Saturday, January 30, 2010

Gluten-free crusty boule from Healthy Bread in 5

I often like to try new recipes when I'm having people over for dinner because it gives me the opportunity to try something that I wouldn't ordinarily make.  It's risky, though, because you never know how it will turn out.  For soup night last week, I decided to make bread (gluten-free, of course).  When I make bread for myself, I usually use the bread machine because I don't really care how the bread looks, and I've found a recipe that I like.  But I really wanted to try one of the recipes from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day this time.  The book includes a handful of gluten-free recipes, including this gluten-free crusty boule.  I won't list the recipe because I followed their recipe exactly (for once!), so check out the gluten-free boule post on Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for the recipe and wonderful step-by-step pictures.  I made half of the recipe the day before, then on the night of the dinner, I divided my dough into two pieces (1 lb each) and baked them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.

I took a chance, and it worked pretty well.  Even though we also had bread from Zingerman's, most of my bread was gone.  It had a very hard crust (it would pass Chef Novelli's test, if you happened to watch Chef Academy), but was somewhat chewy inside, like most gluten-free bread that I've tried.  Although I wouldn't put it into the same category as the whole wheat bread that I used to make, the flavor was very good.  I also made cornbread just in case it was a complete failure (and not realizing that someone else would bring bread), but I think I liked the boule better.  I can't wait to try the olive oil dough from this book, and I'll let you know how it compares.

What's your favorite gluten-free bread recipe??

2 comments:

Tasty Eats At Home said...

Yum! That makes me hungry. I haven't found the perfect GF bread yet, but so far, Gluten Free Goddess's sandwich bread and GF Homemaker's French bread are my favs!

Katie said...

Alta - I do love Karina's sandwich bread, and that's the one that I usually make in my bread machine. I haven't tried GF Homemaker's yet, but I'll give it a shot.