One of the first things that people ask me when I first tell them that I’ve been diagnosed with Celiac Disease is, “So that means you can’t have any bread, right?” While it’s true that I can’t have any wheat bread, that doesn’t mean that I have to give up bread forever.
After picking up a few loaves of gluten-free bread at the grocery store (and quickly putting them back because they felt like bricks), I realized that the best gluten-free bread I find will probably be made in my own kitchen. For my first attempt, I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Whole Grain Bread Mix
Thankfully, I had no need to worry. The bread came out soft and dense, but not too dense like the loaves at the grocery store. It had texture from whole grains and seeds, and just the right amount of chewiness. It was honestly some of the best bread I have ever tasted. While the bread was still warm, I had the family taste it with a little bit of butter on top. The kids raved about it, and Jeff gave it a thumbs up. Today I ate a thick slice with smashed avocado and organic grape tomatoes on top.
I know that if I am going to get serious about baking my own bread, I have a long list of flours and ingredients to buy. The thought has been overwhelming enough that I haven’t started buying any yet. If you are a gluten-free baker, I would love some tips on how to get started.
And for those of you who don’t need to avoid gluten, I still highly recommend that you make this. Your tummy will thank me.
Have you tried Genius gluten free bread, i think its good, especially for toast and when there is no time to make your own 🙂
Thanks Abbey, I haven’t heard of Genius before. I will have to try to find some!
I had a check and think it is just coming to america, can find it through Glutino.com.
YUM!
This looks fantastic! I really love your blog, new follower! xoxo
Ok, I am a gluten-free baker, and not a healthy food baker, so I use sugar, butter and eggs frequently.
I would start with Jules’ Nearly Normal flour. And go make your favorite brownies or cake from before you were diagnosed. This is my go-to blend for when I want to bake and just have things work. But blends cost much more than individual flours. As for what flours to start with, if you don’t want a blend, try sweet white rice flour, tapioca starch, brown rice and sorghum flours to start with. It gives you 2 starches and 2 whole grains for blending.
I would also invest in a scale. I have one that I got for $15 on amazon and another that is a measuring cup/scale and will convert weight to cups for flour (so if you want to use a different GF all purpose blend in your favorite wheat recipe that might not be a cup for cup substitute you can fill up the cup until it says you have the right volume http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/taylor-digital-scale-measuring-cup/ )
As for bread, I really like Rudi’s Whole Grain and Udi’s white bread.
And for when you get brave, gfboulange.blogspot.com has an amazing artisan loaf that you should try baking.
Let me know if you have any other baking questions! I would be happy to help!
The bread looks great. I have been avoiding gluten for about 7 years now. Baking takes practice, but it’s worth it! Check out “Karina’s Kitchen- Recipes from a Gluten-Free Goddess” on facebook. She is awesome and the recipies are always yummy.
Glad to see you made the bread! I’ve had many a delicious sandwich on that bread. I always have Udi’s bread in my freezer along with their pizza crusts which are nice and thin. I’ve done a lot more muffin/cookie/cake baking gluten-free than I have bread, but one day I hope to make a delicious loaf of GF sourdough bread!
Looks great! I love that you added the avo and tomatoes 😉 YUM!
I’m proud of you taking matters into your own hands and baking your own batch! It looks amazing and prob tastes way better than any of the gf store stuff.
[…] (har!) by InspiredRD’s bread-baking, I grabbed a bag of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free whole-grain bread mix. This was the simplest […]