Bread

This title.... it's so simple to write, but for celiacs it's difficult to make. Sometimes it's difficult to eat too depending on the type of bread you want. My store bought experiences have been hit and miss. It's either a gummy disaster, or a brick that only tastes good if you toast it. I'm not usually a sandwich person, but sometimes I really just want a piece of bread with some butter on it. Momma needs some carbs sometimes and why can't I have them with melty buttery goodness?!

Well here it goes. I have made my bread and I'm ready to share it with you. When I serve this, I like to make it look like the old days; rustic, not perfect, and rounded out in a way where you can put it in the middle of a table, and literally break bread with those you love. Soak it up with some soup, spread butter on it, do what you must, but enjoy a soft fluffy loaf of GF bread.

This bread is made with my "Melly Belly" Blend of GF flour which you can find on my Zucchini bread recipe. I will be posting it on my chat boards so you can reference it there as well. I have not tried this with a regular blend because I like to use my own. Although it's an extra step of prepping my flour blend, remember it make 9 cups of flour ahead of time and you know exactly what you are putting into it since you are making it yourself. If you prefer not to, feel free to try it with a flour blend you enjoy but I would still add in the extra tapioca as listed below.

Bread Recipe

7.7 oz of Melly Belly Blend flour

1.5 oz of Tapioca Flour

2 tsp sugar

2 heaping tsp of yeast

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk of your choice, warm it in microwave for about 40 seconds

1 egg; room temperature

1 tbl olive oil

2 tbl honey

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. (I will explain why later). Start by oiling either a glass rounded pyrex, or something that will help it hold its shape somehow. I like using a cast iron bowl. I like to rub it with olive oil and then set it aside. Mix all your dry ingredients in your mixer.

Next you will add your milk until fully incorporated. Then add your egg, oil, and honey and mix it for about a minute. It will look clumpy but don't worry. Stop your mixture and using a rubber spatula, scrape the sides and underneath your paddle and make sure you get any stuck pieces of dry mixture. Start your mixer again and mix it on medium for another minute. Do the scraping process once more and then turn it on again and mix it until you can see it's smooth.

Once you see that it is smooth, pour it into your oiled baking dish. Once in the dish, I like to oil my clean hands and try to round the dough a little. It wont be perfect and it will be sticky so make sure you oil your hands generously. Once you have it ready, turn off your oven. We need a nice area for our GF dough to not only rise and get happy, but to also have time to absorb. GF flours are thirstier than any others, so you need to not only be patient but sometimes you need to make them an environment that they like. You want to put your mixture into your warm oven for 30 minutes. Just leave it in there and go put a facemask on or read a book. The first picture below shows you when dumped it in the bowl and oiled with my fingers to round it. I used a ruler, yes it's pokemon... dont judge me, so you can see that it will indeed rise for you. the last picture is 30 minutes after taken out of your warmed oven. Now.... turn your oven on again and set it to 375 degrees.

Once preheated, stick your dough into your oven and let it bake for 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes are up, open your oven and with a spatula, flip your bread upside down in the bowl so it finalizes its process. You will want to leave it in there for a additional 15 minutes after you flip it. You will see that it's already nice and brown, but it needs more time on the inside.

Once finished, take your bowl out and flip your bread onto a cooling rack. Since your last 15 minutes involved you flipping the bread upside down, it will be super easy to set your bread on a cooling rack.

Do not cut your bread fresh out of the oven. Let it cool completely. As it sits, it is still cooking on the inside. Once cooled, cut it, tear it, do what you want! Just eat it and enjoy :)