Against the Grain: Extraordinary Gluten-Free Recipes Made from Real, All-Natural Ingredients (2015)

Whether you are baking with or without gluten, bread baking is all about technique. The fundamental ingredients can be pretty simple: flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, and in the case of gluten-free breads, adequate protein. But it is how you combine the ingredients, the sequence in which you perform certain steps, the timing, the proofing environment, and how you use your oven that determine a successful outcome.

Understanding how I approach bread baking will help you understand why the recipes contain certain steps and will increase the likelihood that your results will delight you.

choosing a flour palette

If I’ve learned one thing in running a commercial bakery, it is that there is no accounting for people’s tastes. Years ago, when my mother retired, she started a gift shop called The Cinnamon Tree. It was a highly successful business, and I once asked her how she figured out which merchandise to carry. “Simple,” she told me. “I buy 50 percent of the stuff I like and 50 percent I hate.” I laughed at the time, but it was a very successful strategy. I feel sort of the same way about gluten-free flours. I dislike anything with bean flour in it, yet so many people rave about it. Quinoa is one of my favorites, but many people think it tastes like potting soil. Clearly some gluten-free flours are an acquired taste, and everyone seems to be passionate about their preferences.

All of our commercial bread products use a single flour—tapioca starch. We have taken an entirely different approach from other gluten-free bread manufacturers by using the tapioca to bind fresh, whole ingredients in a yeast-free bread.

For yeasted breads and baked goods, tapioca is not sufficient on its own. Much of the baking I do uses some combination of light buckwheat flour and tapioca starch, or a combination of tapioca starch and gluten-free oat flour. What you won’t find in any of these recipes is corn or soy flours. In our family, we have intolerance issues with both of them, so it was best to just leave them out. If you choose to use a bread mix, I suggest a xanthan gum-free, all-purpose mix like King Arthur Multi-Purpose Flour.

measuring

All of my recipes include volume measures as well as metric weights for flours, but I can’t underscore enough that you will get your best results if you weigh ingredients. It doesn’t take many failures with expensive gluten-free flours to justify an inexpensive kitchen scale.

Because I weigh flours and starches to determine their volume equivalent, my technique for volume measures is to spoon the flour into a measuring cup and tap it lightly to even the surface. If you dip your measuring cups in the flour, and then level the tops off, you may be getting several tablespoons more than I do.

Starch gels, produced by blending flour with hot liquid and fat, simulate the effect of gluten, binding the dough and giving bread its characteristic chewiness.

pregelatinizing starches

You must be wondering how to create tall loaves of yeasted bread with an open crumb without using xanthan gum or some other binder. The answer lies in understanding the gelling properties of starch. Starch is insoluble in cold water. How, then, do you create a gluten-free bread dough with elasticity that will expand as it proofs, trapping in the carbon dioxide as the yeast ferments?

The first step is to make the starch soluble in water. This is done by adding heat, and its effect on the starch is called “pregelatinization.” (This, by the way, is how manufacturers make starch soluble in cold water for instant pudding mixes.) In almost all the yeast-leavened recipes in this book, one of my first steps is to bring the liquid (whether it be milk, water, potato water, or something else) and shortening or fat to a boil, stirring vigorously to emulsify (or blend into one) the two ingredients. I then pour this mixture over the flour and mix it until the flour is just uniformly moistened. Depending on the recipe, the result may look like moist sand or a kind of rubbery gel.

The heat produced by the boiled mixture causes the starch granules to swell as they absorb the oil and water. It is important not to mix the dough too much at this stage because overmixing causes the starch granules to totally fall apart and leach out some of the fluid they absorbed. (If you see the oil start to separate out, you’ve gone way too far.) As the dough cools, the starch becomes gelatinous. This is not unlike thickening a sauce with a starch—as the sauce heats up, it thickens, and as it cools off, it gets really thick. You will always see a cooling period of 15 to 20 minutes in the recipes since it is important not to add yeast or eggs to a hot mixture.

proofing the yeast

While I am waiting for the pregelatinized starch to cool, I proof the yeast. Typically, this involves a small amount of warm water, the yeast, and a small amount of sugar to feed the yeast. I use active dry yeast, and I do not use chlorinated water. I warm the proofing water so that it is just a little warmer than lukewarm, typically in a small ceramic bowl, and place the yeast in a warm place. For the sake of standardization, I allow the yeast to proof for 15 minutes.

mixing

None of these recipes requires a big stand mixer. In fact, I have a little three-speed hand mixer, given to me by a friend over twenty years ago. Of course, if you want to buy a stand mixer, gluten-free baking is as good an excuse as any. But you’ll find when you stop using xanthan gum, mixing will become a whole lot easier. For some of the recipes, I use my trusty little hand mixer (and sometimes my hands as a mixer).

My favorite mixer, if you want to call it that, is a food processor. I often use my food processor to incorporate boiled liquids into raw flour and to mix in yeast, eggs, and other ingredients. It is also indispensable to me when making pastry doughs and cookies. Many bakers complain about the time it takes to clean a food processor, but the time it saves on the mixing side way more than offsets the cleanup time. When working with a food processor, it is important to always undermix rather than overmix. I use my “pulse” feature often and watch carefully as I blend ingredients. Too much mixing with a sharp food processor blade can actually shear starch granules and weaken structure, and you certainly don’t want to do that.

resting

After scooping the dough into a glass or ceramic bowl, I always give the dough 20 to 30 minutes to rest, covered with plastic wrap, on the counter. A significant amount of fluid absorption and thickening goes on during this stage. Sometimes it is quite dramatic: A dough may be transformed from a pancake batter consistency to a shaggy dough with an obvious web-like structure, just during this rest period. In each recipe I try to give you an idea of the dough consistency to expect at each stage, because it is really easy to think that something may have gone wrong. At the end of this rest period, I use a rubber or silicone spatula to punch down the dough and smooth it into a ball because it is usually pretty sticky. Depending on what I am making, I either divide the dough at that stage into balls for rolls, bagels, and so on; turn it into a prepared loaf pan; or simply keep it in the bowl to proof. If the dough is sticky, I keep a small bowl of water handy and dip my fingers (or the spatula) in the water as needed. Rather than load the dough up with additional flour, I end up adding a little moisture, which can’t hurt. If the recipe calls for delayed fermentation, I put the dough directly in the refrigerator.

proofing the dough

Living in a cold climate has made me very creative when it comes to finding a warm environment in which to let the dough rise. If it is pretty cold in the house, I cover the bowl and use the microwave oven as a proofing box. I first microwave a 2-cup glass measuring cup full of water until it boils and then slide it to the back corner of the microwave. Then I place the bowl of dough in the microwave and leave the door shut for the prescribed amount of time. I have also had excellent results putting the bowl of dough uncovered under a plastic cake cover/dome and leaving it in a sunny location and/or humid location. I don’t give you rising times here, as the duration of the proofing time varies with the ingredients in the recipe, and it may vary slightly with your home baking environment. You should keep a close eye on your dough to ensure that it does not over-rise, but if your dough has not risen after an hour, it can’t hurt to let it rise a little longer.

Kneading gluten-free dough requires a light touch. Just enough flour is kneaded into the Sourdough Soft Pretzel dough to let you form the pretzels. Adding too much flour and working the dough too hard will prevent an optimal rise.

kneading

It is a common misconception that kneading is only for gluten-based bread baking because the purpose of kneading is to increase the formation of gluten. But kneading after a period of rest also helps disperse the yeast, which contributes to a better rise, and it seems to improve the texture and reduce the crumble factor in finished breads. And it depends on the type of gluten-free bread you are making. If you are making Bagels or Sourdough Soft Pretzels, for example, the recipes call for kneading the dough. If I am dealing with pretty wet dough, I tend to knead my dough right in the bowl, often using a rubber spatula. Some of the recipes call for kneading in a small amount of flour, and typically I have noted this as a range (for example, up to ¼ cup) to account for any variability in your baking conditions.

delayed fermentation

With a typical yeast bread, most of the flavor comes from the yeast. But if you delay the fermentation process, more complex flavors emerge. Delayed fermentation refers to the process of refrigerating yeast dough overnight—when the dough is refrigerated, the yeast and the bacteria are effectively inactivated, allowing enzymes (proteins that facilitate chemical changes) in the flour and yeast to break down complex starches into sugars.

I have found that the long, slow fermentation process does two things that are particularly useful for gluten-free doughs: It gives strength and firmness to otherwise wet doughs, which can be hard to handle; and the delayed fermentation can be used to create a more open and irregular crumb, characteristic of breads like ciabatta. Using conventional rising methods, such crumbs are hard to produce in the absence of gluten. Although flavor is certainly a benefit of delayed fermentation, I use the technique for recipes in which I need a dough that I can manipulate, mold, and shape without sacrificing its moistness.

Baking the Potato Rosemary Bread in a heavy gauge pan creates a robust, crusty loaf with a tender, fragrant crumb.

baking

Both the composition and the size of the pan you use for loaves of bread are of critical importance. The rate at which heat is transferred from the oven to the bread is through the walls of the pan. Glass (and stoneware) will result in a softer and lighter crust than a metal pan. It is assumed in these recipes that you are using a metal pan. All of the bread loaf recipes are written for a 4½ × 8-inch loaf pan that is 3 inches deep, which is a standard size for a 1½-pound loaf. Just a slight increase in length and width (5 × 9 × 3-inch) is a standard 2-pound loaf, and if you use that, you will end up with a wide, flat loaf. I mention this because 5 × 9-inch pans are what most people have; 4½ × 8-inch loaf pans are harder to come by. In a pinch, you can use disposable aluminum 4½ × 8-inch pans, but they are even less effective in conducting heat than glass loaf pans. If you can find a pan with 4-inch-deep sides, you will produce a taller loaf since a high wall gives the loaf greater structure as it rises and bakes.

Once you get the feel for a recipe, you may want to experiment with baking on a pizza stone. When I use a pizza stone, I place it on a rack in the lower third of my oven and make sure the oven has been at temperature for at least 30 minutes. You also can experiment with adding steam during the initial 5 to 10 minutes of baking. Using steam during this time period will help keep the crust soft and give the loaf more time to expand before the crust sets. I have not found that steam has a significant effect, but others have reported slightly higher volumes with the technique. A simple way to inject steam into the oven is to place an empty metal baking pan in the bottom of the oven as it preheats and then pour water (or ice cubes) into the pan when you put the loaf in the oven.

Since all ovens vary, you should view the times in these recipes as a guide. It should be noted that bread with a higher sugar content will brown faster. In some recipes, I have suggested that you tent your loaf with foil if you find that it is browning too fast. This simply means to crease a piece of foil and rest it on the top of the loaf. The idea is to permit heat circulation but shield the loaf from the direct conduction of heat. If you consistently find your bread is browning too quickly, try baking it on the rack below the middle of your oven.

cooling

I remove bread from the pan immediately upon taking it out of the oven and lay it on its side on a wire cooling rack. If the bread starts to compress on its side, it is not fully cooked, and you need to place it back in the oven in increments of 5 minutes (the walls of properly cooked bread should be firm and the bottom and sides should sound hollow when tapped with your finger). As tempting as it may seem to slice off an end to see how the bread came out, make sure you let the bread cool fully before slicing.