Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

Well, I've taken a bit of a blog break, but I am back and I have SO many new GF recipes to share! I have been SO enjoying this whole adventure. I feel fantastic. I started eating Gluten-Free on March 15th, and I have to say I am sold! I really do feel so much better after over a month and I know I've said that SO much over the last few blog posts, but I think I'm still trying to convince myself that its real! Anyway, I will discontinue the repetition and move on to the more interesting topics.

My sister's Mother-in-law gave me an early birthday gift, and I have to say I was THRILLED! She took me to a Gluten-Free cooking class. I have never been to a cooking class before, but I've always wanted to go and it definitely did not disappoint. We learned five recipes and all of them were TO DIE FOR! I took the recipes home and experimented with the ingredients because there is nothing so fun, to me, as experimenting in my kitchen. So I came up with my own Gluten-Free flour blend. Through reading multiple blogs and researching endlessly on the Internet I have found that a good all-purpose flour usually combines a "half-and-half" mixture of lighter flours such as Tapioca Starch, Potato Starch, Corn Starch, etc. and heavier flours such as Brown Rice Flour, White Rice Flour, Sorghum Flour, etc. So with that in mind, I decided to make an all-purpose flour to have on hand.

GF All-Purpose Flour Blend

1 Cup Sorghum Flour
1 Cup Brown Rice Flour
1 1/2 Cups Tapioca Starch
1/2 Cup Potato Starch

So, now armed with my very own custom flour blend I decided to try the Sandwich Bread.

Sandwich Bread

2 tsp Yeast
1/4 Cup warm water plus 3/4 Cup warm water
1/4 Cup soft butter
3 Cups All-purpose Flour
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
1 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
3 Lg Eggs (Room Temperature)

In a small bowl mix 1/4 Cup warm water and yeast gently.  Measure dry ingredients into bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment.  Mix on low until fully combined.  Add dissolved yeast and milk and mix on medium speed.  Add softened butter and beat until combined.  Add eggs one at a time beating thoroughly after each egg.  Scrape bowl and beat on high for 3 minutes.  Remove from mixer, cover and allow to rise for 1 hour.

Grease a 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan well.  Deflate dough by stirring gently with a spoon.  Scrape into prepared pan and level top.  Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until its just crowning the top of the pan, 45 - 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, place your rack in the center position and preheat your oven to 350 F.  When the bread has risen, bake until golden brown, about 39-42 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on a rack.  Once cooled, slice and enjoy.  Freeze (sliced) as soon as possible to maintain freshness.

Ta DA!

I was SHOCKED when my bread rose like this.  I had already had SO many disappointments with little bricks that dared to call themselves bread, so this was a light and pleasant surprise.

I love how beautifully golden brown it was when I took it out of the oven.  It smelled like the bread my mom used to bake when I was little, and there wasn't even a hint of that nasty "Gluten-Free Flavor" that can often go with store bought GF items.

Look at all those lovely air pockets!  THAT is what a loaf of bread SHOULD look like, GF or NOT!  The flavour was fantastic, and the texture was nice and chewy and moist.  I loved everything about this recipe and will make it my stand-by.  Yes, the rising time feels quite extensive, but I do it in the evening once the kids are in bed and I don't have a lot I have to get done.  Once it's rising, it doesn't require any babysitting.  I sliced this for my husband and gave him some with some butter and he thought it was fantastic.  The kids ate it all week, I practically got NONE of it!  And I'm the one GF!  .. ah well, if I can cut some gluten out of their diets, it is worth it.

I hope you'll try the recipe, it really is fantastic!  I'll be back, I have SO much to blog about... Chocolate Chip cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies, Perogies.... The Gluten-Free experiment is still going strong!!