Perfect Gluten Free Artisan Bread Food

GLUTEN FREE ARTISAN BREAD - THE BOULE

Steps:

• Warm water to 100 F/38 C
• Bring eggs to room temperature and separate
• Prepare proofing basket or bowl (spray linen with water and then flour it)

PERFECT GLUTEN-FREE ARTISAN BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Heat a Dutch oven with the lid on in the oven.
• Combine yeast and 1/3 cup lukewarm water in a large bowl; whisk until fully dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes.
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl; mix well. Add flour mixture to yeast mixture; whisk until flour is absorbed.
• Whisk remaining 1/3 cup water, eggs, olive oil, and vinegar in a separate bowl. Add to flour mixture and whisk well until fully combined and a soft dough is formed. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.
• Spoon dough into the center a large piece of parchment paper. Smooth out loaf with an offset spatula; sprinkle top with gluten-free flour.
• Place loaf with parchment paper inside the hot Dutch oven; cover with the lid and place in the oven.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, about 45 minutes. Remove bread with a spatula and transfer to a wire rack.

GLUTEN FREE VEGAN BREAD (WHOLEMEAL) - WITH OAT FLOUR

Steps:

• Mix together all the dry ingredients EXCEPT the YEAST (flours, oat, flax, psyllium husk, salt and bicarbonate of soda) in an airtight container and shake vigorously to blend.
• Weigh the yeast into a separate small container (airtight if not making the bread immediately) and set to one side. Keep near the flour blend so that you don't forget to use it.
• Very lightly grease the inside of a 1 pound non-stick bread tin using either a little dairy-free spread or oil, base line the tin with a piece of baking paper (cut to size) and then gently coat the sides of the tin with a light dusting of brown rice flour/buckwheat flour/sorghum flour (put a teaspoon of flour in the tin and gently turn from side to side until coated. Tip out any excess).
• In a large bowl, lightly beat together the oil, maple/agave syrup and lemon juice to combine.
• Weigh and mix the milk with the boiling water in a jug. It should be hand hot (if you are unsure about temperature, use a cooking thermometer which should read about 40 C).
• Add the milk liquid to the bowl with the other wet ingredients and briefly whisk through to combine.
• Add the yeast to the flour blend and mix.
• Whilst the liquid is still warm, add the dry ingredients to the bowl and using either a mixer with a dough hook, or by hand with a silicone/wooden spoon, beat until well blended, thick and the dough holds its shape if moulded into a ball (this will require about 5 minutes of solid beating).
• Transfer the batter to the baking tin and push down so that it is evenly distributed.
• Use the back of a spoon (dipped in cold water) to smooth the top.
• Place the dough in a warm place to rise for about 40 to 60 minutes (or until about doubled in size) - I place the tin on a folded tea towel in the oven at 65 to 70C for a perfect prove (the bread should rise about 2 to 3 cm above the tin with a gently rounded top).
• Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas 4. Place a small pyrex bowl or tray with hot water (a couple of centimetres deep) at the bottom of the oven to create steam during the baking process. (This is more important when baking rolls or a moulded 'boule' shaped loaf). For 'boule' or loaf not baked in a tin, see NOTES below
• When the dough has risen, bake for about 20 to 25 minutes (1 pound loaf) until nicely browned (this will be increased to approx 35 to 40 mins for a 2 pound loaf).
• Remove from the oven and take out of the tin (you may need to gently release the sides using a spatula or flat knife). Leave to cool on a wire rack.
• As with all bread, this loaf is easiest to cut when left to cool completely. Can be eaten fresh and warm, but texture improves if not steaming hot.
• Wrap in clingfilm or put in a sealable bag to store and keep fresh. Store at room temperature.

GLUTEN-FREE ARTISAN BREAD

Steps:

• Whisk and mix the ingredients in a 5- to 6-quart lidded container. Finish by picking up the container and vigorously shaking until the flours are completely blended.
• The ingredients must be very well mixed, otherwise the xanthan gum or psyllium will not be evenly distributed and your loaves will be inconsistent.
• Store the flour mixture in an airtight container in a cool dark area until needed.
• * Do not substitute with sweet white rice flour.
• ** Do not substitute with potato flour.
• If you're measuring by U.S. cup-measures, be sure to pack the flour tightly into the cup, as if you were measuring brown sugar.
• In a 5 to 6-quart bowl or stand mixer, whisk together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar.
• Add the lukewarm water - lukewarm water (100ºF) will allow the dough to rise to the right point for storage in about 2 hours.
• Mix with the paddle attachment of mixer until mixture is very smooth, for about one minute. Alternatively, using a spoon or spatula, mix well by hand for one to two minutes. Kneading is not necessary. Transfer mixture to lidded (not airtight) food container.
• Cover with a lid that fits well to the container but can be cracked open so it's not completely airtight. Plastic wrap is fine, too. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature about 2 hours; then refrigerate it and use over the next 10 days. You can use a portion of the dough any time after the 2-hour rise. Fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than dough at room temperature, but whatever you do, do not punch down the dough - this is unnecessary with gluten-free bread baking.
• On baking day: pull off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough, then place it on a pizza peel prepared with plenty of cornmeal or parchment paper. Gently press the dough into a ball and use wet fingers to smooth the surface. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 60 minutes loosely covered with plastic wrap or under a roomy overturned bowl. The dough will not look as though it has risen much after the 60 minutes - this is normal.
• While the dough is resting, preheat a baking stone or baking steel near the middle of your oven set at 450ºF for at least 30 minutes. Alternatively, preheat a lidded Dutch oven for 45 minutes at 450ºF. If you are using the stone or steel, place an empty metal broiler tray for holding water on the shelf below the stone or steel.
• Dust the top of the dough liberally with gluten-free flour. Slash a 1/4-inch to a 1/2-inch deep cross or scallop(s) across the top using a wet serrated bread knife.
• Shimmy the loaf onto the preheated stone. Quickly and carefully pour 1 cup of hot water from the tap into the metal broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. If you are using parchment paper on the steel or stone, remove it after 20 minutes. Bake loaf for a total of 45 minutes. Alternatively, use the piece of parchment paper as handles and carefully lower the dough-topped parchment paper into the preheated pot. Cover and place in the oven. No need for a steam bath with the dutch oven. If you are using the preheated vessel, remove the lid after 30 minutes, and bake for 15 minutes longer uncovered or until the crust is richly browned.
• Allow bread to cool completely, about 2 hours, on a wire rack.
• Store remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded or loosely plastic-wrapped container and use it over the next 10 days. If your container isn't vented, allow gasses to escape by leaving the cover open a crack for the first couple of days in the fridge. After that, it can be closed.

HEALTHY GLUTEN-FREE ARTISAN BREAD -- FREE-FORM CRUSTY BOULE

Steps:

• MIXING AND STORING THE DOUGH:.
• Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt and xanthan gum in a 5-quart lidded Round Food Storage Container or the mixing bowl of your stand mixer (a metal mixing bowl should be fine as long as it is stainless steel).
• Combine the oil, honey and water; set aside.
• Dump the eggs into the dry ingredients and then stir while you pour in about 1/3 of the oil and water. (Unlike wheat doughs, we do not add all of the liquid at once and stir. If you do that it will result in a lumpy dough).
• Continue to stir while you pour in another 1/3 of the liquid; the dough will start to come together in a thick dough. NOTE: You can use your mixer for these steps with your bread hook rather than stirring the dough ingredients together.
• Add the final 1/3 of liquid and stir until the dough is nice and smooth. Cover container with the lid, but do not snap it shut. Allow it to rest on the counter for about 2 hours.
• Place the dough in the refrigerator and store for up to 7 days.
• NOTE: If you want to bake a loaf immediately after the initial proving you can bake it the first day, but you need to reduce the resting time before hand. In fact, you can mix the dough, shape it and let it rest on the parchment. After it has risen then slide it directly into the oven.
• BAKING DAY:
• On baking day take the bucket from the refrigerator. The dough will be quite fluffy still and you do not want to handle the dough too much. Just like our other doughs the trick is to keep as much of the air bubbles intact as possible.
• Use WET HANDS to remove a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough from the bucket. In order to not handle the dough too much you can even scoop it out of the bucket with a slightly wet metal spoon.
• The dough will be quite scraggly when you take it out, just place it on a piece of parchment paper.
• Use wet hands to smooth out the surface of the dough and shape it as desired. DO NOT KNEAD. This may take dipping your hands in the water a few times...to get a nice shape. Gently smooth it out with wet hands into the shape you want.
• Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest on the counter for about 90 minutes. If your kitchen is very warm you may only need about 75 minutes.
• The dough will not have grown much while resting, but it will seem a little bit puffier. Use a serrated knife to cut slashes in the dough.
• BAKING OPTIONS:.
• STONE OR COOKIE SHEET OPTION: If you want to bake using a baking stone, you can OR you can use a cookie sheet.
• Preheat oven to 450°F
• Place parchment paper with your prepared dough on prepared stone or baking sheet.
• Place a pan (not glass) under the baking stone or sheet (at least 4 inches away) and add a cup of hot water to it when you put the loaf in the oven to create steam.
• Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
• DUTCH OVEN OPTION: Preheat the oven with a 5 1/2 quart Dutch Oven in it to 500 degrees 30 minutes before baking time. (Be sure it is fitted with a metal Replacement Knob, the original plastic knobs can only be heated to about 400 degrees.)
• Remove the pot from the oven and take off the lid.
• Lift the bread on the parchment and VERY CAREFULLY lower the parchment and bread into the pot, replace the lid onto the pot.
• Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes remove the lid, turn the heat down to 450F and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
• COOL THE BREAD:
• Once the bread is done baking remove it from the pot using a spatula or from the stone/sheet and transfer to a baking rack to cool.
• ALLOW THE BREAD TO COOL COMPLETELY before eating or the center may seem gummy.
• The loaf is also wonderful toasted and served with butter and marmalade. Enjoy!