Gluten, dairy and egg-free sourdough recipe

Got a sourdough starter?  No?  You might want to check out my previous post for instructions on attracting wild yeast and rejoin the rest of us when you're ready to roll.

Are we all caught up?  Ok, great!  Now here comes the part of the recipe that most heavily draws upon the ratios and instructions established in its parent recipe, which belongs to the author of the Art of Gluten-Free Baking.  The differences between the original recipe and my version of the recipe are a result of my experimentation and preferences.

To make the bread, you'll need the following Ingredients:

15 ounces of your favorite gluten-free flour
1 can (14 oz) of full-fat coconut milk plus up to 1/4 cup water as needed
30 ounces of your starter
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (optional)

As with the sourdough starter, you can use any type of flour you please as long as it doesn't already contain xanthan or guar gum.  I often use Nourishing Foodways' flour blend, or mix together about 7 parts wholegrain and 3 parts starch, as per the Gluten Free Girl's mix.  The same flours that attract the most yeast--the flours that contain the most protein and fat--will also make your bread taste more sour. 

While coconut milk may seem like an odd ingredient, I find that it adds flavor and helps keep the bread soft and airy--qualities infrequently ascribed to gluten and egg-free baked goods.  I imagine the additional fat is what boosts the fluffiness factor, but I don't really know.  I like to use Aroy-D brand coconut milk, which you might find in the ethnic food aisle of your grocery store or at Amazon.com, because it contains no additional additives.  Coconut milk containing guar gum, such as Thai Kitchen brand, will also work in this recipe.

The baking soda is entirely optional in this recipe.  Add it if you wish to reduce the sourness of the bread; it will neutralize some of the lactic acid created by the yeast.  I wrote the recipe with a conservative 1 teaspoon of baking soda.  If you choose to add more, be aware that excess baking soda will also change the taste of the bread (and probably darken the color).


Method:

First measure your flour, by weight, into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the salt, xanthan gum and baking soda, if you are using it, and add the sourdough starter and combine with an electric mixer.  While a hand mixer will work in this recipe, it is far more cumbersome than a stand mixer.

Next, slowly pour in the coconut milk while the mixer continues to beat the dough. 

You'll want to keep adding liquid until it looks like the above picture.  It'll be super sticky and will cling to an upside-down spoon, but it will not hold its form.  I generally end up adding a whole can of coconut milk and a bit of water, but the amount of liquid needed may vary with the air humidity in your area.  If you think you've made the dough too thin, don't stress out!  Just add more flour until the dough feels right.  This recipe is extremely forgiving.  (Seriously.  Once I started out with about half as much sourdough starter as I needed and then added liquid until I had the right consistency.  The bread came out perfectly.)

Then, beat the dough on medium-high for three minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.  As you can see in the picture directly above, the dough will loosen a little, slapping the side of the bowl while it beats, and it will look a bit like thick cake batter. 

 Pour or spoon the dough into either two greased loaf pans or two greased 12-muffin tins.  Cover and let the dough raise for four to twelve hours, as is most convenient for you.  The dough will continue to raise a bit even as it bakes.  Loaves will require about an hour at 425, and rolls will require forty minutes to an hour at 375.  Before you remove the bread from the oven, carefully extract one loaf or roll from its pan and tap its underside with your fingernail.  If the loaf is ready to be removed from the oven, it will sound hollow.

Allow the bread to cool completely before you slice into it.  After the first day, you may wish to store the bread in a plastic bag to keep it from becoming dry and crumbly.  Generally, the bread freezes well.

Don't be afraid to experiment, and be sure to comment with your results.  Most of all, though, enjoy your bread!


Linked to Wellness Weekend 3/7/13 at Diet, Dessert and Dogs, Whole Food Fridays 3/8/13 at Allergy Free Alaska, Sunday School 3/10/13 at Butter Believer,  5 Ingredient Monday 3/11/13 at the Daily Dietribe, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday 3/12/13 at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, and Party Wave Wednesday 3/13/13 at Holistic Squid

Cellular Respiration-or, if you prefer, The Makings of Really Good Bread.

This post comes a little later than I had expected, but I wanted to be sure that I got it right.  This being my first recipe post, and me being a bread lover, it seemed most appropriate to share a bread recipe.  A gluten, dairy and egg-free sourdough bread recipe, to be precise. 

 



Ain't she a beaut?

 

What's there left for it to be made of, you might ask?  (Or, at least, that's what one of my friends asked me via Facebook as I documented my work.)  Well, not much, and therein lies the magic of this recipe; it can be as simple or as complex as you please.

 

Before I get into the details, though, it is important to note that I did not develop this recipe entirely on my own.  Rather, I offer a variation of the sourdough bread recipe from the Art of Gluten-Free Baking, along with additional tips and tricks that I have discovered along the way.  Now, on to the recipe sharing!

 

The first thing to do is grow a sourdough starter.  Sourdough bread, like most other breads, is leavened by yeast.  Unlike most other breads, however, sourdough utilizes wild yeasts.  A sourdough starter is, figuratively speaking, the net with which one may catch wild yeasts from the air.

 

Now, here's where the simple part comes in: a sourdough starter can be made with just flour and water--about one cup of each should do.  It is important to use filtered water, since tap water often contains chemicals like chlorine, added to keep out micro-flora like our yeast friends.  As far as the flour goes, yeast seem to like fattier, more protein-filled flours the best, but any type will work as long as it contains starch.  I like to mix a big bag of 2 parts navy bean flour, 1 part teff flour and 1 part brown rice flour, as per Nourishing Foodways' flour blend, and use that to feed my yeast.

 

Mix your flour and water together in a wide-mouthed jar or a pot, and let it sit on your counter.  You'll want to cover it with a loose-fitting lid or a clean dishtowel; the idea is to attract wild yeast while keeping any bugs out.  I also added a fourth cup or so of honey into mine, to further entice the little yeasties, but it isn't necessary.

 

Continue to feed the starter with a one cup each of water and flour, once or twice a day as you think of it.  Within a few days, you'll notice bubbles pucker and pop when you stir the starter.  It will begin to smell rather like sour cream, and the air in the jar/pot will feel warm.  Congradulations!  This evidence of cellular respiration signifies the maturity of your sourdough starter!  In other words, you are ready to begin baking.

 

You can't really see the bubbles in this picture, but you'll notice them when you stir your starter.

 

When you use your sourdough starter, you'll want to make sure there is always a little bit left so that you won't have to go through all the trouble of attracting yeast every time you want bread.  At this stage, don't feel too bad if you forget to feed the starter for a day or two at a time.  It should be pretty stable, especially if you feed it whole grain or otherwise oily and protein-y flours.  If you know that you won't be able to feed it for a length of time, or if you do not wish to bake with it for a length of time, you can store it in the refridgerator and feed it a minimum of once a week.

 

Seeing as how this post has already become quite lengthy, I will walk through the rest of this recipe in my next post, which I will publish posthaste!  Until then, by all means, waste no time in starting your own sourdough starter.

 

 

 

Linked to: Sunday School 3/3/13 at Butter Believer, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday 3/5/13 at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, and Party Wave Wednesday 3/6/13 at Holistic Squid