10 Tips for Successful Gluten Free Bread Making

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Contrary to popular thought, making gluten free bread from scratch can produce a beautiful loaf of bread (that doesn’t take like cardboard).  If you have already dabbled with baking gluten free your failures may unfortunately exceed your success stories.  Let’s look at some helpful hints on turning those ratios around.

1. Find a recipe that has ingredients you can stand by and enjoy eating.  Many gluten free bread mixes and recipes are lacking in the nutrition department.  Once you find a recipe you are happy with you can begin to experiment with my suggestions until you get the loaf you are looking for.

See She Sugars Gluten Free Bread Recipe

I live at high elevation (7,000 ft.) which is already a challenge to baking in and of itself!

2. Use a Kitchen Aid mixer.  I don’t use a dough paddle for gluten free bread, instead opting for the usual whisk attachment.

3. Check your dough consistency.  As you can see the dough will look and feel nothing like a glutinous bread dough.  It will not form a ball or be pliable in any way.  In fact, it resembles a thick pudding like consistency and this is exactly what you want.  In this photo it looks like a thick icing.  You will need to hit the whisk against the bowl to remove the dough from the whisk.

4. Be sure to use room temperature ingredients- eggs, and any liquids added to your recipe should not be cold.

5. To add nutrition and structure to your loaf try adding a tablespoon of flax seed, chia seed and/or flax meal to your recipe.  Try baking with nutritious flours such as quinoa, oat, teff, almond, etc.  My favorite breads contain a blend of various flours- experiment to find your favorites.

6. Whisk time matters- I usually whisk on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, adding the yeast as the last ingredient and whisking for the final minute of that process.

7. Spray your pan (I prefer a metal bread pan) with a light coating of gluten free cooking spray (yes, some of them contain wheat flour), use a spatula and transfer the mix to the pan.  I bang the pan on the countertop to create an even spread in the pan.  You can slightly moisten your fingers with water and help with the process if you like.

8. Rise in a warm oven- Preheat your oven to 250 degrees, then turn it off.  Cover your bread with wax paper sprayed with gluten free cooking spray.

Watch the rise-  I don’t go crazy with the rising, if you let it rise too much sometimes that will be the demise of your loaf.  This picture is reflective of the rise when I pull it out of the oven- which is usually about 30-45 minutes.

Remove the bread from the warm oven.  Turn the oven on again to the cooking temperature.  I always cook my gluten free bread at 350 degrees.  When your oven is back to temperature and you are ready to place the bread in the oven, slowly peel the wax paper off and you are good to go.

9. Use a tinfoil tent for baking- You may find that your recipe cooks quickly and looks beautiful when you are ready to pull it from the oven.  However, many breads will look done but remain uncooked inside.  After all your hard work thus far who wants an uncooked loaf?  A loaf that caves in on the sides or deflates after it’s removed from pan usually means you didn’t cook it long enough.

I begin cooking the loaf without a cover for about 20 minutes.  When the top has reached a color you are happy with, place a piece of tinfoil tented over the bread (no spray here).  Let it breathe, don’t wrap the bread with tinfoil just set it over the loaf.  Finish your cook time with the tinfoil in place.

10. Cooling and storing properly- When your bread is done cooking, pop the loaf from the pan and rest on the counter on a cooling rack.  When the bread is cool, store in the refrigerator in a plastic bag or slice and freeze.