Bread...the busy Mama's Lifeblood

Sandwiches. Toast. Two words that haunted me when I first started this journey. My kids and husband ate sandwiches almost everyday! You can't find a more portable meal than a sandwich. Taking a sandwich to school or work is almost an American ideal. And who hasn't had a late night craving for a crispy piece of toast, dripping with butter and jam? Eggs without toast is like sacrilege!

And try going to the store to find bread without gluten. After driving all over town to every supermarket and health food store in a 20 mile radius, you stumble upon the absolute glory of a loaf of bread with a blazing "GLUTEN FREE" label. You pick it up from the shelf and notice that it feels like a brick made out of sponge that has sat too long on the counter and shriveled up, devoid of moisture. But you are desperate! So you purchase that tiny loaf for the gut-checking price of $7.00 and you take it home, dreaming of French Toast and roast beef sandwiches. Three hours later, after gallantly trying to chew through gag-inducing texture and a ghastly aftertaste, you throw up your hands in hopelessness of ever enjoying food again.

And that, my friends, is where I come in! =) After weeks of eating nothing but salads without croutons, I went in search of an alternative. That's when I found a plethora of recipes online and began to experiment. The first 33 recipes I tried were dismal failures. Same texture and aftertaste as the store-bought loaf plus all the effort of making it myself! Then i found a lovely little site called: www.livingwithout.com. There i found an AMAZING resource! An exhaustive list of all (or most) of the gluten free flours known to man, complete with comprehensive instructions on how to use them to create a high-performance gluten free flour mix! Using their instructions, I put together a winning combination of Oat, Sorghum, Tapioca, and Potato flours/starches.


You cannot imagine how incredible it was to bite into a warm, perfect piece of bread after so many months of failure! But now you can experience it for yourself! I am posting the recipe for the flour mix as well as my go-to bread recipe that I modified from www.glutenfreecookingschool.com (which I highly recommend to anyone struggling with a gluten free menu...fabulous resource!)

For any of my local friends, all of the following ingredients can be found in the bulk section at Sherms or in the "Bob's Red Mill" flour section of the health food aisle!

Andria's All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix

3 cups Whole Oat Flour (Certified gluten free. If you can't find any where you live, just grind your own out of uncooked oatmeal in your blender)

2 cups Sweet Sorghum Flour

1 and 1/2 cups Tapioca Flour (not starch)

1 and 1/2 cups Potato Starch (not flour)

Mix well in mixer until well blended.

Yields 8 cups of flour

Really Good Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

1 Tbsp. Quick Rise yeast

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 ½ c. water (105 degrees or a little less than hot)

2 ½ cups of Andria's All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix (packed tight)

1 Tbsp. xanthan gum 

1  tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 scoop whey protein powder (or the equivalent of 20g. of protein)

2 Tbsp. ground flax seed

3 eggs AT ROOM TEMPERATURE (put them in a bowl of warm water if need be to warm them up before cracking and adding)

1 ½ Tbsp. oil

1 tsp. cider vinegar

Start by combining the yeast and sugar in a small bowl (I use the smallest in my set of three nested mixing bowls). Add the water while gently stirring the yeast and sugar. Let this mixture sit while you mix the rest of the ingredients – best way is to proof it in 200 degree oven with door open -- bubbles and foam should form if the yeast is happy. 

Combine the flour mix, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, protein powder, and ground flax seed in the largest mixing bowl and stir well.

In a third bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and vinegar until the eggs are a bit frothy.

By this point the yeast mixture should be foamy, so you can pour the two liquid mixtures into the flour mixture. Blend the dough with a mixer for 4 minutes.

Bread Machine Directions:

Scoop your dough into the bread machine and smooth the top of the dough. I bake my bread using an 80 minute setting that allows for 20 minutes of kneading, 18 minutes of rise, and 42 minutes of baking. However, since I don’t use the paddle in by bread machine, I’m effectively doing a 38 minute rise and a 42 minute bake. (The advantage of not using the paddle is that you don’t end up with a hole in the bottom of your bread.)

Conventional Oven Directions:

Scoop the dough into a greased loaf pan. Allow the dough to rise in a warm area until is is about 1 inch from the top of the pan -- again, 200 degree oven with door open works great. Then bake at 375 degrees for 55 - 60 minutes. DO NOT LET COOL IN PAN! Remove from pan immediately and place loaf on it’s END to cool until completely room temperature. DO NOT SLICE WHILE STILL WARM. Gluten free bread needs time to rest before slicing or you will have a crumbled mess. When slicing, use a serrated knife and “saw” instead of “pressing” For freshness and for a “softer” crust texture, as soon as bread is close to room temp, put in plastic bag and seal with twisty tie (or zip it if it’s a ziplock) and store overnight, but make sure to remove as much air from the bag as you can b4 sealing. 

This bread dough can be used to make many things. Scoop it into muffin tins and you have yummy gluten free yeast rolls. To make gluten free hamburger buns, you can reuse washed tuna cans or use small round pyrex dishes on a cookie sheet. Just be sure to grease liberally with olive oil first and adjust baking time.

For you busy working moms, I know it may seem daunting to tackle baking a bunch of bread goods on top of everything else that you do. May I suggest picking one day a week to tackle the baking? You can make several loaves at once and freeze what you wont use right away. This bread freezes well. I do the same thing when I make hamburger buns. I make them ahead of time and freeze them until I know I am ready to use them, then pull them out and put 'em on the grill right along side the meat!

Let me know what you think, and I would love to hear ideas on ways to improve this recipe even more! =) If you have any questions, feel free to comment! We are all in this together!