I am gluten free. And this didn’t come about because of some bullshit fad thing I had to try because some asshole talk show dumbass says it’s a good diet idea. No. Gluten makes me sick. How so? Think pain in my body and pain in my brain (and, surprisingly, not my gut). How long have I had this? Who knows. Probably a very long time. And it finally came to a head last year around this time (extreme pain can be such a powerful motivator). More on all that at a different time.
Bottom line: I can’t eat/drink anything containing wheat, barley, and rye. Everything I miss eating/drinking will be a conversation for another day. BUT, I most miss bread. And I used to make a lot of bread. In fact, one of the pick-up lines I used on my now wife was “I have a bread maker”. AND, my first all day date with my now wife started with a fresh loaf of bread that I baked (with my bread maker). So not having good bread was a huge loss for me. However, through some experimentation I developed a basic gluten free bread recipe that I find is awesome for my needs and palate (think beautiful comfy aroma filling the house as it bakes followed by a wonderful yeasty real bread taste and texture). Udi’s gluten free bread…sucks (barf)!!! So here’s my basic gluten free bread recipe:
**Basic Gluten Free Power Bread (This is a no-knead dutch oven recipe. This is also a good all purpose loaf that can be embellished with nuts, raisins, protein powders, etc.)**
-One cup Bob’s Red Mill GF (gluten free) Oat Flour
-One cup Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour
-One cup Kodiak Cakes GF Pancake\Baking Mix (available on Amazon)
-1/2 cup GF Almond Flour
-1/2 cup GF Sorghum Flour
-Two tsps regular (not quick rise) yeast
-Two tsps salt
-2.5 tsps Bob’s Red Mill GF Xanthan Gum
-Two tsps Bob’s Red Mill GF Psyllium Powder
-Two Tbs brown sugar
-Two cups luke warm water
-1 tsp baking powder (optional)
-1/2 tsp baking soda (optional)
1. Mix/whisk all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add water to the dry ingredients and mix (with a big spoon) until all the dry ingredients are thoroughly wetted and you have a rustic looking sticky ball of dough (the more rustic looking the better). Dough can be transferred onto a piece of parchment paper inside another large mixing bowl if desired (my preferred method).
3. Let the dough “rise” in its mixing bowl (it doesn’t really rise much at all) for at least three hours. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap as the bread dough will dry out easily. Poke several air holes in the plastic wrap. Proof the dough in a warm environment (bread proof mode in an oven is great). DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH.
4. Preheat oven and a dutch oven to 400 degrees. Really allow the dutch oven adequate time to get REALLY hot.
5. Remove the REALLY hot dutch oven from the oven, place the dutch oven on a heat resistant surface, and transfer the dough into the dutch oven. The bread can be baked directly on the parchment paper in the dutch oven (my preferred method).
6. Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees with the dutch oven lid on.
7. Remove the dutch oven lid and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
8. Let the bread cool a little and then (hopefully) enjoy.
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