Making Bread

    

When going GF most people immediately think of bread. Without bread, how can you have a sandwich? Toast? French toast? Hamburger buns?

The hardest recipe for me to settle on was the one for our every day bread. My only issue with it still, is that it is very much like traditional white bread (I am more of a whole grain girl) but my son eats this bread every day.

I make our bread in a bread machine. I was lucky enough to score this baby at a thrift store for $7.00! I must admit that I am a bit of a thrift store junkie, but more on that later...

  
     I have read lots of posts on other blogs where they are able to cook bread in the oven. Our house is a bit on the cold side and I find that if I don't do the bread in the machine, it doesn't rise correctly. If your house is warmer, you should be able to do just fine with the oven.
     This recipe has developed from several different recipes on the web. It most closely resembles this one. But I use a different flour mix than she does.

GF/CF Bread Machine Bread

380g All-purpose flour mix
2 tsp Xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp bread machine yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp canola (or other) oil
1/2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
1 whole egg + 2 whites

Place warm water, yeast and sugar in a small container. Mix lightly and set aside.
Measure out your all-purpose mix in a small bowl and add xanthan gum and salt, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (you could probably do this with a hand mixer as well) place the oil, eggs, and apple cider vinegar.
Check on the yeast mix. If it has proofed

you can go ahead and mix that in with the other wet ingredients.
Mix all the wet ingredients for about 15 seconds to combine.
Add the dry ingredients. Mix for about 30 seconds, stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl and knock any clumps of the mixing paddle. Your batter will look something like this.

Turn the mixer on high and mix for 4 minutes (don't skip this part or your loaf will end up very dense).
While the dough is mixing, remove the mixing paddle from your bread pan (you won't be using it) and spray the inside of the baking pan with cooking spray. Even if the pan is "non-stick" this will help the loaf slide out with as little damage as possible.

After 4 minutes the dough should have turned a white color and will look very much like a cake batter.

Pour the batter into your bread pan and smooth the top of the loaf. You can use a spatula or your hand. If you use your hand, slightly moisten it with water to keep the batter from sticking to you.

Place your bread pan in the machine. On my machine I have what is called a "home-made" menu. This means that I can control or skip any cycle. I have read that if you can't control the cycle, that "quick" settings on many machines will work. Please check with your machines manufacturer as I can only tell you the way it works on mine.

Let the bread rise for about 1 hour (I set my machine to the Rise 2 setting). It should rise to almost the top of the pan. If it isn't near the top, let it rise for 15minutes longer (Sorry the picture is blurred. I didn't want to open the lid to get a clear shot, so this is through the little window on top.)

Bake for approx 40 minutes. The top of the loaf will be lightly browned.
Remove the loaf from the pan and place on a cooling rack. You need good air circulation around the loaf or else the bottom will get soggy.
Let the loaf cool completely! I can't stress this enough. If you cut into the loaf when there is even a hint of warmth, the pieces will be gooey and hard to cut. If you can leave the loaf to cool overnight that would be great but at least 4 hrs should work.

I use a bread cutting guide to cut uniform pieces. Also, I store my bread in a Sterilite snap-tight container, as you can see in the top photo. It fits this loaf perfectly and keeps it fresh. I have heard that storing GF breads in the refrigerator makes them dry and grainy so I keep mine on the counter.
Please feel free to leave me any questions in the comments section.
Enjoy!