Anyone who’s been frustrated with having to use multiple flours in a gluten free bread recipe has to have wondered, “Can’t good gluten free bread be made from two flours?”
I’ve tried 2 flour bread recipes before and they weren’t very good; but I was curious to see if I could adjust one of my successful bread recipes down to two GF flours and still have it work. I started my experiments with brown rice flour and cornstarch; the two flours that I happened to have on hand and was pleased with the results. However, I decided that I wanted to switch to non-grain flours so that I would have a bread recipe that worked with Arbonne’s “30 Days to Feeling Fit” program which is a cleanse/elimination diet program that I’m using as part of my adrenal fatigue recovery. That necessitated removing the corn from the recipe, and I also switched the brown rice flour to garbanzo flour since many of my you have been asking for grain-free recipes.
This new gluten free bread recipe, which I’ve named “Beans & Roots” since my kids insist that all recipes must have names, surpassed my wildest expectations. It has a great crust; the interior is reminiscent of store-bought wheat breads, and it rises well. I’m usually not very fond of the taste of garbanzo flour, particularly in cakes and cookies, but none of us have noticed any offensive garbanzo flavor in the finished bread, though the bread does have a distinctive yellow color.
The instructions for this recipe incorporate some new techniques that I’ve discovered to ensure that the bread rises well in the oven. I’ve also used a slightly smaller sized pan that I usually do because it happens to fit this recipe better.
Have you ever made a 2 flour gluten free bread? What was it like? Let me know in the comments.
Instructions
- 265 grams garbanzo bean flour
- 175 grams tapioca starch
- 12 g salt
- 10 g xanthan gum
- 375 grams water
- 7 g instant yeast
- 15 g sugar
- 185 g eggs*
- 30 g olive oil
- 10 g apple cider vinegar
Start by combining the yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Add the water while gently stirring the yeast and sugar. Let this mixture sit while you mix the rest of the ingredients – bubbles and foam should form if the yeast is happy.
Combine the flours, xanthan gum and salt in the largest mixing bowl and stir well.
In a third bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and vinegar until the eggs are a bit frothy.
By this point the yeast mixture should be foamy, so you can pour the two liquid mixtures into the flour mixture. Blend the dough with a mixer for 4 minutes.
*If you need to substitute for the eggs, 1 large chicken egg weighs around 50g, so these recipes uses approximately 3.5 eggs.
Conventional Oven Directions:
Scoop the dough into a greased 8″ x 4″ loaf pan. Move your oven rack to the lowest setting and, if you have one, place your baking stone on it. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees while the bread rises. Five minutes before you put the bread into the oven, turn the heat down to 375F. Allow the dough to rise in a warm area until is peaking over the top of the pan. Then bake at 375 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes.
Bread Machine Directions:
Here’s what I do; you can follow normal bread machine instructions for mixing if you like: Scoop your dough into the bread machine and smooth the top of the dough. I bake my bread using an 80 minute setting that allows for 20 minutes of kneading, 18 minutes of rise, and 42 minutes of baking. However, since I don’t use the paddle in by bread machine, I’m effectively doing a 38 minute rise and a 42 minute bake. (The advantage of not using the paddle is that you don’t end up with a hole in the bottom of your bread.)