This recipe was inspired by one for sourdough bread by David Miller at Grow Youthful. I had planned to use Kefir that my husband Brian made. Well, things didn’t go entirely as planned, as is usual so often with baking, especially new recipes. I waited too long to use the Kefir for making bread and it began to ferment, becoming something like airag, which I won’t get into much here, but Brian and I had some on our trip to Mongolia in October 2005. We were hospitably offered airag as guests in the homes of Mongolian herders. It is customary to bring a gift as guests, in thanks for the hospitality, and we offered sweets in return. It was a wonderful experience for us and through the help of our guide/interpretor and driver we got to meet many kind people who let us stay in their homes, visit their land, and eat with their families.

This airag we made was more mainstream, not traditional, being made from cow’s milk. I used the airag in the bread and it had a wonderful yeasty taste, unlike other gluten-free, yeast-free breads I have made, due to the natural yeasts produced through fermentation. The cooking process removes the alcohol and it did not leave a strong taste of alcohol at all, only the pleasant taste of baked bread. The pitfall is having a nice warm spot for the dough to rest long enough undisturbed to raise nicely. This I was not able to provide, despite keeping it covered on the counter and even in a low oven preheated and turned off before the bread was put in over the course of 48 hours. It simply needed more warmth for a longer period of time. As a result my bread was flat, but tasted delicious.

The airag is gone, but we can make more and we have kefir whey saved from the second batch of kefir. I will definitely try this recipe again with the fermented kefir whey, airag, or plain kefir.

Airag Sourdough Bread

220g (2 cups) gluten-free flour blend (quinoa flour, arrowroot starch, sweet rice flour)

250 ml (1 cup) airag

2 tablespoons sunflower oil (use any oil you prefer)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

enough warm water to create a thick batter (about 250-350 ml (1-1 1/2 cups))

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, getting all the lumps out by squeezing them out with your hands. More lumps will prevent the formation of air bubbles, which gives this bread all its lift. Cover or wrap the bowl of bread with a rather large cloth or towel and place in a warm spot to rest as undisturbed as possible. The concern is not ruining the dough but not letting it have enough heat to make bubbles. Temperature control is key. Keep it there until it has risen somewhat, then transfer the dough to a greased baking tin. Cover the tin and keep it in a warm spot, the same one as before is ok, for at least 24 hours or longer if needed depending on how warm the spot is.

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Bake bread for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

Notes: If you keep this bread longer and do not eat it all at once, the bread will continue to ferment and may have a stronger yeasty taste the longer you keep it.

This recipe was inspired by Mary Frances’ Gluten Free Cooking School. The ingredients seemed similar to other recipes I have tried and not been satisfied with, but the proportions were slightly different. It was worth a go.

This is good sandwich bread. Whichever recipe Mary Frances played around with for so long, it is a good foundation. My husband, Brian, makes cheese as a hobby. His latest creation was a cream cheese. This was his first attempt and I could see eating all varieties of sandwiches with it. The bread is good on its own, but in a sandwich it brings everything together yet doesn’t dominate.

I used quinoa flour and the taste was not as strong as I thought it would be, much less than the gold cake to my surprise. My guess is again that balancing it with other ingredients helps significantly. Or perhaps I’m just warming up to quinoa after eating it in so many different things.

We do not own a bread machine any longer, so I used Mary Frances’ recommendations for baking in an oven. I let the bread rise in the oven for 15 minutes (preheated to the lowest setting then turned off) until it had climbed up the sides of the tin, then turned up the temperature. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the oven on, so the bread was left there to spill over the sides. I baked it anyhow, after I realised what had happened, and amazingly, the bread stood up to it.

Sandwich Bread

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

15g (1 tablespoon) honey (for the flavour. You could use something different if you prefer)

350 ml (1 1/2 cups) water (40C (105F) warm to the touch but not too hot)

280g (2 1/2 cups) gluten-free flour blend (I used quinoa flour, sweet rice flour, and arrowroot starch)

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs (or 90 ml (6 tablespoons) of water and 13g (2 tablespoons) ground flax seed)

25 ml (1 1/2 tablespoons) oil

1 teaspoon vinegar

Place the yeast in a small bowl. Add the water and gently stir. Add the honey or your preferred sweetener/food for the yeast. If you use local honey, as I did, then there will be some lumps. I like to get my hands in it and mash them out, but you don’t have to. Let this mixture sit.

Combine the flour blend, xanthan gum, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In a third bowl, whisk the eggs or water and flax seed, oil, and vinegar together until everything is well combined.

By this point the yeast mixture should be well doubled in size and full of bubbles. I was surprised by how long the yeast gets to sit, but gluten-free bread needs all the lift it can get. Pour the two liquid mixtures into the flour mixture. Stir until well combined then pour into a greased 23cm by 13cm (9 by 5 inch) loaf tin. Let the bread rise until it reaches the top of the tin or has doubled in size. (Mine took 15 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). Bake the bread until it has pulled away from the sides of the tin. (Mine took 40 minutes.)

Cool on a rack. If you can’t resist letting it cool, as I often can’t, then slice immediately and eat. Enjoy!

This recipe is from my husband’s grandmother. She got it from her Finnish friend Helvi. Pulla is known as “Finnish Biscuit.” It is full of cardamom and is traditionally served with coffee.

Adapting this recipe to gluten-free was a challenge, and no wonder, as bread is the Titan of gluten-free baking. I had made this recipe once before going gluten-free and it wasn’t easy to make then, as the recipe is old and doesn’t have many directions. This recipe has a large quantity of liquid in it. This can make it wetter when made gluten-free, as gluten-free bread doughs are wetter than their glutenated cousins. I didn’t want to add extra flour, as it would only make the bread dry and tough.

To mimic the rolling out and cutting the dough I let the dough rise in the oven, then baked it for 15-20 minutes to let it partially set. I then used a knife to break up the dough, sprinkled it with cardamom, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, then cut the dough up more to mix in the spices and butter. I managed to make it work, but next time I think I would make one change: I would use half as much milk, then I might be able to actually roll out the dough and cut it.

The original recipe does not say whether or not to melt the butter. I didn’t, just softened it and mixed it in. I might melt the butter next time instead. The recipe does not specify how much flour to add, which can be murder with gluten-free, but my estimate seems to have mostly worked. There are no measurements for the spices, sugar, or butter for filling and topping. Add to taste, but don’t overdo it. I thought my combination was good. The original has more sugar and milk added on top after the dough is put in the tin. I chose to omit them as I thought my dough was wet enough and more milk would make it soggy. As with other gluten-free breads, it doesn’t need much time to rise, only once for 15 minutes was enough for me.

When my husband tasted it he said “it’s good bread pudding.” Most would agree this was not authentic pulla; it wasn’t enough like bread. It’s possible my cutting up the dough when it was partially baked deflated it somewhat and if I had put the spices, sugar, and butter on top then the texture would have been different. I tend to stick to my original hunch that this recipe gluten-free needs less liquid. The texture of the mixture was just about right until I added all that milk. I hate to admit defeat, as so far I haven’t had to adjust any recipes for liquid ratio since I began baking gluten-free. It’s bread though, and that says it all.

Helvi’s Pulla

710 ml (3 cups) whole milk (I would cut this in half)

6 eggs

225g (1 cup) caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

115g (1/2 cup) butter

21g (6 3/4 teaspoons) dry yeast

3 teaspoons xanthan gum

enough gluten-free flour blend to make soft dough (I used teff flour, sweet rice flour, and arrowroot starch (370g (3 1/3 cups) )

cardamom (I used 2 teaspoons)

cinnamon (I used 1 teaspoon)

butter (I used 40g (3 tablespoons))

sugar (I used 55g (1/4 cup))

extra sugar and milk (I omitted these)

Scald the milk. Mix milk, eggs, sugar, salt, butter, yeast, and flour, and xanthan gum (first 8 ingredients) together. Gather dough together and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Roll up the dough and cut into pieces. Place in bread tins. Let rise. Bake at 175C (350F) until lightly browned. (Mine took about 30 minutes.)

I found the recipe for this incredible bread at A Gluten-Free Guide. Catherine says it is from Mireille at the Delphi Forums. When I saw the recipe I knew I had to try it, as it seems so often with gluten-free bread you get good texture/no taste or good taste/bad texture. My loaf of this bread was ugly, hideously brown and lumpy, but quite tasty. The cheese helps add flavour but I might try leaving it out if I made it again. I left out the almond extract and egg replacer, as I didn’t have any, and I had to use part arrowroot starch as I didn’t have enough tapioca flour.

This was my first time using almond flour and it adds nicely to the taste of the bread. I would expect I would notice the textural effects more with a cake, especially a flourless one. The list of ingredients here may look daunting at first, but never fear, they all work together to make what is a most delicious bread.

This bread had so much lift it bubbled over the sides of the tin! I may have let it raise too long but I have never had a gluten-free bread do that before. This bread browns easily. I had to bake mine for 20 extra minutes and I would have baked it longer but I didn’t want it to burn. I would have covered it with foil, as Catherine recommends, but I didn’t have any and I couldn’t think of a suitable substitute.

After all these didn’t-haves, the bread had a good crust, only a slightly gummy texture which was probably from the flours used but may have been remedied by longer baking (covered), and a phenomenal taste! I am looking forward to baking this bread again. Thank you Catherine, Mireille, and whoever developed this lovely recipe.

Almond Bread

110g (1 cup) Asian rice flour

110g (1 cup) tapioca flour

200g (1 cup) almond flour

2 3/4 teaspoons xanthan gum

2 teaspoons caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons gelatine (may replace with agar-agar)

1/2 teaspoon egg replacer

40g (1/2) cup good quality Parmesan cheese (may omit)

3 extra-large eggs room temperature

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon gluten-free cider or regular vinegar

1/2 teaspoon gluten-free almond extract

300 ml (1 1/4 cups) warm water

Preheat the oven to 190C (375F).

Proof the yeast by adding it to 60 ml (1/4 cup) of warm water between 43C (110F) and 46C (115F). Stir to dissolve. Add the two teaspoons of sugar and let the yeast to sit for five to ten minutes. If your yeast doesn’t foam up well, then it’s probably dead and inactive.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer. Add the eggs, honey, oil, vinegar, almond extract and mix on medium speed for two minutes. Add 125 ml (1/2 cup) of the water and beat for one minute. Continue to add water and mix until dough is slightly thicker than cake batter. Pour the mixture into a greased bread tin and let it rise covered in a warm spot. It won’t do much here, it’s gluten-free after all, but just wait until it gets into the oven! (The greasing is important. If you don’t grease or line your tin it will be difficult to get the bread out.)

Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cover with foil after 20 minutes to keep the top from burning.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Casein-Free Option:

Omit the parmesan cheese or substitute with your favourite dairy-free cheese, such as soy cheese or almond cheese, or goat’s milk cheese.

This bread recipe is from BBC Food. They got it from ‘Healthy Gluten-Free Eating’ by Darina Allen and Rosemary Kearney. It is yeast-free, but not casein-free. I’m not fond of the ‘heaped teaspoon’ measurements but you could approximate a better number. It is not dry, but I find it tends towards the other extreme, too wet. Less buttermilk might do the trick. Baking it for 25 extra minutes browned the outside but didn’t firm it up as much as I expected. Still, it tastes good, and has a better texture than dry and crumbly, as is claimed. The first five minutes of baking at a higher temperature give the bread a crust, so don’t skip it. (Yes, I know this from experience.)

This time I used amaranth flour, gluten-free oat flour, and cornflour (cornstarch), as that was all I had at home. The amaranth flour was sweeter than I expected. Bread is the Holy Grail of gluten-free baking and I’m still seeking the best-tasting, best-textured loaf. The search is on!

Ingredients

275g/10oz rice flour
110g/4oz tapioca flour
50g/2oz dried milk
1 scant tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 heaped tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 heaped tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg, preferably free-range, lightly beaten
300-350ml/10-12fl oz buttermilk

Method
Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8.

Sift all the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Mix well by lifting the dry ingredients up into your hands and then letting them fall back into the bowl through your fingers. This adds more air and therefore more lightness to your finished bread.

Lightly whisk the egg and buttermilk together. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in most of the egg and buttermilk at once. Using one hand, with your fingers stiff and outstretched (like a claw!), stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl in ever-increasing circles, adding a little more buttermilk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.

The trick with white soda bread is not to over-mix the dough. Mix it as quickly and as gently as possible, thus keeping it light and airy. When the dough all comes together, turn it out onto a rice-floured work surface.

Wash and dry your hands. With rice-floured fingers, roll lightly for a few seconds -just enough to tidy it up.

Pat the dough into a round, pressing it to about 5cm/2in in height. Place the dough on a baking tray dusted lightly with rice flour. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in it, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread. Prick with a knife at four angles which, according to Irish folklore, is to let the fairies out!

Bake in the oven for five minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4 for a further 25-30 minutes or until cooked. If in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread. If it is cooked, it will sound hollow. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve freshly baked, cut into thick slices and smeared with butter and homemade jam.

Makes 1 750g/1lb 10oz loaf