February 4, 2011

A Funny Looking Bread

Gluten is found in the endosperm of grass type plants. These plants include wheat, rye, spelt, etc.. any grain that you can use alone to bake bread that rises has gluten in it. The gluten fibers trap the carbon dioxide bubbles formed when the yeast and sugars work. They are like the rubber in a balloon, trapping the gasses and "inflating" as the bread rises.  Straight wheat gluten is added to baked goods to get a high rise.

I have had many, many people ask me at markets for non-gluten bread. Up until this point, I have resisted going down that path. 

Some of you with gluten allergies have more of a wheat allergy and can tolerate spelt as an alternative. Spelt is sort of a cousin to wheat. Spelt, I can do! I just take my whole wheat recipe and substitute spelt and it works well. 


This winter, I have been experimenting with both sourdough and gluten-free breads. 
I have had more success with sourdough. Really, I have tried more often with sourdough.  

I have a friend who is on a very restricted diet and yet she orders my honey-whole wheat bread on a regular basis for her family, so I try gluten free for her.
Some work out fairly well and some are best left for the chickens to eat! One in particular which was corn based - blech!

But, I am a bread snob! So, maybe it was supposed to taste that way. If it was, then I have a new, deeper level of sympathy for my non-gluten friends. It may even be pity!

After that long intro, let me show you my latest attempt. 



This was taken from a cookbook my friend, Dianna recently bought.


It is an almond butter based recipe. Almond butter, center. Clockwise from left: soda & salt, eggs, almond flour, flax meal, arrowroot powder.


I cut off the end to see what type of texture it had inside and what it tasted like. It tastes like a nut bread. Go figure! It's nut based! Anyway, it was soft and not rubbery. If I couldn't have wheat, I wouldn't miss it in this bread. 



 It didn't taste horrible.  It was simple to make. It might be a keeper.

I am sending this loaf, minus the end piece, to Dianna. She will tell me honestly if this is good or horrible gluten free baking. 


If you try it, please comment and let me know. 







3 comments:

  1. We can't try it if you don't post the recipe :P (this is Caitlin)

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  2. Good point!
    I feel like I need to get the name of the cookbook first, so I can give credit to whom credit is due.

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  3. Hey there! Lisa I can't tell you how touched I was that you made this for me. I feel so blessed!

    The name of the cookbook is "the Gluten-Free Almond Flour cookbook" by Elana Amsterdam. There are many wonderful recipes in this book and I highly recommend it for people who are gluten intolerant. http://www.elanaspantry.com

    I tried two new recipes for muffins today from the book and I really liked them.

    Now to the bread. My first impression wasn't that great. I thought it should be sweeter. It looks like a Banana Bread that I make, so I think I must have been expecting it. Lauren, my daughter, scarfed up a few slices, so I tried again. Final opinion is that it is "okay". I think I need to die to my desire for wheat bread a little longer.

    Thanks again Lisa!

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