Help recreate a family favorite Lebanese sweet bread to gluten free
Hey guys! This is my first post on the forum, nice to meet you all! I have had quite a few successes with gluten free baking, but there is this one recipe I cannot seem to recreate no matter how hard I try! It always turns out dense, dry, and so hard to chew, almost inedible. I was wondering if you guys could help me fix or formulate a new recipe. These are called Lebanese holy bread, common names are "korban", "erben", or "qurban." I am determined to get this bread right, it is such a tradition to my family that I do not want to give up! Thank you all in advance for the help, much appreciated! Let's see if we can make this happen!
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I found a recipe on the following link that looks exactly like double your recipe but made with regular AP flour.
http://www.tasteofbeirut.com/qurban-holy-bread/
Even though KA touts their GF flour as a 1:1 substitute for regular flour, it really does behave differently, as you are finding out. Pictures of the crumb of your bread would be helpful in helping you. It is hard to achieve a fluffy crumb with most GF bread. It may end up more cakey or chewy. If you want to stick with the KA GF flour, you may need to experiment with the moisture a bit. Add a little bit more milk and see if a moister dough will fluff up a bit more. Beyond that, experimenting with a different GF flour ( using sorghum, millet or even a sticky white rice flour) may help with the texture.
Yes that's the recipe we use! The dough is actually very moist and wet already, so it surprises me that it always comes out so dense and dry. Unfortunately I don't have a crumb pic, but I think you're right about using a different GF flour, I notice my GF baking turns out better when I use things like GF oat or sorghum flour, instead of store bought "1:1" GF flour blends. I do also own sticky white rice flour, but I just don't know where to start on making my own ratio, I also have tapioca flour and potato starch if that helps. I was thinking maybe an egg would help? I guess I just need to experiment a lot!
http://theworldofglutenfreebread.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-two-ingredient-pizza-dough-recipe.html
https://www.allergyfreealaska.com/the-everything-guide-to-gluten-free-bread-including-troubleshooting/
There are so many different GF flour mixes. Try looking at these sites for some additional info. I do not have the expertise to give much advice but there are a few GF bakers on TFL that may be able to help. Searchbox-"Gluten free" and check out the posts.
How did the dough look/feel? Did it raise? Often, GF dough does not have the ability to keep the bubbles from escaping the dough. This is why a picture of the dough and especially of the baked crumb is helpful.
Thanks for the resources! The dough rose only a bit (yeast was fine, as I put it in warm water before so it bubbled up). The dough was pretty wet, but not difficult to work with. I am thinking for my next attempt I can replace some liquid with yogurt, and use an egg, and portion them out into muffin tins to help structure them and rise. I found this link that might help me as well: https://www.glutenfreeliving.com/gluten-free-foods/shopping-gluten-free/flurry-flour/
I am thinking I might need to create some blend of oat, sorghum, brown rice flour, and sticky rice flour, but have not been able to find any blend recipe online containing all of these of course, and there probably needs to be some starch as well. Maybe something like this: https://www.thespruceeats.com/gluten-free-homemade-flour-blend-recipe-1451218 but I do not have amaranth and quinoa, I would probably replace them with 1 cup of oat flour. I think this is all just going to come down to some more experimenting!
I wish there was 1 source for GF information. Before wheat became common, "GF" was the most common type of baking/cooking. Because each different type of GF grain had unique characteristics, there was a lot of experience needed. Wheat was so simple by comparison! Add water and mix. Instant product.
Xanthan gum can be left out of the flour mix and added to the recipe of whatever you are making. Other binders can be used such as psyllium seed, chia seed, ground flax, egg white, pectin or another gum like guar gum. Bread products need a bit more binder than cakes/muffins. Remember that binders add chew and stretch and help trap bubbles. Too much and you have rubber or gumminess.
GF baking is a specialty that has a bit of a learning curve. But GF deliciousness is possible!
https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-recipes/
https://fromthelarder.co.uk/sweet-rice-flour/
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sweet-rice-flour-blend-367210
https://www.kitchenfrau.com/gluten-free-flour-mix/
https://www.noshtastic.com/gluten-free-flour-recipe-all-purpose-blend/
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/gf-sourdough/white-flour-all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-blend/
Right! I think part of the reason I came here was to get some beginning guidance on the research, because google is just a huge world, and there is SO much different information about GF baking that I don't even know where to start. Thank you so much for all of the help you've given! This is incredibly helpful. Now I just need to decide what blend to make! I think I am leaning towards using this one: https://www.kitchenfrau.com/gluten-free-flour-mix/ I have all of those ingredients and wouldn't need an substitutions! Although I look on her website and I cannot find an example of where she uses this blend in a recipe, have you found one? Just to get an idea how it is used, and what ingredients she uses it with. Thanks again!
http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2009/11/the-story-behind-my-gluten-free-flour-mix/
This is where she got the recipe for the flour and the original author has lots of recipes and information on GF baking.