GF Bread 101: How To Bake Delicious Gluten Free Bread

Welcome to Gluten Free Bread 101 – our most popular class and the first gluten free cooking class that most people take!

Goal:

Your goal for this class is to bake a loaf of gluten free bread in your own kitchen and be so excited about how it looks and taste that you want to jump and and down. (Whether you actually jump up and down is completely up to you!)

What to Expect:

Gluten Free Bread 101 is all about learning to bake a loaf of bread. The class contains three recipes: my Finally Really Good Sandwich Bread recipe plus two variations – one is corn and xanthan gum free, the other is yeast free. You must bake (1) of these recipes to complete the course.

Here’s a quick overview of the skills you’ll be developing

Skill 1: Measuring Ingredients For many of you, this will be the first time that you’ve ever measured ingredients. It may take a bit of a mental adjustment, but I think that you’ll find that it’s much easier than using cup measurements.

Skill 2: Evaluating Dough Consistency Gluten free bread doughs have to be a certain consistency if they are going to rise. Learning to now what that consistency of dough looks and feels like will help significantly improve your gluten free bread baking. By the time you’ve finished this course, you’ll know a good bread dough when you see it.

There are several things to do before we get to the actual baking though. The course is divided into three (3) sessions. Your assignments for each session, along with a time estimate, are listed below. Go ahead and grab your calendar and pencil in time to work on each session.

Session 1 (approx. 30 minutes):

Just in case apprehensive about baking bread, we’re going to keep this first session really easy. Small victories, right?

1. Read: Baking Gluten Free Bread – The Basics and A Few Words On Loaf Pans

2. Look at the ingredients for the three recipes included with the class and choose one to work on:

Finally, Really Good Sandwich Bread
No Corn For Me Sandwich Bread – Corn Free, Xanthan Gum Free
My Irish Cousin Bread Recipe – Yeast Free

2(a). If all of the recipes include an ingredient that you cannot use, then read: Ingredient Substitutions for Gluten Free Bread. Otherwise go on to 3.

3. Print out this shopping list and check your kitchen to see if there’s anything you need to add to your shopping list. Double check that you have all of the necessary equipment too.

Session 2 (25 – 40 minutes):

It’s movie time! Sit back and watch me bake a loaf of bread. It will be your turn next!

1. Watch: Video Demonstration: Step By Step Guide To Baking Gluten Free Bread. You can also read a transcript of this video.

2. Read: 10 Frequently Asked Questions about Gluten Free Bread

If you’ve decided to make the yeast-free bread, then you have two additional assignments.

3(a) Read: How to Get Soda Bread to Rise, and

3(b) Watch: Video Demonstration: The Mixing Technique for Gluten Free Soda Bread

Session 3 (3 hours, but 2 hours of that is waiting):

It’s time to move this class to the kitchen and bake a loaf of bread!

1. Print out the recipe and instructions for your loaf of bread.

Also print out a few copies of this GF Bread 101 Notes Worksheet. Taking notes as you work on your bread recipe will increase the speed of your learning exponentially!

2. Get out all of the equipment and ingredients for the recipe out. Measure out each of the ingredients before you do anything else.

3. Follow the recipe instructions, referring to the videos from Session 2 if needed.

Congratulations! You’ve just baked your first loaf of gluten free bread!

After the bread is out of the oven and you’ve eaten the first few slices, take a few minutes to document what you’ve learned and ask what questions you still have. You can post questions in the comments of a particular post or ask on the Gluten Free Cooking Class FB page.