Ideas for Yeast Breads

* When baking a loaf of gluten-free bread in the oven, not in a bread-maker, I have had better success using traditional yeast, not quick-rising yeast, and I always proof it by letting it froth up in sugared warm water, even if the original recipe says otherwise.
* I always cover my dough in the loaf pan with lightly greased plastic wrap directly on the surface of the dough when I set it aside to rise. I can then press the wrap to even out the top of the loaf, and I don’t have to worry about the top of the loaf getting dry as it rises. Always remember to remove the plastic wrap before baking!
* Recipes usually say to beat the dough for three minutes with a mixer, but beating as long as you can hold out with a wooden spoon seems to work just fine.
* In my experience, allowing a second rising for the dough is not truly necessary for gluten-free bread, except for pizza dough, which likes 15 or 20 minutes to rise after being spread out on the pan.
* Check gluten-free bread through the oven door oven every ten minutes. If it is browning too quickly, after the first 20 minutes cover it lightly with foil.
* It can be difficult to tell when gluten-free bread is fully cooked. You can tap the loaf to see if it rings hollow. You can shake it firmly to see if it feels jiggly in the middle.You can use a toothpick or skewer to see if the middle is sticky. Or all of the above. An instant-read thermometer would probably be a good idea to test the centre of loaves, but I don’t have one.
* Allow your bread to cool completely before slicing. Then slice it thinly, all at once, and freeze any part of the loaf you don’t use the first day.

Herbed Bread

This is slightly adapted from a very good gluten-free recipe from Canadian Living. They got the proportions of ingredients perfected, as they always do. I changed the flours to add more whole-grain and fibre and changed the herbs to suit my taste and the current contents of my cupboard. I then used the leftover egg yolks to make tapioca pudding!

2 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp instant yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup skim milk powder
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 tbsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp herbes de Provence
1 tsp salt

Grease a loaf pan. Set aside.

Dissolve sugar in warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle with yeast. Set aside until frothy, about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together flours and starches, milk powder, xanthan, herbs, and salt.

Whisk oil, vinegar, eggs, and egg whites into the yeast mixture. Stir in flour mixture and beat well, until smooth and evenly sticky and unmanageable. Spread into pan evenly and set aside in a warm spot to rise to the top of the pan, about 1 hour.

Bake at 350F about 45 minutes. (This timing worked perfectly for my oven. Hooray!) Remove from pan and allow to cool before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf.

Gluten-Free Multigrain and Seed Loaf

This is the opposite end of the spectrum from fluffy, light white bread with a chewy crust. The loaf is dense and moist, full of smooth seeds, slightly chewy on the inside with a "biscuity" crust. I want to call it "European," but I'm not sure why! This is the kind of bread you want to eat warm with cheese or honey or jam. If you use this bread for a sandwich, use it when it is fresh and top it with bright, crisp flavours -- cheese and whole-seed mustard and lots of sprouts and grated carrot and slices of tomato and cucumber.

I don't have an adequate test for the "doneness" of gluten-free yeast bread. I've tried a thump on the bottom, but I can't get an accurate reading from it. I've tried a poke in the centre with a cake tester, but I don't trust the results -- it's not enough confirmation of doneness when the tester comes back clean. Sadly, I've often ended up cutting the loaf in half when I'm pretty sure it's done, looking at the middle, and putting it back in the oven if it's too gooey. This ruins the middle two pieces, but it's better than ruining the whole loaf, and I find if I eat the middle bits right away, as soon as the bread has cooled a bit, I am not disappointed. Be sure to note the correct cooking time for the loaf for your oven, and this should save you some work if you try the recipe a second time.

1 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp dry yeast

2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup whole flaxseeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt

1 cup lukewarm milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1 large egg, at room temperature and lightly beaten
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Additional seeds for topping, if desired.


Lightly grease a 9x5" loaf pan.

Dissolve sugar in lukewarm water. Sprinkle yeast on top. Set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine brown rice flour, amaranth flour, buckwheat flour, cornmeal, sunflower seeds, flaxseed meal, whole flaxseeds, sesame seeds, xanthan gum, and salt. Whisk well to combine.

Using an electric mixer, beat warm milk and butter into the flour mixture. Add egg and vinegar and beat again. Add yeast and water mixture and continue beating until well-combined. The dough will be heavy and moist.

Press into the prepared loaf pan, evening out the top. Sprinkle the top with additional sunflower, flax, or sesame seeds, if desired. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the bread. Cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot until the dough creeps to the top of the pan, about one hour.

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Turn out on a rack to cool, and slice when cool enough to handle, but still warm. Serve fresh, if possible. Keep leftovers well-sealed in the refrigerator or the freezer.

Makes 1 loaf.

Gluten-Free "Pumpernickel" Bread

My favourite gluten-free yeast bread to bother with, this recipe is adapted from Bette Hagman's pumpernickel recipe, which makes either three mini-loaves or one sandwich loaf and a few spare muffin-shaped loaves and therefore makes me crazy.

I've adapted amounts to make two reasonable-sized and reasonable-shaped loaves in two 5x9" loaf pans. I've also used a different mix of flours with a bit more whole grain.

Eat one loaf and freeze the other for sandwiches. Cream cheese topped with cold-smoked salmon or gravlax is wonderful on this bread.

2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup amaranth flour
1 cup potato starch flour
3/4 cup skim milk powder (powdered soy milk works fine)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tsp xanthan gum
4 tsp caraway seeds
2 tsp salt

1 cup warm water
2 tbsp dry yeast
2 tsp sugar

1 1/4 cups additional warm water
4 tbsp molasses
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp canola oil
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Grease two 5x9" loaf pans. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flours and starches, powdered milk, fleaxseed meal, first measure of sugar, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, caraway seeds, and salt. Whisk well to combine.

In a separate, small bowl, dissolve second measure of sugar in the first measure of warm water. Sprinkle with yeast. Set aside and keep skin-temperature warm until the mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the second measure of warm water, molasses, vinegar, oil, and eggs until well blended.

Using an electric mixer, beat water and egg mixture into dry ingredients until well blended. Beat in yeast water mixture and keep mixing for two to three minutes.

Scrape batter, evenly divided, into prepared loaf pans. Smooth the top. Place a greased piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of each loaf. Cover loaves with a towel and set aside somewhere warm and draft-free until the loaves reach the top of the pans.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Bang the loaf pans lightly on the counter to release any large air bubbles. Bake loaves for approximately 1 hour. (If the tops of the loaves begin to darken excessively, cover lightly with foil.)