how I know. Also, be careful, I've broken one on this. IT IS THICK.
Cover and let sit on the counter for as long as you'd like the stuff to hydrate and flavors to develop.
When you're getting ready to bake, THEN dump the (very thick) stuff from above into a mixer bowl. Add:
½ cup + 2 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour (100 g) (I use white rice flour) 2 tsp Active Dry Yeast ¼ cup Egg Whites (I use 1/4c egg substitute)
Get it going and go until it's looking kind of nicely smooth. Stop and let rest for 15 min or so, then add:
2 tsp Salt 2 tsp Baking Powder
Whir up the mixer again and let the dough hook beat the crap out of it for a good 10-20 minutes. The best part is: you can't overmix it! There is no such thing! But you're also not going to get stretch or a window effect or anything. It'll be a blob. A relatively cohesive blob. All the structure will come from that psyllium husk (which is why whisking and hydration are important).
Use parchment in your pan for easy lifting later. Dump in dough. Smooth the top with damp fingers/spatula. Cover and let rise until roughly doubled (1-1.5 hrs).
The baking is... uhh... I go longer than they say. Heat oven to 500F with a pan in the bottom. When ready to bake, toss the bread in, put a cup of water in the heated pan at the bottom, turn down to 450F. Bake 30 minutes. Cover the bread with foil. Bake another hour (I'm not joking--this bread is SUPER hydrated, and soft, and slightly tacky... bake less, and it might just fall apart or be gooey).
This is not like wheat bread. But it's delicious both without toasting and with, makes great sandwiches, slices thin when cooled. My kids eat it. I've made baked sandwiches and french toast with it. It's pretty adaptable.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-02-12 03:14 pm (UTC)But yes, the wheat-free flours are annoyingly expensive; I tend to buy them in multi-packs online or on sale when I can.
I think I started with the Bob's sourdough instructions for my GF starter, although honestly, if you're not looking to go completely wheat free, you could probably just convert yours to lower gluten by switching up how you feed it. But the recipe I use for the bread might not work as well.
ALSO you are correct: there are a lot of blogs that say the fermentation process destroys enough of the gluten to safely eat. I haven't been willing to try it yet, I'll admit. I started the GF diet because of the anti-inflammatory effects which... did nothing for my pain. BUT. It changed everything about my digestive system so I kept up with it.
So uhhh... short version. Because this is already long.
I started my sourdough with this recipe: https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/gluten-free-sourdough-starter/
I started with millet, but maintain with 1-1 from Bob's. I've found that gives me a slightly better baked product than just the millet. I also found that I needed more hydration than they say. So I'd do 4 oz flour to maybe 1/3c water instead of 1/4c. I'm lazy; I don't use purified water, but we do have a filter on the house. I also stopped measuring the flour exactly after a while. My baked goods can be awesome but my process isn't always exact... (whoops).
It took time to get Seymour and eventually Audrey II (after I destroyed Seymour by missing feedings when I went to back to working on campus) to a great level. Since then, I mostly bake pancakes/waffles, cornbread (I'll link the AMAZING recipe I use), and a yeasted loaf. I HAVE done the overnight non-yeasted rise, but neither my son nor husband like the really sour flavor. SIGHS. So I have less experience with that.
This is the sandwich loaf recipe I started with, but have adjusted mightily through trial and error: https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/gluten-free-yeasted-sandwich-loaf-with-sourdough-starter
I use a 1.5lb goldtouch loaf pan from Williams & Sonoma mostly because those pans are worth the money. I want to try baguettes and have the cloth for baking, but haven't yet. GF dough has a very different quality to it.
How I actually make this recipe:
Half the weights are wrong in the Bob's recipe. I adjust based on the info on the bags, like 1c of millet is 160g not 120g.
I put the ingredients below in a glass bowl and whisk them together:
1 cup Millet Flour (120 g) [really 160g for a cup] [go half and half with buckwheat for nuttier taste]
¼ cup Psyllium Fiber Powder (48 g)
½ cup Sorghum Flour (68 g) [sub teff if I want a darker bread]
1 Tbsp Honey or Sugar
1/4 c cornmeal (my addition)
1/4 c ground flax (my addition)
Then I add the following and stir quickly. It'll get thick!!
1 cup Millet Starter (275 g)
2 ¾ cups Water (75°F) (651 mL)
DO NOT use a rubber spatula that comes apart. You will lose the scrapy part in the batter. Ask me how I know. Also, be careful, I've broken one on this. IT IS THICK.
Cover and let sit on the counter for as long as you'd like the stuff to hydrate and flavors to develop.
When you're getting ready to bake, THEN dump the (very thick) stuff from above into a mixer bowl. Add:
½ cup + 2 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour (100 g) (I use white rice flour)
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
¼ cup Egg Whites (I use 1/4c egg substitute)
Get it going and go until it's looking kind of nicely smooth. Stop and let rest for 15 min or so, then add:
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
Whir up the mixer again and let the dough hook beat the crap out of it for a good 10-20 minutes. The best part is: you can't overmix it! There is no such thing! But you're also not going to get stretch or a window effect or anything. It'll be a blob. A relatively cohesive blob. All the structure will come from that psyllium husk (which is why whisking and hydration are important).
Use parchment in your pan for easy lifting later. Dump in dough. Smooth the top with damp fingers/spatula. Cover and let rise until roughly doubled (1-1.5 hrs).
The baking is... uhh... I go longer than they say. Heat oven to 500F with a pan in the bottom. When ready to bake, toss the bread in, put a cup of water in the heated pan at the bottom, turn down to 450F. Bake 30 minutes. Cover the bread with foil. Bake another hour (I'm not joking--this bread is SUPER hydrated, and soft, and slightly tacky... bake less, and it might just fall apart or be gooey).
This is not like wheat bread. But it's delicious both without toasting and with, makes great sandwiches, slices thin when cooled. My kids eat it. I've made baked sandwiches and french toast with it. It's pretty adaptable.
AND. If you like cornbread, this is the recipe I use ALL the time: https://homesteadandchill.com/sourdough-cornbread/
The only changes I make to that are to lower the sugar because I am stuck not only as GF but very minimal sugar as well (it's fun).
I uh... this was an info dump. Hi. Nice to meet you. Hope this helps.