I’ve long since been a dedicated fan of corn flour in gluten free recipes. Rice flour is commonly used but leaves me with a sour taste, which has led me to refine my own version of gluten free bread as per the following recipe … please try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup corn flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup millet flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 serving of my egg replacer recipe

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat your oven to 400 deg. F and lightly grease an 8.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.5″ bread pan (or one that is as close as possible)

Combine 1 cup of hot water and 1/4 cup of cold water in a medium sized mixing bowl. Thoroughly dissolve the 1 tbsp of active dry yeast in the water using a whisk then add a 1/2 tbsp of the brown sugar, whisk again to completely dissolve and set aside in a warm, dry corner of your counter space to let the yeast activate and get foamy.

In a small mixing bowl, prepare 1 serving of my simple egg replacer recipe and set aside.

In yet another small mixing bowl combine the 4 tbsp of virgin olive oil and 1/2 tsp of white wine vinegar and set aside … now that your 3 bowls of wet ingredients are ready to go, it’s time to combine your dry ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the corn flour, potato starch, millet flour, xanthan gum, salt and remaining 1 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar.

By now the yeast mixture should have a nice frothy foam on top, so go ahead and mix all the wet mixtures into the dry ingredient bowl and mix well.

The resulting “dough” should actually be the consistency of cake or muffin batter, which means that there will be no kneading required or even possible.

Pour the entire contents in to your lightly greased bread pan and pop it directly into the 400 deg oven (gasp) … yes that’s right, without even letting it rise!

I’ve tried many versions of this and other gluten free bread recipes and have found that the dough rises beautifully to a wonderful puffy size but sinks and melts instantly when placed in the hot oven. In my frustration I was compelled to thrust the uncooked and un-risen dough into the oven directly and lo and behold success. It seems as though the dough at the center of the uncooked loaf remains cool enough to let a maority of the active yeast do its work and in the end you are rewarded with a beautiful thick loaf of yummy gluten free, dairy free, egg free bread.

Let the bread cook for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. After cooling you should be able to easily remove the loaf from the pan and let cool for another 10 to 20 minutes depending on the ambient room temperature.

The bread is much easier to slice when it is no longer warm. I’ve taken to slicing and freezing the fresh loaves right away (after scamming a couple warm slices first of course). It toasts fairly well but if you’ve never toasted gluten free bread before, don’t be alarmed … it takes 2 to 3 times longer than conventional bread, just keep an eye on it and take note of what setting your toaster needs to be at.

This recipe is the result of many rounds of experimentation and I certainly invite you to modify to your heart’s content … and let me know what happens :)