Gluten-Free Bread Machine Tips

Warm, gluten-free bread with sorghum flour, just baked.

Need to troubleshoot a gluten-free bread machine disaster? Here's a few key tips on baking gluten-free bread in a bread machine.

Match your g-free bread recipe or gluten-free bread mix to your bread machine (pan sizes vary). Are you baking a 1.5 pound loaf? Or a 2-pound loaf? Check manufacturer's instructions for loaf sizing. Often, "short" loaves are the result of not enough dough for the size of the pan.

Use a good recipe. Or a tasty gluten-free bread mix with superior ingredients (sorghum flour, brown rice flour, almond flour, millet, to name a few). Not all recipes and mixes are created equal. A bread based on white rice flour and potato starch is never going to be amazing. Honestly. Remember that starches are dirt cheap for manufacturers (hence their popularity). But they're also devoid of nutrition, texture and flavor. So choose wisely. Because the cheap stuff still sports a hefty price tag (the gluten-free market is booming, after all). So why not go for the higher protein, more flavorful gluten-free flours?

More tips:

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Gluten-Free Whole Grain Olive Bread

Crusty, fragrant gluten-free olive bread, warm from the oven.

Giving up bread is hard. Bread is basic. Almost a need. Like air. Like breathing. It is both routine and celebratory. Prosaic and divine. A simple, torn-off hunk of good bread embodies a deep sense of nourishment, for body and soul. The bewitching mix of a handful of flour, some yeast, some salt, some water.

Stir. Knead. Rest. Bake.

And as if by magic, this warm and fragrant alchemical creation called bread appears. And all is right with the world.


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Whole Grain Gluten-Free Bread

Whole grain gluten-free deliciousness.

Just when you think you have it all figured out, life snakes you a curve ball and rattles your position. Just a little a bit. Just enough to make sure you're still awake, still paying attention. Because what is life about if not change? Change is the only constant. Change is our true companion.

Nothing stays the same.

Especially persnickety celiac tummies. I know this from readers. I know this from gluten-free bloggers. I know this from personal experience. We start at A, oblivious. We skip and stumble to D. We settle in. We think G or J is pretty cool. Then Q throws us into a tizzy.

We discover gluten is an enemy. Then maybe milk. Or mustard. Or kidney beans. You name it. Fill in the blank. Most of us with celiac disease end up with a few additional culprits on our Need to Avoid List. Maybe not right away. But over time, many of us will have to fine tune our repertoire of ingredients.

If we want to stay healthy.

If we want to grow stronger, not fatter.

If we want to feel trim, not bloated.

Which brings me to bread. (What celiac conversation doesn't lead to bread, I ask you?)


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Beer Bread, 4 ways

 
You might as well know...I like beer.  I come from a family of beer drinkers.  "I come from a family of neurosurgeons" might sound more impressive, but there ya go.

Even though I'd never had a beer until I was 21 *cough*, I'd gotten a little taste from my mom's famous beer bread.  It couldn't be simpler to make (FOUR INGREDIENTS), no kneading, no rising....just stir, bake, done.

Since my sister and her family were coming over for Easter, we decided to do a little "beer bread sampling."  Four beer breads, made with 4 different New Belgium beers.


Our breads were:

1. Mom's Classic, made with Fat Tire,
2. Gruyere & Rosemary, made with Blue Paddle,
3. Orange Nutmeg, made with Mothership Wit, 
4. and Cinnamon Chocolate Chip, made with 1554

Now, this was a tough, tough assignment.  Eat bread and drink beer. But we survived...and one bread came out the winner...

Gruyere & Rosemary was hands-down everyone's favorite.  And it IS delicious....especially served warm, with butter running down the sides.

I have to tell you though, I really loved the sweet versions.  (You're shocked, right?)
 
The orange nutmeg bread had these little flecks of orange zest throughout and the sweet orange glaze on the top? Oh so yummy.  And smells SO good!

Let's talk cinnamon chocolate chip bread, shall we? It's is calling my name right now.  This bread was so decadent at room temperature with its little pockets of bittersweet chocolate chips, but toasted? With butter? For breakfast?  Yes please, I'll have another.

And I can't forget the original....mom's classic beer bread.  Seriously, try it.  Warm bread, straight from the oven in one hour?  Try it with dinner tonight. You'll be glad you did.

Mom's Classic Beer Bread

3 c. self-rising flour
3 TBSP sugar
12 ounces room temperature beer
melted butter

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x 5" loaf pan with shortening.

Stir together the flour and sugar.  Add the beer and stir until combined.

Spoon into prepared loaf pan,  and bake 1 hour.  Remove immediately from pan and place on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet.  Pour melted butter on top of the bread, letting it drip down the sides.  Enjoy!


variations:

• Gruyere-Rosemary: use a beer such as New Belgium's Blue Paddle Pilsner-Lager.  Stir in 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese and 1 TBSP fresh rosemary to the basic dough.  Brush the top with melted butter after removing from the pan.
• Orange Nutmeg: use a wheat beer, such as Mothership Wit. Zest a large orange and add the zest and 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg to the basic dough.  While the bread bakes, juice half of the orange.  Whisk with some powdered sugar to make a glaze.  Remove cooked bread from the pan, poke several holes in the top with a toothpick.  Pour the glaze over the bread, allowing it to drip down the sides.
• Cinnamon Chocolate Chip: use a dark beer such as 1554.  Substitute brown sugar for the granulated.  Stir in 3/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli) and 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the basic dough.  Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon-sugar before baking.  Rub the top of the bread with butter after removing from the pan, if desired.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a stipend to purchase New Belgium beer and ingredients. Thanks, FoodBuzz!

Bread : it's what's for dinner . . . Works for Me Wednesday

It occurs to me that I should be a marathon runner, not because I love to exercise, but because I am in a constant state of carbo-loading.

You guys....I LOVE bread.

Exhibit A: my "usual" at Panera.
 

French Onion Soup in a bread bowl with a side of baguette

Or as Mr. E called it this afternoon....

"Bread with a side of soup."

I admit it, I am smitten with bread...and Panera. And I LOVE than they give you the bread that was scooped out for the soup.  That chunk of bread is like a little piece of heaven. (Please tell me there is bread in heaven.)


Speaking of bread (and I can't believe I've never shared this recipe before)...this is the ULTIMATE white bread for sandwiches, toast, snacking (?). :) If you love bread like I do, I BEG you to make it.

{My pictures aren't great, but the bread....oh, it's incredible!  It's carbo-load time!}

White Bread 101 
{barely modified from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion }

3 c. all-purpose flour (you can subs. WHITE whole wheat flour here)
2 tsp instant yeast
1 & 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 TBSP sugar
4 TBSP softened butter
1/4 c. dry milk
1/3 c. potato flakes
1 & 1/8 c. lukewarm water

Combine all ingredients together.  Dump onto a lightly floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough...about 10 minutes.  Add more flour as needed, but add sparingly as more flour equals a heavier, drier loaf.

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl; cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

Transfer to a lightly greased work surface and shape into an 8" log.  Place in a lightly greased 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan.  Cover loosely with the oiled plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour....or until the dough has risen 1 inch over the rim.

Preheat oven to 350.  Uncover and bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, or until an instant thermometer reads 190 degrees. (Tent with foil during the last 10-15 minutes of baking if it is browning too quickly.)

Remove bread from the pan and place on a wire cooling rack.  After 15 minutes, brush with butter.  Cool completely before slicing.

Makes a mean grilled cheese or PB & J sandwich! 

{This post about my love for "bread with a side of soup" is sponsored by Panera. My obsession with carbs, my love of French Onion soup and my extra 15 pounds are mine and mine alone.}

Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls

Fresh baked gluten-free dinner rolls- warm and tender.

We've been slurping lots of soup this Spring while the temperatures hover well below my chilly bones preference of 72 degrees. I hate to complain about 52 degrees, but, honestly. I'm shivering like a kitten in a Steve Martin movie. This is L.A. not New Hampshire. Where is my sunshine and technicolor blue sky?

Hiding its good humor behind wrinkled duvets of fuzzy gray clouds, that's where.

So we make gluten-free soup.

But the soup needs a companion. Our potage is lonely. And so I play matchmaker. I've been inviting gluten-free roll recipes to come and play. I've been flirting with their quirks and grainy idiosyncrasies, trying to be a good host. Coaxing their prickly little batters into behaving. As in, taste GOOD. And I've had some almost there success. But nothing to brag about. Nothing blog worthy.

Until today. These rolls are a balance of whole grain flavor and softness. Just crusty enough. These were tender and lovely warm from the oven. Not gummy. Not heavy. Not too grainy.

Just right.



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Gluten-Free Bread: Spotted Dog (and tips on baking gluten-free)

This Spotted Dog Irish bread is yeast-free and gluten-free.

If I call this new bread an Irish soda bread, traditionalists will snicker. Raisins are not traditional in an Irish soda bread, you see. If a yeast-free soda bread has raisins in it, it's called Spotted Dog. I never knew this, growing up on the white clapboard wilds of the Connecticut shore. I was blithely ignorant of this quaint canine moniker, despite a hefty streak of familial Irish blood. We ate more pierogies than Irish soda bread. So when I started baking, my Irish soda bread had raisins. Why not?

When it comes to traditions, I admit, I'm an upstart. I wiggle and chafe beneath constraint and "should" like an itchy little girl with pinching new shoes. I admire traditions. From afar. At least, in theory. In an abstract, symbolic way. The meaning and the message is more interesting to me than formula. When it comes to formula, I usually prefer to wing it.

Which is why I enjoy gluten-free baking.

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An Ode to Bread . . .

There was a young girl from Dallas,

...wait, that's a limerick, not an ode.....

I'm not quite sure how to write an ode, but I will tell you, bread is special to me.

{This is Panera's Tomato Basil bread.}

I grew up smelling bread dough rise for my mom's famous cinnamon rolls.  There was beer bread, warm from the oven and slathered in butter.  Bread was always a part of our lives.

My Bread Story:  Well, I was dating this guy.  And one day (15 years ago today, to be exact, right about this time of day...it's 4:30pm here), he called and asked if I wanted to go to Happy Hour.  Of course, I said!

He picked me up, and drove not to a restaurant, or to a bar, but to a park.  A beautiful park.  From the back seat, he produced a loaf of bread and a bottle of champagne.  We sat on a wooden park bench, sipped champange and tore off chunks of bread.

And then, I SCREAMED!  There was something big and BLACK in the bread.  He was calm, removed the black "thing" from the bread...it was a box.  He knelt down on one knee and proposed.

{When you're dating someone with an engineering degree, I guess it shouldn't come as a shock that he carves out the perfect size cubbyhole in a loaf of bread for a ring box. And then puts the whole thing back together perfectly.}

So, the rest is history.  It may explain why, as I watched this Panera "Ode to Bread" video, I got teary-eyed.  Watch it and tell me, does it make you teary, too?

Just ONE of the reasons I LOVE Panera, is that their freshly made, always delicious loaves of bread are ready and waiting for me in the store when I don't have the time....or am feeling too lazy....to make my own.

Treat yourself to one.....or better yet, have your honey pick a loaf for you.  You never know what might be hiding in there! ;)

{Do YOU have a bread story?}
I'd love to for you to share it here...or with Panera on their Facebook page.

(This is a sponsored post by Panera Bread, but my opinions, words and proposal story are all my own.)

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust - My New Recipe

The best gluten-free pizza crust to date. A few tweaks make all the difference.

For years I've missed pizza. Not because there isn't gluten-free pizza available. It's out there. You can find it if you look hard enough. Take a gander in the frozen food aisle of your favorite natural market. Snoop around in the dairy case, next to the gluten-free bagels. You might even hit pay dirt at your local pizzeria. Especially if you happen to live in Arizona (Picazzo's gluten-free pizza is by far the best pizza joint fare I've tried). So yeah. There are choices.

Problem is, most gluten-free pizza sucks.

It's usually big on the chewy aspect. Or cracker crisp dry. With not much flavor. Yawningly bland. Certainly nothing to brag about. I mean, you wouldn't eat it if you didn't have to. You know what I'm sayin'? It's just that after years of pizza deprivation some of us are desperate for a decent slice. I'll try anything.

Twice.

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Babies, Bread & Beautiful Bloggers. . .

Babies:
My *little* sister just had her 3rd baby last month.  Her 3rd boy.  A beautiful, healthy, chunky little boy named Leo. ♥

{So, she now has a 4 year-old, a one-year-old, a newborn and a good case of sleep-deprivation. ;)}

Bread:
It's always been my philosophy that new mothers need a little sugar high to make it through the day.....or at least until naptime. 

Enter Poppy Seed Bread that makes TWO loaves and is perfect to freeze and drop off to a new mommy.

The bread is oh-so-moist....I'm no expert, but it might have something to do with the 1+ cups of oil in the recipe.
 
It is SO good just sliced and served plain for breakfast, or a snack, or for dessert.  It's a multi-tasker.

Beautiful Bloggers:
You may know that we lost my mom to cancer over 10 years ago.  Kiddo was 1 and I feel so lucky that he had her in his life, even if it was only for a year.

Mom made the quilt for kiddo's bed....and she started a small quilt for him to have to carry around.  But she got too sick to finish it.

I'm not good with a needle and thread.  So, this little quilt was in a bag that I've carried from house to house to house.  And a couple months before baby Leo was born, I found it!

Here's what it looked like (the top was put together, batting and back attached with pins and bits of thread.):

On a whim, I tweeted something like, "Anyone interested in finishing a baby quilt in exchange for cookies.....or cash?"  

I'm not kidding, 5 seconds later, sweet Robyn from Earthbound Chronicles offered to finish it.....FOR THE COOKIES!!!  I think I offered her a few chances to back out....or to take the cash instead.  She wouldn't even let me pay her for shipping.

Here's how the quilt looks now:
 
Absolutely gorgeous!!!  And take a gander at this adorable, darling, perfect trim that Robyn added...

 

{Oh, I love it!}

So, now baby Leo has a little piece of something his Gigi made.....with a BIG dash of love from a sweet blogger we've never even met.

{Y'all....I never expected blogging to bring me to tears, but it does. What I love the most about blogging & tweeting is what I never expected.....meeting the most amazing, creative, generous souls on earth.}

Thank you SO MUCH, Robyn.  {I still think you should have taken the cash.} ;)

Poppy Seed Bread
{adapted from Mary Engelbreit's Fan Fare}

1 & 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 & 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 cup + 2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 & 1/2 cup sugar
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 & 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 & 1/2 TBSP poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease sides and bottoms of two 9x5" loaf pans.

In a large bowl on low speed, beat together the milk, eggs, vanilla, extracts and oil.

Add in the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat for 2 minutes.  Stir in the poppy seeds.

Divide the batter between the two loaf pans and bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in wire racks in the pans 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely.

To freeze, wrap cooled loaf in heavy-duty foil.  Thaw at room temperature several hours or overnight.

Gluten-Free Cranberry Bread Recipe

Gluten-free cranberry bread for the holidays.

Christmas and cranberries. The two go together like Beatles and Sunday. Brad and Angie. Milk and cookies. I was imagining a tea bread that might work for gluten-free French toast, you see. The sort of breakfast you'd like to wake up to on Christmas morning. Something warm with melting butter and cozy cinnamon. Something festive. Special. Not your average grab-on-the-go with coffee nosh. A gluten-free bread worthy of a holiday. That's how it all started. When it dawned me. Cranberry bread. Why not? It's simple. And not too sweet. It flirts magically with maple syrup. So I started daydreaming about the tart little berry that is a bog's ruby jewel.

And a gluten-free cranberry bread recipe was born.


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Gluten-Free English Muffins

Lovely, toasty gluten-free English muffins. I kid you not.

Reprising my English muffin recipe today because yours truly is flat out down and out with ragweed allergies (I can barely think straight. And that can only lead to trouble). English muffins with peanut butter was my favorite pre-school breakfast as a kid. What was yours? And do you make it now gluten-free? xox Karina

After four attempts we have a gluten-free English muffin we can toast with pride. An English muffin worthy of jam. Worthy of peanut butter. Or a sit down breakfast. Heck, worthy of breakfast in bed. These warm and golden little babies are too crispy-tender good to munch running to the bus stop or strapped in your car, thinking about the onslaught of your daily tasks. These muffins deserve a proper plate. A mug of tea. Your Sunday morning iTunes playlist.

I'm not sure why a simple English muffin is so tricky to recreate gluten-free (and in my case, also vegan- no milk and eggs to help the stubborn gluten-free flours fluff and rise). I thought it would be a snap. So I perused Alton Brown's recipes for inspiration, found his English muffin recipe, and did a quick gluten-free casein-free conversion. It seemed doable. Although I knew from experience that using a griddle to cook gluten-free muffins would be trouble.

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It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . .

...or it will be in 3 days.  Are you ready?  Are you ready for PUMPKIN season?

My sister has a laugh at my expense every year because once September 1st rolls around, it is all-pumpkin-all-the-time around here.  It becomes a slight obsession.

{PS....Starbucks, I'll be at your door Wednesday morning....hoping those Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are in the bakery case.  And if they're not, be prepared for some tears.}

I want you to be prepared, so here is a little pumpkin bread recipe for you. 

Pumpkin Bread
{Just slightly modified from my girl, Paula Deen 's The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook}

3 and 1/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
3 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
2/3 c. water
1/4 c. pumpkin seed kernels

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.

{If you're wondering about what whole nutmeg looks like, this is it.  There are fancy nutmeg graters, but I just use my small handheld grater with the tiny holes.}

Beat the sugar and oil together until combined.  Beat in the eggs and mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add pumpkin and blend.  Add the water and blend completely.

Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low until combined.  Pour into loaf pans.

Roughly chop the pumpkin seed kernels, I like to leave some whole, and sprinkle on top of batter. (I got these in the bulk section of my grocery store.)

Bake for 1 hour, or more, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool in the pans on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.  Remove from pans and let cool completely.

Want more pumpkin?  Here are some goodies from last year...

1. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
2. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
3. Pumpkin Cream Cheese

Happy Pumpkin Season, Everyone!!!

Gluten-Free Baguettes with Greek Olive Tapenade Recipe

Rustic, easy gluten-free baguette.

Why do you always crave the things you can't have? Is it because desire dims upon acquisition? Is it the crusty chestnut that the chase is more interesting than the catch? Do we simply take for granted the things we hold, the things we use, the things we eat, day after day? Familiarity breeds perhaps not contempt but a subtle numbness. We slowly turn off to the everyday beauty, the generosity of the simple luxuries in our life. It seems to me a form of forgetting. A spiritual amnesia that coaxes us into believing we want what we don't have. And we neglect to appreciate what we do possess.

Which brings me, I'm sorry to say, not to any esoteric mystery, but. To bread.

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Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Tender, delicious gluten-free soda bread.

As with anything in life, you get a little, you lose a little.

I just wish Mother Nature would reverse the getting and losing when it comes to life post-menopause, Darling. I'm losing on top where I've never been particularly gifted, if you know what I mean. I buy bras in the teen section because the only adult bras that fit me are those pull-over-your-head uniboob running bras and Ladies, come on. These tight little torturers (once you squeeze into them, which could take a good seven minutes; I timed it once) are, shall we say, less than inspiring. If you're over a certain age and so is your husband, you know what I'm talking about.

So I'm losing oomph there and I'm gaining in the new mid-section of me I like to call Doris because it somehow seems appropriate. These love handles deserve a name, after all. A retro name like Kitty or Patty or Madge. Because they're evidently not intent upon leaving. They insist they're here to stay.

So since Doris won't go away, I try to coax her to skedaddle by eating lots of lettuce. And a rice cake or two. I tell myself, Bunny food rocks! But I lose even more of my boobs when I eat this way.

And Doris still sticks around.

Which brings me to bread. (What midriff conversation doesn't?) In this case, Irish soda bread. Yep. The classic, yeast-free quick bread. I'm not gonna give up a bread this delicious. Even for Doris. I'll just have to run up and down the block. A lot. In between taking iPhotos with my iPhone. That's my plan anyway.

That should work, right?

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Beautiful Bread . . . Works For Me Wednesday

I've had so much fun baking bread lately with my sourdough starter, but I was frustrated. Why wasn't my bread *pretty* like at Panera or the bakery?


It tasted good, but it was dull looking. None of the recipes I read said anything about getting a pretty, shiny, crackly crust. What was the secret?

Then I read in a magazine....brush with beaten egg! Now, why hadn't I thought of that?

{See that shiny crust?}

So, if you want a shiny, golden crust on your bread, just brush the top with beaten egg right before popping it in the oven!

Also, tonight I just came across this site with great ideas for glazing bread. I can't wait to try them all!

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Be sure to scoot on over to Works For Me Wednesday for hundreds of "works for me" tips!


Related posts:

• sourdough starter
• cranberry-pecan rye bread
  

Sourdough Starter . . . Works For Me Wednesday

Nothing makes me feel like more of a real baker than baking homemade bread. Here's the problem....I forget. I have good intentions, then lunch rolls around and we have turkey and cheese and mustard...no bread.

Well, that's all changed since I bought a sourdough starter.
{See it bubbling away in there?!?}

Sourdough starter is the beginning of sourdough breads (and more)...and it's so easy to keep on hand. I keep mine in the fridge and "feed" it with water and flour about once a week. (The instructions come with the starter.)

No more forgetting to make bread because every time I open the refrigerator, there it is, staring back at me. {Kinda like those googly eyes in the Geico commercials.}


Here are some of the goodies I've made with my starter:

Sourdough bread (duh)...




Sourdough Ciabatta (now it's getting interesting)....




Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread (ooooo)....



Sourdough Bread Bowls (look out, Panera!).....




even, Sourdough Waffles!


I've also made Sourdough Pizza Crust, but keep forgetting to take a picture. Pizza doesn't last long around here.

So, there you have it, Sourdough Starter works for me (you can buy your own here, from King Arthur Flour)! Click on over to Works for Me Wednesday for more great tips and ideas!

{This post was not sponsored in any way by King Arthur Flour. I'm happy to be an unpaid spokesmodelbaker.}


Like bread? You might also enjoy these related posts:

• Cranberry-Pecan Rye Bread
• Homemade English Muffins

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