Whole Grain Gluten Free Bread

“Have you tried Udi’s bread?” is the question going around the gluten free community. Udi’s Whole Grain Gluten Free Bread is unbelievably good. It is not just “good for gluten free bread”. It is good bread. It is also sometimes hard to find.


I appreciate the convenience of being able to buy good gluten free bread and other pre-prepared gluten free foods. However, with both my daughter and myself avoiding gluten, it’s good to be able to prepare gluten free foods at home as well. This is especially true of bread, since we usually eat breakfast and lunch at home and can go through bread quickly.

With the Udi’s Gluten Free bread in mind, I developed a recipe for Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread. It also makes really good sandwich rolls. I wish there was some way to share the delicious fragrance in my house when the bread came out of the oven. The whole house smelled like homemade bread, real bread.

 

When I worked as a food scientist developing products for the food industry, I always used a scale to measure ingredients. At home, I’ve always used conventional measuring cups and spoons. Shauna at Gluten Free Girl and the Chef has been advocating the use of a scale for baking, and I started to think about how nice it was to develop recipes with a food scale.

So I bought this Cuisinart Food Scale, and I really like working with it.

Consequently, in the interest of accuracy, I’ve listed the weight of each ingredient (in grams) first, then the volumetric measurements (as close as possible) following each ingredient.

This recipe makes either two one-pound loaves, or twelve sandwich rolls. I made one loaf and six sandwich rolls for the photos.


Whole Grain Gluten Free Bread

160 grams (g) warm water (2/3 cup)
40 g granulated sugar (3 ½ tablespoons)
11 g active dry yeast (3 ½ teaspoons)

146 g tapioca starch (1 1/3 cups)
130 g brown rice flour (1 cup)
102 g potato starch (2/3 cup)
29 g teff flour (1/4 cup)
14 g flax seed meal (2 tablespoons)
6 g xanthan gum (2 ¼ teaspoons)
8 g salt (1 ½ teaspoons)
6 g baking powder, double acting (1 ½ teaspoons)

60 g canola oil (1/4 cup)
235 g egg whites (1 cup or about 6 egg whites)
8 g apple cider vinegar (2 teaspoons)

For loaves, spray the ends of loaf pans with non-stick spray and line bottom and long sides with parchment.
For sandwich rolls, line pans with parchment.

Add warm water, sugar and yeast to mixing bowl and let stand about 15 minutes.

Combine the remaining dry ingredients in a bowl, whisking them to blend well. Set aside.

Add the vinegar, oil and egg whites to the yeast, sugar and water in the mixing bowl, and turn on mixer to a low setting.

Add the dry ingredients, about 1/3 at a time while continuing to mix at low speed. Scrape bowl with a spatula, turn up the mixer to medium speed (4 on a KitchenAid stand mixer). Mix for two minutes. The finished “dough” will look like a thick batter.

For loaves, divide batter evenly between two loaf pans.
For sandwich rolls, using a one ounce ice cream scoop, measure out two level scoops of batter for each sandwich roll.

Flatten and spread out the batter a little for the rolls.

The batter will need to be covered while rising to keep from drying out, but the batter is really sticky. For these photos, I sprinkled rice flour on the loaf, then I covered it with plastic wrap. I sprayed non-stick cooking spray on the rolls, but did not cover them.

Both methods worked. This batter/dough doesn’t rise as much as regular bread dough made with wheat, but it will rise about 40 to 50 percent, and the rise time (also called proofing) helps to develop the flavor.  This is what they looked like before rising:

And this is what they looked like after rising:

Allow to rise in a warm place for an hour, then bake in a preheated 375° F oven.

Rolls: bake 18 to 20 minutes
Loaves: bake 35 – 40 minutes.

Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then finish cooling on cooling racks.  Enjoy!

Update (January 3, 2012):  Someone asked how much it costs to make this bread.  Ingredient costs can vary a great deal, so I can't say exactly what it will cost you to make it.  That said, about $2.50 per loaf (this batch size makes two small loaves).  I'll be doing a post soon on ways to reduce the cost of eating gluten free!


Printable Recipe

For more gluten-free recipes, visit the Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wedneaday.  Also linked to 4 Moms' Bread Making Linkup and Made From Scratch Monday.