The Best, Easiest Gluten-Free Bread: Gluten-Free Peasant Bread

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*** UPDATE 4/9/2018: Since publishing this blog post and the recipe below in 2014, I’ve done further explorations with gluten-free bread baking and have created a recipe, which I prefer. The recipe first appeared in my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs, and many of my gluten-free blogging friends, including Feed Me Phoebe, have posted the recipe on their blogs. I’ve included the recipe above along with a video and photos. I’ve kept the original post below for reference to anyone who has made it and liked it. ***

For the past year, the most frequent question asked on this blog is this: Can the peasant bread be made gluten-free?

Everyone knows someone — a friend, an uncle, a cousin — recently diagnosed with Celiac disease who has had to forget bread as he/she once knew it.

You might have this friend, this uncle, this cousin. I do. And you might want to treat him/her to a loaf of freshly baked bread but you don’t know where to begin. This is the position my mother found herself in a month ago while preparing for the arrival of her brother-in-law, who had recently adopted a gluten-free diet. Panicked by the thought of serving dinner without warm, fresh bread on the table, she called asking if I had ever successfully made the peasant bread gluten free. I answered as I have to everyone who has asked thus far: no, not yet.

It seemed like a good time to take an earnest stab at making a gluten-free peasant bread. Unfortunately, a respectable loaf did not materialize before my uncle’s arrival, but one has since, and while it’s not perfect, I think it’s worth sharing.

Let me briefly explain my experimentation process:

To start, I bought a bunch of gluten-free flour mixes from my local co-op. I know, I know. Making your own gluten-free flour mix is easy! And cost effective! And better! Well, for someone like me, who only dabbles in gluten-free baking, I have learned that it makes more sense to trust King Arthur, Hodgon Mill, C4C, etc, all of whose mixes I have had success with in the past. But if you have a great homemade gluten-free mix, use 2 cups (256g) of it here and please share your thoughts (recipe if you are feeling generous) in the comments.

After substituting gluten-free flour for all-purpose flour without making any other changes and observing what it produced — a loaf as dense as a bowling ball — I started researching and making adjustments, using xanthum gum and egg whites, increasing yeast and sugar, trying milk and buttermilk in place of water.

In sum, this is what I’ve learned:

• For every cup of flour (128g), use about a teaspoon of xanthum gum.
(Note: This is specific to bread and does not apply to cookies, cakes, etc.)

• For every cup of flour (128g), use 1 egg white (40g).

• Using a little more yeast proportionally helps lighten the texture.

• Baking at a higher temperature (425ºF or so) for the entire time helps ensure the loaf will be cooked through and not super dense — gluten-free flours (at least the ones I have been using) don’t seem to brown as quickly.

• Using milk or buttermilk in place of water helps with flavor but changes the texture of the bread — using all water makes for a lighter crumb.

• As far as taste goes, I prefer gluten-free mixes comprised mostly of rice flours (brown or white) versus bean flours. My favorites are King Arthur and Hodgson Mill, and while I have had success with C4C in the past, I didn’t try it here because I couldn’t find it at my local market. If you are going to use C4C, you might have to make adjustments because that mix has xanthum gum in it already. I have a bag of C4C on the way, and I’ll report back as soon as I try a loaf with it.

• If you store your gluten-free flours and xanthum gum in the freezer, bring them to room temperature before using them. You can do this by leaving them out overnight. You could zap them in the microwave. You could warm them in the oven. Having all of your ingredients at room temperature helps the bread rise properly/faster. I also like to bloom the yeast even if I’m using instant yeast because I feel (and I don’t know that there is any real truth to this) it helps speed the rising process along.

• Don’t expect the texture of the dough to be similar to doughs made with flours containing gluten. The gluten-free dough, after it has risen, appears and behaves more like waffle batter after the baking soda has been activated and caused it to bubble and expand.

• On a toasted slice of gluten-free bread, a little butter and sea salt go a long way.

To be clear, too, the recipe provided below is not a miracle recipe, one that will produce a loaf identical in taste to the original and fool whoever is eating it. But the texture is nice — soft and spongy, not too dense, not dry at all — and when sliced, the pieces hold their shape — they don’t crumble the way gluten-free baked goods often do. The flavor, too, especially when the bread is made with whole milk, is surprisingly good. I’m hoping this recipe will serve as springboard for more flavorful variations. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas if you give it a go.

Happy spring, happy weekend, Everyone. Don’t forget to eat your vegetables. They are so good.

The below series of photos shows the process for making two loaves of gluten-free peasant bread using water in one loaf and buttermilk in the other. Here, the yeast is blooming. The top bowl is a mixture of buttermilk, yeast, and sugar; the bottom bowl is a mixture of water, yeast, and sugar:

A friend up here who has a great gluten-free blog introduced me to the King Arthur gluten-free flour mix. It can be found in nearly every market, and it works really well in cupcakes, muffins, quick breads, etc.

Use one egg white per cup of flour:

Just-mixed dough: the top bowl contains the dough with buttermilk; the bottom bowl contains the dough with water.

Rising:

Ready for the oven:

Just baked:

This is the gluten-free peasant bread made with water:

This is the gluten-free peasant bread made with buttermilk. The texture is not quite as light as when made with water, but the flavor is better. The loaves made with whole milk or buttermilk were the tastiest:

The top loaf is made with buttermilk; the bottom is made with water. When made with milk or buttermilk, the bread browns more:

Like the traditional peasant bread, the gluten-free variation makes a pretty nice grilled cheese:

This is the batch using Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Flour:

The exposed surface of every gluten-free variation of this bread always looks a little funky:

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Posted By: alexandra · In: Bread, Fall, Gluten-free, Spring, Summer, Yeast Breads