November 9, 2017 - 12:10am
Substitute ingredients
I recently ran out of vegetable oil and substituted rape seed oil instead. The end result was a total disaster! Should it have made that much difference?
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I recently ran out of vegetable oil and substituted rape seed oil instead. The end result was a total disaster! Should it have made that much difference?
Exactly what was the nature of the disaster? Texture? Taste? Some people are sensitive to the taste of rapeseed (canola in the US) and describe it as a "fishy" smell/taste.
I could tell that there was something wrong during the kneading cycle. It was just like a soggy cake mix and didn't form the firm ball like I expected. It didn't rise at all and came out like a brick, when cooked. The top was like crazy paving! Although it did smell delicious! This was my 2nd attempt at G/F bread. I have cooked a couple of normal loaves and they both came out absolutely flawlessly!
A recipe and description of technique would result in more useful help. Esp. if this is GF.
This was using a bread machine with a G/F recipe provided in the handbook.
310ml Water
3 tbsp. sugar
1.5 tps table salt
3 tbsp. veg oil
450G/F flour
1.5 tps yeast powder
Done on the machines G/F setting
I can't imagine that the oil itself would make that much of a difference. I regularly use grape seed oil, coconut oil, olive oil and other oils in breads with little difference. What kind of vegetable oil did you use before? Rapeseed (canola) oil is very common here in Canada and is used for vegetable oil, and I've never heard of a problem. Perhaps there is something in that particular brand (or bottle)? Or perhaps you inadvertently mis-measured something or forgot an ingredient (as I often do). :)
By GF do you mean gluten free? What kind of flour are you using?
Gluten free dough is often more of a batter dough than a ball of dough like you get with wheat flour.
What kind of gluten free flour did you use? Did it have any xanthan gum in it?
You made several "normal" loaves before and they turned out. Do you mean you made several wheat-based loaves before and they turned out?
"This was my 2nd attempt at GF". Does that mean the first loaf behaved differently? How was the dough on that loaf-more like a batter? Did it turn out?
OK. Thanks for your patience. Lets start again.
A brand new bread making machine. First tryout was with a 'just add water' ready mix. This made a perfectly formed and edible plain white loaf.
Second go was with the G/F recipe in the manual. Which came out completely wrong, as previously described.
Third go was a plain white loaf, also from a recipe in the manual. This came out as near a perfect loaf in both appearance and taste that you could ever wish for.
Fourth attempt was another G/F loaf following the same recipe as before (ingredients quantities double checked) But still came out like a brick!
The flour was a major brand. Ingredients Rice, potato, tapioca, maize, buckwheat. No mention of xanthan gum.
The bread maker does have a separate G/F setting, which appears to cancel out any other otherwise adjustable settings.
Your recipe for a GF loaf was defective. Since there is no naturally occurring structure-forming ingredients in GF flour (like the gluten in wheat), you must add one in the form of a gum like xanthan gum, guar gum, pectin, or psyllium. Even egg protein helps. So what you got was essentially a cake without any leavening and commonly known as a brick. :) The gum helps the batter hold onto the gas bubbles produced by the yeast and aerate the loaf.
All GF flours are not the same. As with any cooking, different ingredients have different qualities in cooking/baking and mixes are someone's favorite for whatever reason.Some have the gum already added. If it doesn't then it must be added or there will be no gas trapped for lift. The flour ingredients look fine. You just need to add structure.
Before wheat, the world used to be all GF. Then wheat became available and the ease of use and its natural qualities made it instantly popular. Rather quickly, the knowledge of how to work with all the multiple gf grains has been lost and bread has become equated with wheat. There is a delicious repertoire of baked products to be had with GF baking but it needs re-learning. It is more complicated and made more difficult by the lack of availability and expense of GF products.
The GF setting on the breadmaker regulates different mixing,temp and hold times for the different types of batter. Nice to have but you need a different recipe,too. Take a look on their website and see if they left off some ingredients or have other recipes. The dough will probably be more like a thick cake batter, regardless of the recipe. Most of them are.
So look for a correct recipe, try again and do not expect a GF bread to be just like a wheat bread. It will be it's own deliciousness if made right.
Yes, that was my next move. Finding an alternative recipe.
I have used this recipe in the past but didn't know they had a bread machine version. I made it a few times and I remember it being quite delicious. Just use the GF flour you already have and go from there.
http://redstaryeast.com/gluten-free-farmhouse-buttermilk/
OK. Bought a different brand of GF flour. Various recipes on the packet including a bread machine one. Recipe included egg whites and vinegar. So had a go and it did come out a lot better than before. Still didn't rise like a normal loaf but was considerably more pallatable .