If you bake gluten-free for yourself or others, you have likely attempted to bake soft, airy, sandwich-worthy bread. And your hopes evaporated quickly when all you got was a flat, hard, soggy mess. So what’s a gluten-free sandwich-lover to do? Bake high-rising, lovely, tender sandwich bread without gluten! You can bake gluten-free bread if you use quality ingredients and know the secret. 

Image: King Arthur Flour

Dear Mary: Do you have a good gluten-free bread recipe that can be made in a bread maker? I’ve tried a few, including the recipe that came with the bread maker. Not so good. My quest is to use a simple cup for cup gluten-free flour to make homemade gluten-free bread. I would love your ideas. Thanks, Debbie M., Georgia

Dear Debbie: I feel your pain. Although I only occasionally bake gluten-free, I have had sufficient fails to have discovered why this happens and what not to do.

Baking gluten-free is not as simple as using a cup-for-cup product instead of flour in any recipe.

If baking a recipe that is yeast free, that might work. But when the recipe includes yeast, that’s where things can quickly fall apart, and by that, I mean producing a dough that doesn’t rise and bread that is not anywhere close to acceptable. In a word: heartbreaking.

It’s the gluten

Gluten is what allows yeast to do its job of making bread dough rise. Remove the gluten and what you have is a stiff puddle of soggy dough. To be gluten-free, you must strategically replace the gluten with something that will work with the yeast to make it rise.

Gluten-free flour

There are lots of brands out there. Gluten-free flours are typically a blend of some kind. Here’s my advice: Any way you look at it, baking gluten-free is not inexpensive. If you are going to go to the trouble, you want your final product to be at least edible and at the most, absolutely delicious.

Xanthan gum

This is the secret. Xanthan gum in the right proportion is the substitute for gluten. It holds everything together in a gluten-free dough. It works with the yeast to make the gluten-free dough rise.

You may have a gluten-free flour product that lists xanthan gum in its list of ingredients. Great, but that doesn’t tell you the exact proportion. Whatever that ratio might be, you should not count on it.

For the best results, use a high-quality, gluten-free all-purpose flour that does not have xanthan gum. This will allow you to add the exact amount of xanthan gum. You can get xanthan gum from King Arthur Baking’s online store.

 

Start with the best ingredients

It will save you time and money in the long run. And you’ll be eating delicious gluten-free sandwiches, bread, toast, croutons, and dressing come Thanksgiving.

I recommend King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. It is a blend of stabilized brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca. It contains no xanthan gum. It is reliable.

While you might find this in your local supermarket, for sure you can get it from the King Arthur website. I have come to love and completely trust KAF products. This is a quality company. I have been to KAF’s plant, store, and baking school in Norwich, Vermont. It is a lovely, family-friendly campus.

The company is employee-owned, and it shows. I just love these people. If you want the best gluten-free bread, use KAF gluten-free flour. I have no connection to KAF other than being a loyal customer. No one paid me to write this.

Stand mixer

In keeping with the principle that it’s good to learn from others’ mistakes so you don’t have to make them yourself—for the best results, use a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater attachment (not the dough hook) to make the gluten-free bread. I don’t know all the reasons, but I trust those who have mixed the dough by hand. Forget that. Your results will be less than stellar. You will be frustrated and disappointed.

Can I use a hand mixer?

Yes, but the bread will not turn out as well. But if that is all you have, go ahead and use it, then put a stand mixer on your Christmas list.

• MORE: The Best Homemade Gluten-Free Muffins

The Best Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread

(A printable recipe card follows)

1. Carefully measure (best to weigh if you have a gram scale), then place these ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer, or a mixing bowl if you do not have a stand mixer:

• 3 cups (468 g) King Arthur Guten-Free All-Purpose Flour
• 3 tablespoons (35 g) white granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons (8 g) salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 cup warm milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 large eggs

Stir to mix the dry ingredients.

2. Using your stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment (not the dough hook!) or a hand mixer with its beaters, gradually beat in 1 cup (227 g) warm milk.

Don’t worry when this mixture looks crumbly at first. Once you add all of the milk it will begin coming together.

3. Add 4 tablespoons (57 g) softened butter. Beat until fully incorporated.

4. Add 3 large eggs, one at a time. Beat the mixture until each egg is thoroughly blended before adding the next.

5. Once you have added all the eggs, beat the mixture on HIGH speed for exactly 3 minutes. This is important as it will add air to the really thick batter. It won’t look like “dough” as you think bread dough should look. This air is necessary to help replace the missing gluten. At the end of 3 minutes, this batter will look more like buttercream than bread dough. It will be smooth and silky.

6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, set it in a warm place, and allow the batter to rise for 1 hour. Don’t expect it to double. It won’t. But it will become “puffy.” Thank you, yeast.

7. Remove the plastic wrap and gently stir the batter to deflate the puffiness. Using a rubber scraper, scrape it into a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan.

8. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until it barely reaches the rim of the pan. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350°F.

9. Bake the bread for 38 to 42 minutes until golden brown.

10. Remove from the oven and turn the bread loaf out onto a cooling rack. Rub a stick of butter over the top crust. This is optional but will keep the bread soft and add flavor.

11. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Can I use my bread machine?

Yes, with these adjustments: Increase the gluten-free flour by 3 additional tablespoons and add 1 large egg (4 total). Use a bread machine with a pre-programmed gluten-free setting for best results.

Resources

 

King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour $7.95

Xanthum Gum $5.95

 

 

 

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