Greetings from Roseburg, Oregon
Hi Everyone!
I've been a regular visitor to the forum for several months now and I have learned a lot from very many of you.
About my baking: I am an avid baker. I fell in love with baking a few years ago when I figured out a formula for a gluten free flour blend I could substitiute 1:1 for wheat flour for cookies. Yes, I did say "gluten free." I am allergic to it and casien, so my baking has always been gluten and dairy free. I am also vegan, and so is my baking.
Over the past four years, I have been continually seeking to improve the quality of my gluten free bread recipe. I have read several good books (the best by far being Gluten Free Artisan Bread in Five Minuted a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François) and my recipe has evolved from a dense, doughy sandwich bread that was more than 60% starch to a nice, hearty, predominantly whole-grain dough that I can make into an artisan loaf with a wonderfuly crisp crust or a sandwich loaf that is neither dry and crumbly nor doughy.
Now I have turned my sights on mastering wheat bread--not because I intend to eat it (which would make me ill)--but because 98% of the world eats it and my favourite part of baking is sharing my creations with others. Which is how I ended up here. I have come to appreciate the wealth of information here and look forward to now being able to post my own questions.
I look forward to continuing to learn and grow and make better bread.
God bless you,
Daniel
you have set your sights on. Like hoping to be an interior decorator when you can not see and must ask the opinions of others on your color schemes. If you have developed a talent for GF baking, that seems to me the easier route for your interest in baking. Not that your goal is impossible….smell and appearance play into judging the quality of your baked goods. However, your best and toughest critic will always be yourself. Although I appreciate feedback from my family and friends, I can't imagine not being able to sample even a tiny taste so I can assess the outcome myself. Also, if you have an allergy to gluten, would not handling wheat, kneading dough, and inhaling wheat flour dust, etc. pose a health risk to you as well?
Ebmth,
While it is likely going to be a difficult task, I look forward to the challenge (in response to your analogy of a blind interior decorator: you are probably absolutely right. I am hoping to objectively quantify people's feedback by making a questioaire [http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44417/bread-questionaire] and I have about a dozen people that have agreed to be test subjects for me.) My primary focus will continue to be GF and vegan baking. I went without bread for several years because I was dissatisfied with the GF bread on the market and had not yet learned anything about baking. Since I began learning how to bake, it has been wonderful. I LOVE making things GF and feeding them to "normal" people and seeing their reaction when I tell them that it's not only gluten free, but vegan (the most memorable being a pumpkin pie I made two Thanksgivings ago. My family loved it and when they asked grandma if she made it and when she told them I made it and that I could eat it, they were stunned!)
However, my bread is still not terribly impressive to a "normal" person YET. I have had people tell me that it is very good and much better than any GF bread they have ever had, but I am not satisfied. I want stunned silence.
That all being said, I have a dream of opening a bakery/cafe someday and recognize that even exceptional GF bread will still be GF bread and the predjudice among bread aficionados seems to be that GF bread will never measure up. I know that is a blanket statement, but it is a reality I have experienced countless times. And, despite the compliments I have recieved from glutenous-bread-loving friends, they still turn gleefully back to their breakfast plate and enjoy thier toast ("Dave's Killer Bread") after sampling mine. Thus, I have been and will continue to develope my GF recipies until they are exceptional but...
I desire to broaden my horizons a bit. Being a proponent of whole grains and having already learned a lot about whole grain baking in an effort to improve my GF bread, I plan to learn to make (100%) whole wheat breads that will be accepted and enjoyed by the most staunch baguettte lover. I have read Crust and Crumb and am now reading--devouring, really--Whole Grain Breads, both by Peter Reinhart, and am continuing to scour this site for info on whole grain baking. I seems like a tall order, but it is one I am looking forward to filling.
Daniel
PS-As for health concerns over handling wheat flour, I am EXTREMELY careful to keep everything segregated. And, fortunately, I am not nearly as sensitive as some people. For example, I can use the same jar of coconut oil as my gluten-eating housemates (we use it as butter on toast) with no ill effect. I will only have a reaction if I intentionally (or unknowingly) eat something with gluten. But since chronic acid reflux, stomach ulcers, and IBS are not things I'm looking to get back into my life, I will just have to leave the testing to others.
You won't be the first TFL poster who can't eat their own breads because of medical complications.
That said, if your baking skills have evolved in a GF environment, you do face a new learning curve in working with gluten-containing breads. It is not particularly difficult, just different. An avid baker of wheat-based breads faces a similar adjustment when they dive into rye breads. Some skills transfer, others have to be replaced with different skills.
If you are willing, would you post some recipes and techniques for GF breads, please? I've baked some, more from curiosity than need, but would appreciate the insights of an experienced GF baker. Your experience with various binders would be especially appreciated.
Paul