The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Old baker, new member

schlappette's picture
schlappette

Old baker, new member

Greetings baking friends!  

I'm a long-time amateur baker, and have perused these forums many times over the years, but am just now registered as a new member.  I'm originally from PA, but now live in Portland Oregon.

I've been baking bread for many many years, have taken some master classes, and really nearly perfected my weekly loaves and other goodies.  Then came the Celiac Disease diagnosis six years ago.  Thoroughly depressed, and thoroughly disappointed with the GF mixes and substitutes that were out there, I pretty much gave up.  My husband, however, jumped straight into R&D mode, and vowed never to admit defeat.  We ate some pretty terrible homemade pasta and pizza crusts, but we muddled through.  He has now absolutely perfected his gluten-free pizza crust (which I'll be happy to share), and just in the last year, I found two gluten-free baking/cookbooks which changed my life.

About a year ago, I baked sourdough bread for the first time in over five years, and I cried when I ate it, it was so good.  I missed bread baking so much.  Since then, I've made really excellent cinnamon rolls (and a cardamom roll variant), "brioche", crumpets/English muffins, and almost one hundred loaves of whole-grain sourdough bread.

I am far from being an expert, but I hope to be able to contribute, and I am thankful for the expertise and fearlessness of this baking community.  I'm really looking forward to learning more!

Cheers,
Becka

p.s. We did eventually give up on homemade pasta.  It just never came together, and there are some really good GF fresh and dry pastas available to buy.

justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

And to your husband, for pressing in and finding things that clearly work! I suspect there will be a number of people here who benefit from your experience, for themselves or for a GF loved one. 

Welcome!! 

Another Girl's picture
Another Girl

These baked goods look great by any standard and your story is an inspiration. I look forward to seeing your posts.

Benito's picture
Benito

Hi Becka, welcome to TFL.  Yes there are a lot of fearless bakers here, it sounds like you will fit right in. I hope you do share your formulas that you bake on a regular basis and any new ones that you come up with.

Are you baking with gluten rich flours again?  You mention the whole grain sourdough you baked, how are you able to eat it with our Celiac Disease which I’m sorry to hear you were diagnosed with.

Benny 

schlappette's picture
schlappette

Hello, and thank you!  You're right, I wasn't completely clear in my post: Ever since the Celiac diagnosis, my house is completely gluten-free (except for my husband's bottles of beer which he's very careful with).  No wheat products at all, nor rye, nor barley, come into my house.  I even have to be careful which oats I use.  We had to get rid of some of our bakeware, too, which made me a little sad, but then I got to get a few new ones.  :)  

So yes, everything you will see me post about is completely gluten free.  The whole grain sourdough loaf is made from a combination of brown rice, oat, and sorghum flours; tapioca and potato starch; flaxseed meal, and psyllium husk.

I honestly thought I would never be able to bake bread again, but a couple of great recipes proved me wrong.

Cheers,
Becka

headupinclouds's picture
headupinclouds

Welcome!  I don't have any gluten free demands on my baking, but I'm very interested in experimenting with whole grain sourdough baking in general.  If that is a whole grain gluten free loaf, then I'm very intrigued.  Can you share a recipe?

schlappette's picture
schlappette

Indeed, it is all gluten free.  The recipe I use is from the book Cannelle et Vanille by Aran Goyoaga, and, while I have made some slight modifications to her ingredients and method, I feel like at the core, it's still her published recipe, and I don't feel right copying content from a relatively new book from which she hopes to make a living by selling.  Authors & copyrights, ya know.  I will say that her book was life-changing in the way that I look at GF baking, as she doesn't use xanthan or guar gums in her recipes, unless there is no alternative; she specifies psyllium husk and flaxseed meal.

pgrubaugh's picture
pgrubaugh

Just checking in here (wayyy late). I do have her book and just getting going on it. I was wondering what are some of your modifications? (without giving away the recipe as you had mentioned)

schlappette's picture
schlappette

Good question!  I haven't looked at her recipe for so long, because I bake this bread so often, I can practically do it in my sleep, but off the top of my head:

  • I measure the flaxseed meal/psyllium/salt into a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, and give it a little stir before I....
  • Use warm-bordering-on-hot water to mix into it.  Reasons:
    • Salt dissolves better in water than in dry ingredients later
    • Warm water makes warm glop, and warm glop gels up better, and I believe gives a superior result.  Just be sure to stir the mixture as you're pouring the water in (a single naked hand-mixer beater, hand-held, works really well for this), and make sure the glop is no hotter than yeast-friendly temp ≈100-105ºF when you add it to your starter.
  • I'll often use way more flaxseed meal, like 40-50g, and it's great. This happened because, early on, I couldn't remember whether it was the flaxseed meal or the psyllium husk that was 40g, so I just made both 40g.  
  • I use whole psyllium husk instead of powder. I find it is less apt to clump when mixing with water.
  • I use more salt than she suggests. Early on, I weighed my salt at 12g, and now I think I use anywhere from 14-18g in a batch.
  • I use the beater attachment for the first round of stand mixer mixing.
  • I measure the dry flours/starches into a separate bowl, mix thoroughly, then....
  • I add the dry ingredients a little at a time while mixing the glop with the beater attachment, for better ingredient incorporation.
  • Switch to the dough hook after all the dry ingredients are mixed in, and mix at medium speed for 5 min.
  • I also started using 1-2 tsp of "Dough Enhancer" which I ordered on a whim from the place I get the superfine rice flour (Authentic Foods), and I have found that it does, in fact, help with the bread texture, especially after a week in the fridge.  I add this into the dry ingredient mixture.
  • I use two brotforms for shaping/rising, dusted with superfine white rice flour.
  • I do not use dutch ovens, but invested in unglazed cloches, which deliver a superior result.  Preheat them.
  • I convect bake at 465ºF for 100 minutes (1h40m), no temperature changes. 
    • Might sound weird to convect bake when using cloches, but it really did make a perceptible difference in the crust's browning while baking.
    • YOMMV (your oven mileage may vary)

Side Note: We picked up one of those countertop deli slicers at a yard sale a while back, and I use that to completely slice the whole loaf after it's cool.  The crust is pretty hard, and the interior so spongy, so slicing it before storing makes it much easier to deal with.  It slices even better (less mess) after some time in the fridge.

Definitely Do:

  • Use filtered water for the whole process.  
  • Use superfine flours if you can get them. Game-changer.
  • NOT cut into the loaf until it's completely cool.  This is easier to deal with if you bake bread in the evening and let it cool overnight.
  • Warm it up or toast it, especially if it has been stored in the fridge.

I am still baking this bread about every 10-14 days on average.  We absolutely love it.

Good luck, and let me know if you use any of these modifications, and how they end up working for you!

pgrubaugh's picture
pgrubaugh

Thank you for taking the time to do such a thorough response! There is such limited guidance on GF out there, that getting some peoples direct changes to recipes/alterations really helps with helping to decide what changes I may want to try out first. I have one going now that is more strict to her recipe, but I did sub in 20g of Olive Oil for water. I used in prior recipe with bakerita and I thought it helped with a little more softness of the crust. 

jo_en's picture
jo_en

I would love to hear how you make this!! I have friends that would be amazed to eat such a nourishing loaf.

I will take a look at the book and your modifications above. Thank you for all your tips!

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Is this based on her Olive loaf bread as the base recipe? I am looking for a copy of her book. Her recipes look amazing!

 

Yippee's picture
Yippee