Jennifer Cinquepalmi just published a new gluten-free baking book. Her daughter is intolerant of wheat, and Jennifer found herself intolerant of all the starch in traditional wheat-free flour mixes. She found that it wasn't just a matter of revamping the ingredients, but the process as well, and her method of letting the bread rise absolutely does it. This is an adapted version of her recipe. My baking target person had some toast with her breakfast this morning (she's really missed toast) and is now humming like a happy little caterpillar.
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Jennifer Cinquepalmi's Gluten-Free Homestyle Bread (Mutant Version)
Ingredients
Pam or other cooking spray (for greasing the baking dishes)
6 cups Gluten-Free Flour Mix, complete
or
4-1/2 cups Gluten-Free flour (Almond/Sorghum/Brown Rice blend, say)
1/2 cup Tapioca or potato flour/starch
1 cup Powdered milk
2 tsp Xanthan gum
2 tsp Salt
4-1/2 tsp
(1-1/3 Tbsp) Dry yeast granules
Two 1/4 oz pkts Unflavored gelatin
6 Tbsp Applesauce (preferable) or Canola oil
2-1/2 cups Water, evenly divided into two glass measuring cups
4 Eggs
2 tsp Vinegar
2 Tbsp Honey
Directions
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
• Spray two standard-size loaf pans with cooking spray.
• In glass measuring cups, nuke water to about 110 degrees F. Pour half the water into a shallow bowl and use it to soften the gelatin. With the other half, stir in the honey and proof the yeast.
• (Optional, but recommended in non-tropical climates.) Put hot water in the bowl of the mixer to heat it up some.
• In separate mixing bowl, combine flour mix and salt. Combine well; sifting the ingredients together a couple of times couldn't hurt.
• Transfer dry ingredients to warmed bowl of mixer. Add oil, eggs, vinegar, and water/honey/yeast mixture. Mix on High for three minutes, scraping down sides of bowl.
• Spoon mixture into pans, heaping it toward the middle. This is because the loaf will tend to fall in the center, and if it does, you want the bread to be flat across the top.
• Turn oven off and place pans inside. Let rise 40 minutes, or until bread reaches top of pan.
• Without removing pans from oven, turn oven to 375 degrees F (for metal pans) or 325 degrees F (for glass pans) and bake about 40 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.
Original recipe: Jennifer Cinquepalmi, The Complete Book of Gluten-Free Cooking, Aidant Books
