Bread Machine Gluten Free White Bread - Version 4

This is normal departure from my usual mechanical projects.

Recently diagnosed as Coeliac's, and finding out how much bread was going to cost me now, I decided to go down the 'make your own' route, but with a bread machine.

There are many, many, other recipes out there, but so far, none that suited my tastes or needs. So, I developed my own, having been baking for years. Somebody else may find this useful for themselves too.

This a revised and now more fully tested version.

500g Plain Flour - Gluten Free. Approx 4 cups (Used Coles Brand here. Different flours, may give different results, OrgraN All Purpose Plain Flour was my favourite, but was getting too costly for me.)

2 Tblspoons Live Yeast Powder - or 2 packet satchels.

2 Tblspoons Sugar, white.

4 & 1/2 Teaspoons Xanthan Gum

1 Teaspoons of Salt

2 & 1/2 Tblspoons Canola (Rapeseed) Oil

3/4 Tblspoons of Virgin Olive Oil

2 Eggs

2 & 1/4 (700ml) Cups of luke warm milk (room temp is fine, as long as it's not Artic!)

1/8 (50ml) Cup of water, for adding later if required.

A Bread Machine.

Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, leaving out the Yeast at this stage.

Next, add Milk, Oil, Beaten Eggs to Bread Machine mixing pan, outside of the Bread Machine.

Pour dry ingredients from mixing bowl, on top of wet ingredients in pan.

Now add the Yeast to a small dimple on top of the dry ingredients. in the machines mixing pan.

After putting the pan in the machine, if you have not already done so, select the Gluten Free setting, choose Medium Crust Colour, and set the loaf size to 800g or large, depending on your machine.

Start the machine cycle. As it mixes, scrape any mixture sticking to the sides, that does not slide off, using a soft plastic cake scraper. Be careful to stay away from the centre, were the mixing blade is. If not sure, or worried, you can pause the machine, usually with the start/stop button. (read your machines instructions beforehand.)

If the mixture appears too stiff and dry, drizzle the water over the mix, a bit at a time, till all the mix appears wet, but not sloppy. I find this can be an issue, in dry, hot weather, and depending on the type/brand of flour you use.

Keep scrapping the sides of the mixer, as the machine is in the first mixing stage, till there is no more dry flour visible.

Only add more water is the mixture appears to be dry, or overly stiff. 

When the machine notifies you of the raising stage, you can smooth out the top of the dough if you wish, of leave it for a rough finish.

From this point, the dough needs to raise, so leave the machine to do it's thing.

When the machine cycle is completed, I found that once the bread is removed, I put in under a fan, to cool down, to reduce the bread shrinking in.

Adding more Xanthan Gun, does not seem to help the shrinkage, but cooling the finished bread under a fan, seems to help.

When complete, enjoy your fresh bread with a some nice margarine or butter, with your favourite topping . Tastes great out a hot oven! (Bread Machine)

Enjoy your fresh gluten free bread, and enjoy the savings.

You can vary the mix of Canola Oil/Olive Oil ratios, depending on taste. More Olive, if you want a stronger taste. You can change the sugar to brown, for a more stronger flavour also, though I can't guarantee the results, but with baking, it's more about feel, than science, though you do need a good base to start from!

You can also add a drop or two of vanilla essence if you wish, for a bit of a different flavour profile. I do this myself, from time to time.

Just play around a bit at a time, and find out what works for you.

Thanks for reading, and good baking to you.

1: Note: Milk used is 2%. You can use heavier milk, but the results will be slightly different, but still a very usable dough.

2: In hotter weather, you may need to reduce the amount of yeast to halve of levels, or the dough may overproof (rise too fast, and too high). If this does happen in you bread machine, simply lifting the lid, can drop the bread dough back down to more reasonable level, saving your bread, if done as soon as the dough hits the lid.

Reducing the yeast levels in hot weather is the best option. A hot kitchen, 10 to 15 degrees above room temperature, makes a huge difference in causing your dough to rise too fast.

3: Cutting the bread while hot. While is really nice to have fresh hot bread, note that the freshly cut bread may shrink back into it's self, from the sides. If you are happy with this, go ahead and enjoy a fresh, hot buttered slice. It really is nice, but do expect you may get a shrunken loaf!

4: To help you bread last in the cupboard, store the sliced side down. Standing the loaf on end, will extend the shelf life to about 6 days, of still expectable bread. If you can, store the bread in bee's wax paper. The shelf life will be about the same, but the bread should stay moister for longer.

5: Don't worry about the dough appearing to be too sticky in the bread machine. This will give you a moister, fluffy bread, that is not too dense, but dense enough to make great sandwiches, that will not fall apart.

6: This bread will take longer in the toaster, than normal bread. It really makes great toast, better than regular bread IMHO.

To make a coarser, more firm bread, closer to a more European Style, try these steps.

1. 500 grams, or about 4 cups GF Plain Flour. Use a general purpose flour, like OrgraN Plain GF Flour (Best GF Flour I've used to date). We are using plain flour here, not Self Raising :).
2. Use 2 heaped tablespoons of Instant Dried Yeast. (Bakers Yeast)
3. 1 Teaspoon of Salt. I like to use freshly ground Sea Salt.
4. 4 Heaped Teaspoons of Xanthan Gum powder.
5. Use only 2 1/2 cups of milk. Full or skim, at room temperature if possible. Don't panic if the milk is cold, just continue on. No extra water this time.
6. Use 2 tables spoons of Sunflower Oil (Rapeseed Oil), and 1/2 table spoon of Olive Oil.
7. Use 2 eggs still, beaten till mixed roughly.

Same as before, mix all dry ingredients *(Not the Yeast at this stage) together in a separate bowl, and stand aside. We leave the yeast till the last step.

Add the Oil, Milk, and Beaten Eggs to the Bread Machine, Mixing/Bake Bowl. Do remember to put the paddle in! Don't know how many times I've forgotten this step.

Run the Bread Machine on Gluten Free cycle, same as before. Chose 800gram, or the large setting, and I like to use a medium browning setting, for a nice crunchy crust.

I find the slow bread shrinkage, as it will, after you remove it from the mixing container, is to put a fan on it for about 10 minutes. This reduces the amount it caves in. Adding more Xanthan Gum Powder does not stop the side shrinkage, but a fan to cool the bread does seem to help.

Enjoy your loaf.