Philosophy of bread with no gluten
I have been recently been baking breads with no gluten. I have not been super impressed with most of the recipes which call for lots of starch and xantham or guar gum which can lead to odd consistency and flavor (the oddnesss is caused by the gums, the starches seem OK). I did find some good recipes eventually and can make pretty good bread now, but I am trying to understand on a deeper level the philosophy of bread without gluten, which is quite different than bread with gluten. Here are some of my current rough opinions.
- There is no need for gums to be added, a combination of chia seeds and flax seeds ground up works just as well to get a good rise. I don't know the best subsitution for gum, I have been doing 4-1 or thereabouts seeds to gum, in other words a recipe calling for 10g of gum turns into 40g ground seeds. These seeds have gelatinous stuff on the hulls and serve a similar effect as the gums.
- In terms of rise time, something like 3 hours (x 2) seems to be the best for me so far. Too long and there is not much rise, too short and the water isn't fully absorbed.
- It may seem odd to add so much starch as many recipes call for, but white flour is nearly all starch and if you are using whole grain flour plus starch at 50-50 you are still at less % starch than with pure white flour.
- That said, it is still possible to get a good rise with very little starch; currently I am using 5-1 grains and seeds to starches.
- A combo of mainly rice and sorghum flours works well; I am now using that plus smaller amounts of other grains. I need to experiment more to see what the best combination is. Too much rice and the loaf is rather bland tasting, I have been slowly reducing the amount of rice.
- The flour should be ground as fine as possible; with more coarse flour it seems like the rise is less and the taste can be more gritty.
- Most recipes call for oil, vinegar, and sugar of some form. I have no firm opinion on how important adding oil and vinegar is. I have found I can leave out the sugar and still get great loaf. I have not tested leaving out the oil and vinegar yet. I definitely prefer without all the sugar, I don't like sweetness in my everyday bread.
- Most recipes call for eggs. I am currently using egg whites only, not whole eggs, and beating them and folding them in (like a quiche). I don't know if this helps much, I need to do a side by side test.
- The hydration should be high compared to bread with gluten. I'm not sure how high but I am using 110% or so now (including the egg whites as hydration). The dough is "looser" with more hydration and so will more easily rise than a stiff loaf. With gluten you can get away with a lot less water.
- Baking times need to be a lot longer given the high hydration. I am now baking around 60 minutes, to an internal temperature of 210F.
Here is a current recipe I have been using which includes the above ideas. It evolved from various recipes I found online, including some here.
- brown rice 70g
- sorghum 60g
- buckwheat 25g
- amaranth 25g
- teff 30g
- quinoa 10g
- tapioca flour 25g
- cornstarch 25g
- flax seed 30g
- chia seed 30g
- active dry yeast 1/2 tsp
- salt 6g
- 2 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks
- water 310g
- olive oil 23g
- apple cider vinegar 8g
All of the grains are ground as fine as possible. If you don't have a mill the Bobs Red Mill brand flours seem to be finest grind. I have a hand coffee grinder I can grind the chia seeds in, they are hard to do in a mill. The seeds also need to be ground, but don't have to be as fine a grind. Ground flax seed is available locally for me but chia seed I can only find whole.
The recipe is simple, mix the dry, mix in the wet minus egg whites, then fold in egg whites until all mixed. Let rise three or so hours til doubled. Gently mix again and put in a loaf pan (I line mine with parchment to avoid sticking) and proof for another 2-3 hours. Bake 60 minutes or when internal temp is 210F in a 425F oven.
Here are some pictures of today's bread:
This bread tastes less whole-grainy than you might think given all the whole grains and seeds, but by adding more starches it can be made more white-like. This rise is perfectly fine to me, its not a baguette but its not a brick, either.
I'm hoping some others have thought about the philosophy behind gluten-free bread and have worked on their own recipes and can offer their own opinions on the above points and others. Gluten-free bread is quite different than glutenous bread and I had to abandon some of my long-held bread making beliefs to get things to work.
Scott
I'm going to bookmark this for reference. I have a friend who's gf, and I like your list of natural ingredients. I also like the idea of using chia instead of gums, b/c someone just gave me a HUGE bag. :)
Scott,
Thanks for summarizing your view. I have been avoiding the experimental complexity of gluten-free breads since I don't eat them, and my wife can find commercial products that are satisfactory. But you raise some interesting questions and I want to hang around and see what kind of answers show up.
I was of the opinion that gluten free bread depended mostly on a starch foam for stability and to contain the CO2 during fermentation and baking, so I would expect there to be a lot of carry over from 100% rye bread practices. The gums are there (I assme) to reduce syneresis during the early phases of mix, ferment and proof. This is similar to the use of methi seed in idli where the wives tales give it a role in accelerating bacterial growth with health side effects while the food science community substitutes guar gum or xanthan to avoid the flavor of fennugreek. Your observation that chia and flax seed provide the same function is sort of going the other way - so it is OK if you like the flavor that they bring. I have seen potato starch and tapioca starch in most if not all of the breads that seem to make it into my kitchen. With your observation about fine grinding as a desirable quality for the grains, I suspect that it has something to do with the Reynolds number of the flour particles suspended in the high hydration dough and the result of imparting a very high effective viscosity to the dough (as seen by the individual flour particles). Combined with the thixotropic properties that the gums or seeds bring, the net effects is probably a sufficiently stable foam to last through the process.
If these principles hold true, then there may be alternate materials/ingredients and process variations that might augment/improve/substitute for the current baseline.
Good luck!
That is a very respectable looking loaf of bread and a very interesting write up. It is definitely something I will refer to in the future should I want to make this kind of bread. Thanks for the post.
Syd
Thanks for the comments.
I just updated the first picture of the cross-section, the previous one was taken before it had fully cooled and you couldn't see the crumb as well.
Doc, you make some interesting observations I will have to look into. The idli don't have any wheat in them I don't think, so I will have to look at their recipes in more detail. I was eating some recently and they are delicious. My chemistry is a bit rusty (got a BS degree 30 or so years ago) but your comments make a lot of sense. Do you have a food chemistry book to recommend that I could learn more about these processes? One of my goals is to make a 100% whole grains and seeds gluten-free bread (only salt and yeast added) and it would help to have a better understanding of what is going on in the dough. I did make one "OK" gluten-free bread with whole grains and seeds only, but it was too brick-ish.
Scott
I made a version of the above recipe identical except I replaced the starches (tapioca and corn) with more flour (spread evenly amongst the different kinds in the above recipe). Here is how it came out:
You can see the rise is quite a bit less than the above. Its out of the brick category but you can see the difference the starch makes. One big difference between white and whole wheat flour is white flour has a greater percentage of starch in it, so what we are seeing here is related to the white vs whole wheat flour difference on rise.
My conclusion here is unless I figure out some other technique it doesn't seem worth it to try to leave out the starch. The above recipe has a starch to grains-and-seeds ratio of 1:3 and I also expect that is about as low as I can go with the starch if I want a big rise. It would be worth experimenting to see if the kind of starch mattered. Tapioca holds air bubbles better than corn starch so maybe it would be better using just tapioca starch.
Scott
Hi Scott,
Your observations are pretty sharp! Well done.
I have been baking gf bread and pastries for a while now. My approach has been to keep it simple, both the method and the ingredients list. I have developped a range of gf yeasted and sourdough breads, as well as a few decent pastry recipes. You can see many of the breads at www.recipesforliving.info (I think you may find my Sorghum multi-seed bread interesting)
I have put up and extensive discussion on sourdough.com my main discussion is here:
http://sourdough.com/forum/exploring-gluten-free-sourdough
Do keep up the kneading. In gf bread we are not developing the gluten, but we are improving the crumb structure. Less time is spent kneading than with gluten breads, but it is required to develop the crumb. The dough doesn't have to be really dry. I often work with a fairly wet sourdough, the trick is to be gentle. Dust your hands and the bench with flour and fold the dough, stretching it gently as you fold.
Regarding starches and other gf flours. Don't give up on any of them. just work at learning what they are each good for.
Keep up the good work.
Staffo
Hi Scott
Congratulations on a serious bit of research. I teach breadmaking, in and around Taunton, England, and I'm frequently asked about gluten free bread and baking. I've tinkered with the subject a bit around the edges and have had some success using equal amounts of commercial GF flour and ground maizemeal (for simplicity's sake, really).
But anyone who wants to seriously make a good GF loaf would do well to look at this thread and your research. With that in mind I'll include a link to this thread on my blog, if that's OK? There's not a lot of help for people who have a problem with wheat gluten, so I like to spread the word where I can.
http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/gluten-free-breads-and-baking.html
(Check out the GF cakes and pancakes on the blog, as well)
Like you, I'm not a fan of guar gum, etc, and I like the sound of using flax seeds and chia seeds. Chia seeds are horrendously expensive over here, but flaxseeds I've always got in the cupboard. Using commercially bought GF flour is a bit of a cop-out, I realise that.
Couple of questions for you:
You don't mention soaking the flax/chia seeds in water prior to use - this would help the gelling action, wouldn't it?
Does GF bread need two provings? The reason for two risings with wheat bread is to help flavour develop, etc. Not sure it's necessary here (willing to be proved wrong, of course! ;) )
You're not using a lot of yeast - I'd be inclined to double that.
But, great stuff, Scott! Keep up the good work!
Cheers, Paul
Hi Paul, sorry about the long delay in replying, I stopped looking here at some point since there is not much activity. Thanks for your interest in my post and hopefully you catch this reply.
To answer your questions, since I grind the seeds I don't think they need to be soaked. I was soaking the ground mix but I didn't notice any appreciable difference when I stopped - they basically get the soak during the ferment.
Re: two provings, I am not sure on that. I did one test where I did only one rise in the pan and it was OK but did not seem quite as good as two. One experiment is not enough, however, and I would say give it a try yourself and see.
Re: yeast, I change the yeast quantity all the time based on how much time I have for the rise. The quantity I use is based on what it takes to get to a full rise in the time indicated; I don't want to overproof. If you are not getting enough rise in time you are alloting, either increase the time or increase the yeast next batch.
Re: chia seeds and their price, I would try replacing the chia/flax with all flax. My wife has had good results with that as a xanthan gum replacement. Or make it 3:1 flax to chia to cut down costs. I did not experiment with different ratios myself. The chia seeds make an amazing gel when water is added so it does seem like they are doing something good. In my current recipe I have reduced the quantity to 20g flax and 20g chia (from the above 30g) and it has been working just as well.
Scott
Your pictures and recipe have given me some hope. I have tried 3 recipes in a row and all complete failures - doomed thankfully for use as bread crumbs, though.
I like the fact that you have so many different flours in one loaf, which is what I've been trying; along with using both flax and chia seed and yeast.
My next loaf trial will be yours, but I will substitute either potato starch or double the amount of tapioca flour for the cornstarch. What would be your preference?
Thanks so much.
Hey Scott,
Now that I have added eggs back in my diet, I am definitely going to try your recipe! I already have one great recipe I use but feel like trying something new. Just wondering if you have tried anything different or altered this recipe at all since you posted this recipe using less starch. Was the texture of the bread any real difference compared to the first one you posted? This bread looks delicious! I dont have teff flour or brown rice flour. I usually use sorghum (and almond) but you already are using this so I dont know. I have been meaning to try teff flour, its one of the gluten free flours I havent tried yet. What does it taste like? Does it have a strong taste like quinoa? Instead of the water, I am going to use soya milk and add a little honey. I love that tiny bit of sweetness to my bread. Please let me know if you have come up with anything new or different with good results :-)