Gluten Free bread not rising/oven spring issue
Hello,
I’ve been making bread for years, sourdough, white bread, honey wheat, parker house rolls, etc.
Trying gluten free – but it is not rising/springing as expected - hoping someone can offer some thoughts.
The GF flour mix consists of:
1020 grams white rice flour
355 grams sorghum flour
225 grams tapioca flour
225 grams potato starch
40 grams xantham gum
The dough looks like this:
amounts in grams.
Flour mix 300
Yeast 4
Sugar 24
Butter 39
Water 195
Milk 130
Flour mix and salt into a bowl, stir well. In another bowl, warm water and milk to 105 degrees. Add active dry yeast, sugar and warmed butter, whisk well. Combine with the flour/salt mix and stir well to combine.
Cover and into a warm place with a pan containing hot water for humidity for approx. 1 hour. (It did seem to rise - but not doubled)
Transfer to covered roaster with parchment and bake at 400 for 45 min covered, 15 min uncovered. Humidity in place for 20 mins. Pulled loaf at 205-210 degrees internal. Flavor is good but not much spring at all. I even tried placing a soup crock full of water in the roaster next to the bread.
Any ideas are appreciated.
Thank you!
Which yeast do you use? Long time bakers often like Red Star which is OK if you wake it up fully before use, but for GF I like Fleischmann's, Only use packet yeast if you're doing GF, by the way, both Red Star and F's have confirmed that the plain yeast and rapid F's yeast packets are safe, the jars are not for some reason. Although for 300g flour you may want to use half the packet. Your amount is right.
Your hydration is right. Assuming you added both water and milk. Instructions unclear on that.
The butter is iffy. Starchy GF flours don't absorb large saturated fats as well as they do liquid fats. If you want a nice neutral effect without using vegetable oil, swap that out for liquid coconut oil. I use sesame or sunflower seed oil myself. You can add butter for flavor, but the GF flours don't usually absorb it.
I don't like using that much starch personally, I think it's drying. You might take some portion of it and scald it to make a pudding to add to the dough. It might help the yeast use more moisture. Starch is thirsty. And the more gum you add, the thirsty-er it gets. And the firmer.
Try giving it a longer time to rise than just one hour. Go up in half hour increments, it may take a long time. In my experience even a big oven spring will shrink back significantly after baking, so don't be disappointed.
I personally switched to whole grains because of the problems of starch GF breads. It was so depressing to watch them deflate while cooling.
Hello,
Yeast is Red Star active dry. Have not tried Fleischmann's packets, can try it. Just curious - what's the issue w the jar yeast? I did add warmed water and milk (left the milk out of the post - thanks for catching). I have some testing to do - yeast, butter, and rise time.
Thank you for the advice.
You're very welcome. I'm always so excited when I see someone else interested in gluten free. I hope I don't go on too long.
I've always taken it as a rule that for gluten free the safest choice is packets of yeast because of the cross contamination issue. I mentioned it because it sounds like you use both gluten and gluten free flours in your baking. If someone's baking it commercially I'd guess they use bulk yeast and probably hopefully test it when it arrives. At home, packets remove the yeast from suspicion as the contaminated ingredient. If there's a problem you have fewer suspects.
Red Star rises slower, which is something I can deal with OK, as long as I know it's going to happen. They have a form of yeast that contains gluten though, so there's a risk of cross contamination with the other yeasts, and there's no testing to certify it that I"m aware of. But the active dry packets are the ones I could find that are marked gluten free.
I wasn't able to find any Rapid Rise when I checked last. I'm not sure why exactly anymore, some production issue maybe, or they were changing their labeling or something. So the last time I checked with them, they said they couldn't guarantee anything but the active dry yeast was free of cross contamination and safe for people with Celiac Disease. Additionally, I had a problem with some of the yeast not being granulated, and I sent them some samples of it. There may have been a quality issue a few months ago, they say, due to mishandling in transport. Those packets didn't rise at all.
However, the aroma of Red Star is very nice, so it's worth using, it just has some limits. When you described the lack of oven spring I was thinking of the Red Star's slow starting behavior.
Fleischmann's yeast is OK for people with Celiac Disease. Every type that they make is GF. However, the open container issue is still a problem. Since a small speck of gluten containing flour on the measuring spoon would spoil the whole batch.
I think the RS brand uses a preservative in the jar which is gluten free but isn't present in the packets. F's uses the preservative in both. It can be a cause of a reaction in sensitive people.
***
Oh I meant to say this before, with gluten free, there is this attitude that you don't need to knead. That may be a half truth. If you're using a starchy dough, then damaging the starch has a functional purpose. Wonder bread types of breads (even with wheat flour) have extremely damaged starch and proteins which are beaten under pressure to maximize damage and water absorption. You might try the same formula, but put it through your mixer at high speed for several minutes to see if it helps the texture. I think commercial starch based GF breads are made that way (but with pressurized mixers).
I split off toward whole grain breads, but when I was still using a tapioca based bread mix, I did like the" mixed very well "loaf the best of those I baked up until then.
I also second the suggestion that you can look at 100% rye breads for ideas for gluten free. The behavior of the dough is often similar. So for instance, a narrower baking pan is better.
This is great, thanks for all the details and information! I already know much more about GF baking than I did yesterday. Very interesting kneading to maximize starch damage and water absorption.
Will continue to test.
Kind regards.
I look forward to seeing more of your tests. Best wishes.
I have a little experience with GF and I would equate it's behaviour to that of a 100% rye. It is more of a batter so when it rises, gas escapes. Like rye, it is important to put it into the oven before too many bubbles form on the top. Oven spring is usually straight up and it can sink afterwards.Another trick I use is to smooth/shape the top with a wet hand to achieve the domed look of bread. After baking, I usually cool it on its side before de-panning (kind of like an angel cake or even a pannetone) as it helps preserve the height.
Just remembered about this site:
http://theworldofglutenfreebread.blogspot.com/search/label/Flours
She talks about being dis-satisfied with white rice flour not rising well. Take a look.
Thanks for this and the link. I will read it RE white rice flour.