GF Bread Baking Thread

[ewp11100]

I need guidence from some fellow GF bakers

I am new to GF and previously have been a big baker. I baked our own bread, muffins, cookies, birthday cakes, tortillas, you name it. Untill now I have only tried once to make GF bread... Lets just say the only thing it was good for was bread crumbs Since then I have not tried because I can't afford to buy GF flours, nor waste the money on bread that is not fit for consumtion. I was gifted today a ton of GF baking mix (several different brands but mostly Pamela's), coconut flour, flaxseed flour, brown rice flour, ect ect by another homeschooling family who is moving to Australias Here are some questions I have:

SHould I make one big GF baking mix by combining all the mixes and flours I have?
I also was given a box of egg replacer whould this help to through in the mix?
What is the best method to making GF bread?
Have any good recipes?

TIA!

[lmk1]

I would not mix up the different flours! If you have Pamela's bread mix (she also makes a baking mix for pancakes, etc), that is one of my favorites. If you follow the directions on the package, it should come out ok. I don't know if egg replacer would help; we've never used it... Really, just following the instructions should work for Pamela's. There's also a lot of recipes on her website...just google Pamela's Products. I also like Bob's Red Mill hearty bread mix.

[ewp11100]

The Pamela's in the baking/Pancake mix, which I have made delish pancakes with before. I thought that mixing the flours would strech the Pamela's out so I would have more. Also of what limited reading I have done most GF bakers make their own mix but adding differnet flours together, is their some benift to that?

[kjbrown92]

different flours work for different applications. I can't usually use any mixes because they contain xanthan gum (almost always corn) or potato starch (DS can't have) or cornstarch (DS and DD2 can't have). So I make my own... but when I make waffles I use light buckwheat flour, when I make gravy, I use sorghum flour and sweet potato flour. When I make bread, I use a mix. I use a gum with it when I'm making bread. Pizza crust, I use buckwheatpete.com's recipe for pitas. Tortillas are sorghum and something else. Sometimes I use tapioca starch. It's been a lot of trial and error. If there was a mix we could use, I'd jump at it and not mess with it, just for convenience sake.

[karika]

We are GFCFSF here too. Today I was saying I need to learn to make bread. We just went without bread to begin with, having made from scratch muffins and pancakes only, but then I found Udi's brand, white sandwich bread that is GFCFSF. We love it, but Udi's is too expensive. $6 I have never made bread (saw this thread in new posts), but do remember 'helping' great grandma make it, and doughnuts...yum I will do some searching, but watching here too

[Chinese Pistache]

I really like this site for information on how to get the baking right: http://glutenfreemommy.com/gluten-fr...d-baking-tips/ She has some good recipes, too. I loved her oat and millet bread.

I had a basic baking mix (used for pancakes usually), but I had a lot of stand alone flours, too. Different flours work for different things. I made and UNcornbread with sorghum flour, for example. It had the heavier texture of corn that rice flour couldn't duplicate.

Don't mix in the egg replacer with your flours because it definitely won't work right. You need to make it up with water each time you need it in a recipe.

[chellebee]

I thought this thread may be a good place to ask this (hopefully not hijacking!)...

What do you folks do instead of xanthan gum if you avoid corn? I have the coconut flour blend from Gluten Free Mama along with her recipe book. She calls for xanthan gum in everything. It looks like i can sub guar gum? sorghum? Anything else? Is it an equal substitution and does it work ok?

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by chellebee

I thought this thread may be a good place to ask this (hopefully not hijacking!)...

What do you folks do instead of xanthan gum if you avoid corn? I have the coconut flour blend from Gluten Free Mama along with her recipe book. She calls for xanthan gum in everything. It looks like i can sub guar gum? sorghum? Anything else? Is it an equal substitution and does it work ok?

3 tsps xanthan = 4 tsps guar
Kathy uses karaya gum but I can't remember conversion for it atm.

[ewp11100]

Originally Posted by chellebee

I thought this thread may be a good place to ask this (hopefully not hijacking!)...

What do you folks do instead of xanthan gum if you avoid corn? I have the coconut flour blend from Gluten Free Mama along with her recipe book. She calls for xanthan gum in everything. It looks like i can sub guar gum? sorghum? Anything else? Is it an equal substitution and does it work ok?

Your not hijacking! I was hoping we could all learn more from each other

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

3 tsps xanthan = 4 tsps guar
Kathy uses karaya gum but I can't remember conversion for it atm.

1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum = 1 tsp. karaya gum
2 tsp. guar gum = 1 tsp. karaya gum
according to your previous post in the other thread, Jacqueline.

[fizzymom]

I found Gluten-free Baking with The Culinary School of America recently and the recipes in it are amazing! All of the flour mixes (5 of them) are rice based and DS2 can't have rice, but I have been subbing other flours and have still had great results. The recipes would probably be even better if you can use rice flour. A couple of my favorites are pumpkin loaf (super moist and very "normal" in texture) and Irish soda bread (Yum!).

[elonwy]

I have always like Bette Hagmans 4-flour blend. It works really well for things like cookies and sweet things.
Bette Hagman's Four Flour Mix (from The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread).
Garfava Bean Flour 2/3 part
Sorghum Flour 1/3 part
Cornstarch 1 part
Tapioca Flour 1 part
We use Pamela's for bread cause my husband is the one who likes sandwiches, so he makes the bread. I love The Gluten Free Pantry french bread and pizza dough mix, I either make it in my french bread pan or dump it all in a normal bread pan, lovely white interior with a crunchy delicious crust. Kinda pricey, but you can buy it in bulk from Amazon. It also makes great dinner rolls, very versatile mix. We use that for fancy bread times, like holidays.
Have you guys checked out the boards at Celiac.com?

[ewp11100]

Originally Posted by fizzymom

I found Gluten-free Baking with The Culinary School of America recently and the recipes in it are amazing! All of the flour mixes (5 of them) are rice based and DS2 can't have rice, but I have been subbing other flours and have still had great results. The recipes would probably be even better if you can use rice flour. A couple of my favorites are pumpkin loaf (super moist and very "normal" in texture) and Irish soda bread (Yum!).

I put a hold on it from the library, thanks!

[MariaMadly]

Originally Posted by ewp11100

I put a hold on it from the library, thanks!

I was about to suggest the library! My mother had to go GF in her 70's (breads were her vice; it's been an adjustment) and has been experimenting ever since. What our public library doesn't have, I've requested on inter-library loan. Check different boards, amazon.com, other sources for a list of book titles that sound most promising. Some are cookbooks, but the ones my mother liked most had a lot of background info on how to choose flour proportions and combinations. Good luck!