Karina's gluten-free bread recipe

As you may have noticed, I love making bread. After I discovered that I may have a gluten sensitivity, I lived without bread for over a month because I didn't want to invest in the crew of gluten-free flours and baking aids until I knew that gluten was indeed my problem. Well, there were a couple of weeks when I had to cram it down my throat in order to have an accurate test for celiac disease, but I definitely didn't enjoy it when I knew that it was the thing making me miserable. I finally dug into my savings last week and acquired all of the necessary supplies for gluten-free bread. But where to start?? The first place I turned was Karina's Kitchen. Karina has a beautiful blog that I've been reading for an extremely long time (far before I ever suspected that I may have a problem with gluten). She has a number of dietary restrictions (gluten, soy, dairy, almond, eggs) yet still manages to create fabulous recipes. Karina came through for me with this amazing bread recipe.

Karina's gluten-free bread (adapted from Karina's Kitchen)

(Printable version)

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup potato starch

1/2 cup millet flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 1/4 cup room temp water

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or other vinegar or lemon juice)

2 eggs, beaten

Combine flours, starch, gum, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Add water, oil, honey, vinegar, and eggs to a 1 1/2 lb bread machine. Pour the flour mixture on top, and add the yeast to the top of the flour. Cook on the quick cycle (or gluten-free cycle if your machine has one). Check the dough on the last kneading cycle, and push down any flour on the sides of the pan with a plastic or wooden spatula if necessary. Also, the dough should be like muffin dough (not in a ball like wheat bread dough), so add more flour or water if it is wetter or drier than this. Remove from the machine after it's done baking - don't let it go through the cooling cycle or it will get soggy. Let cool and slice. I store my bread in the freezer (in a ziploc freezer bag) and toast it when I want a piece. It keeps extremely well this way.

If you would rather make this bread by hand, Karina has great instructions. I may try this next time just for fun.

I have to admit that I was nervous all day. I've heard so many horror stories about gluten-free bread. Many people say that it's never as good as wheat bread, but you learn to get used to it because that's your only option. Well, Karina broke these "rules" because this is fabulous! It's not like your typical wheat bread, but it has a great flavor that reminds me of a mix of cornbread and biscuits. It didn't rise as much as it could have, but got about as high as my 100% whole wheat breads once did. It has a great texture, with an almost buttery feel in my mouth. Basically I loved everything about this bread.

I'm extremely happy about how this turned out. I knew Karina would lead me in the right direction, but I had no idea that she could work miracles! I'll probably play around with this recipe and try others just for kicks, but it's great to know that I have a solid bread recipe that works wonderfully. Right now I'm not missing gluten at all!!