After seeing my partner, who has a gluten intolerance, struggle between the rip-off expense of buying gluten-free bread vs. the seeming impossibility of baking our own bread, I committed to making 2017 the year we cracked this problem. Ok, so it’s a branded gluten-free bread mix, by Bakels, but this is pretty good! The key rests with very accurate measurement of the water added to the dry ingredients. Instead of measuring by volume in a jug, I weighed the water on a good pair of scales – the difference was about 5%. The real difference was between a loaf that was a disaster against one that worked. Too much water and the bake looked great, but as the loaf was left to cool it shrank in at the sides until it was a shrunken mess. The right amount of water and it looks like this – and it tastes as good as it looks! :
Another trick was dependent on our oven, whose temperature control leaves a bit to be desired. On some occasions, when the bake time was complete, I’ve had to invert the loaf back in the tin and bake it at a lower temperature for a little time longer to make sure the ‘bottom’, now the ‘top’, was done.
It’s a forgiving loaf, as long as you take your time and leave it in the tin until it has fully cooled. The result is a bread as tasty as a gluten recipe. After years of enduring the dry tasteless horror of many gluten-free bread recipes, I just had to share this post.