The Gluten Free Kid and I spent a funtastic night with the Gluten Free Girl at a baking class at our favorite local market.
Everything about the Gluten Free Girl, from her approach to living gluten free, to her style of cooking, to the tattooed "yes" on her hand, was inspiring and encouraging.
We both left feeling that it is better than just okay to be gluten free.
We were inspired to take our cooking to a new level.
The Gluten Free Girl made us feel good about living, good about eating. She made us want to eat more and better food. As she said "food (that we eat) is stories, food is connected to our lives."
She is, after all, the happily ever after in the gluten free fairy tale.
So what did we bake?
Gluten Free Bread Baking
I have to admit that I have been a wimp about making gluten free bread. I never baked bread before going GF and the few loaves we made from scratch post-GF were something less than successful.
So I had basically given up bread. I have probably eaten no more than a loaf of bread in the last year.
The Gluten Free Kid still eats a sandwich in her school lunch but she had been content with Kinnikinnick White Sandwich Bread and the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix that we whip up in our Bread maker.
Well my bread fast is now over!!
What has changed ~ first the Gluten Free Girl gave us a great overview of the qualities of all of the different flours, second seeing how incredibly easy it is to make a GF bread that had texture and interesting flavor to it, and lastly, having a bite of that hot out of the oven bread . . .
We made Gluten-Free Multi-grain Bread that was originally posted by Gluten Free by the Bay.
Of course, we only got a sample during class.
But the Gluten Free Girl was so inspiring that as soon as the Gluten Free Kid arrived home from school yesterday, she threw on her apron, pulled out all of the flours and made a loaf (already making some of her own adjustments).
So here is the Gluten Free Kid's (adapted) Multi-grain Bread recipe:
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup sorghum flour
- ¼ cup amaranth flour
- ¼ cup millet flour
- 2 t active dry yeast
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 t xanthan gum
- 2 t sea salt
- 3 t ground flax seed
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup water at room temperature
- 2 T canola oil (or any kind of vegetable oil)
- 2 T honey
- 2 t apple cider vinegar
Preheat oven to 200 degrees
Sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
Combine the wet ingredients in a large separate bowl by hand or using a hand–mixer on low, just until combined.
Slowly add the dry ingredient mixture until fully combined.
Pour into a 9 x 5 inch bread pan that has been greased.
Turn the oven off, place the bread dough inside and let rise for 90 minutes. Do not open the oven door during this time.
Increase heat to 350 degrees and bake until the crust is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 – 40 minutes.
I could not believe how good it was - add a little Earth Balance and, like I said, my bread fast is over. As a matter of fact, the entire loaf is gone.
But this is just the beginning. We spent last night surveying the wonderful world of GF blogs and we are going to try Gluten Free Mommy's Almond Honey Yeast Bread next.
As a side note, I find it ironic that I am going on this carb feast two weeks before the Weekend Chef and I are leaving for a few kid free sunny days in Cabo.
Some Other Tips on Baking Gluten Free
We learned so much during the class, I could probably write a book on it, but she has already done that. So buy the book and see for yourself.
But a few more free tips:
Don't over mix your gluten free baking ingredients. Just a simple stir until everything is just mixed works best.
Once everything is mixed together, let it hang out for a while before you bake it. If you are making cookies, refrigerate the dough for 60 minutes before you pop the cookies in the oven. Same thing goes for pie crust.
To make your bread rise, preheat the oven to 200 degrees while you are mixing everything together. Turn off the oven and put the bread in to let it rise. Do not open the oven door for 90 minutes, then bake it.
Finlay, I get a lot of emails asking for my favorite recipe books. I have a lot of none-GF cooking books that I love, but not that many that are specifically for gluten free baking. So here are some that the Gluten Free Girl recommended. I just ordered some myself.
