I have so much reverence for the craft of making bread and have utter respect for the talented artisans that make them. To me, it seems like the most meditative baking ritual, and only those blessed with the innate intuition would know how much kneading is enough, who would sense when they have coaxed just the right amount of gluten to make a perfect product with just the right crackly earthy crust and just the right chewy yeasty center. Ah, the staff of life.
I have never really tried to make it at home because I always thought that I don’t have the time to do *all that* – measure, mix, knead, let rise, punch around, shape, oil – you get it. But then I had a classmate at Carnegie Mellon from Spain, dear Abel, who made his own bread regularly. It was such an exotic thing, especially in the context of grad school where it was more common to see Powerbars and Red Bulls as constant companions. But for him, it was most natural! He was probably horrified by the gummy latex loaves he found at the grocery store. He pointed out how easy it was to make your own bread, especially if you don’t bother with pans and make boules. He *did* make it look easy but I was still skeptical of my own skills…and patience…and propensity to be unprecise. He rolled his eyes.
Fast forward years later. After being diagnosed gluten-sensitive I have since avoided wheat, and by default, my days of cavalierly grabbing boules and baguettes are over. But there are just no good gluten-free alternatives out there. Widely available GF bread is tough, dry, tasteless. More importantly, I was also disappointed that most gluten-free products out there are made solely from rice flour and a mix of simple starches, robbing them of valuable fiber. It was somewhat disgusting to me that I was regularly filling myself up with food that had 1 gram of fiber per serving. And I just could not suggest that to many of my clients who are also gluten intolerant. It is not functional food. I might as well be eating the 99 cent special.
So after a few months of making do with the sad excuses for “bread” that gluten-free commercial manufacturers produce, I bought my last frozen Food for Life Brown Rice Loaf, had a Scarlett moment, and swore, I will never be hungry [for bread] again!
With 1 in 133 people suffering from celiac disease and a much greater number gluten-sensitive (many undiagnosed or in denial!) the quest for truly GOOD gluten-free bread is essential. And when I say “good” – I mean on both flavor and function. A trip to Sweden this past spring — where gluten-free options are available pretty much everywhere and where supermarket GF bread delivers 5 g of fiber per serving and actually tastes good – proved that it can be done!
It was time to take matters into my own hands. So a couple of weeks ago, I found myself at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York in a bread baking bonanza of a class. The amazing Rebecca Reilly, who went gluten-free before it was fashionable (LOL) was teaching two back-to-back classes. One of them pies, tarts and quiches and the other so very aptly titled, “Gluten Freedom: Reclaiming Our Daily Bread.” How can I go wrong with someone who has been perfecting it for years, and more importantly, someone who has been for years prior to going GF, been such an excellent classical French pastry chef? I knew she wasn’t going to accept excuses. And I was so right.
I almost cried at how delicious everything we made was. Amazing. Who needs wheat?!? And with a lot of my clients being gluten-sensitive, I long to share the epiphany.
She made bread and pastry that need no qualification. That is, if you taste her recipes and creations, there is no need to preface the offering with an apologetic, “its gluten free.” And the diversity of her audience was testament to how inspiring she is. Both and experienced and novice, students came from Brazil, Amsterdam, Australia, Atlanta, Washington. There was barely room for New Yorkers.
It was an amazing two days. With oohs and aahhhs and happy faces. I was stuffed to the gills. Happily. I came home inspired.
One of the many upsides of going gluten-free is that I have been forced to explore the myriad of grains out there. On cooking, I have always said, because of the newfound flavors that I’ve experienced, I don’t think I can ever go back to grain monogamy. Now I can also say that about baking. Who else uses grains, beans, seeds and grasses for baking? Amaranth, teff, buckwheat, Montina, chickpea, coconut, almond…because there are so many different flour options and a variety of resulting flavors with each combination, you just have to explore. It’s the end of making do with repeated iterations of one wheat flour. And start of high fiber, high protein, high taste baking.
But…will I be able to do it on my own? The Proof is in the Pumpernickel!
That’s the first thing I decided to try. It was so good when we made it in class, cradling a mouthwatering Reuben. I had to prove I can make it on my own.
I started out with some trepidation, my 5 year old, looking on, helping measure and pour…and reminding me of my single previous attempt at GF bread “Mommy, remember when the bread grew and exploded all over?” Nice. “Yes, Arto, I left the dough to sit out too long” (and it resulted in “bread” with a hollow center and a dense bottom, that almost resigned me to eating frozen bread for life). But I channeled Rebecca and remembered all her reminders.
Oh and one other upside to no-wheat baking – no need to knead! Because there is no gluten, all GF breads are batter breads that can be mixed in your stand mixer. I will finally be able to use the paddle attachment that’s been sitting lonely in my drawer, since I got my Kitchenaid.
And yes, it turned out amazing. Light brown, crusty, soft, chewy, slightly sweet, with the perfect caraway note. We enjoyed it with butter right out of the oven and made some scrumptious Tempeh Reuben sandwiches for dinner.
Yes, the list of ingredients is long. BUT if you pre-mix a big batch of the dry ingredients (without the yeast) or at least make a big batch of the High-Fiber Blend so that you always have it handy (remember this replaces your “all purpose flour” in traditional recipes) then it becomes much easier.
It feels good to reclaim your daily bread!
Rebecca Reilly’s Pumpernickel Bread
Recipe has been veganized
Dry Ingredients
2 ¾ cups High Fiber Blend flour (see below)
¼ cup stone ground cornmeal
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 T xantham gum or guar gum
¼ cup maple sugar or brown sugar
2 tsp. toasted caraway seeds
5 T yeast
Liquid ingredients
2 eggs or egg replacer equivalent
¼ c. dark agave syrup or maple syrup
¼ c. melted butter or oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 c. rice milk, soy or So Delicious coconut milk
1 tsp. instant espresso
1 T Dutch process cocoa powder
Hi-Fiber Flour Blend
Makes 3 cups
1 cup sorghum flour or superfine brown rice flour
½ cup teff flour
½ cup millet flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup arrowroot
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8×4 bread pan and line with parchment paper. Sprinkle cornmeal on the bottom.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk all liquids together with instant espresso and cocoa powder. Slowly pour into dry ingredients and mix together. And more milk if necessary. Beat on medium high for 3 minutes.
4. Spoon dough into prepared bread pan. Smooth the top using your oiled finger or the back of an oiled spoon. Cover with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until dough reaches the top of pan.
5. Place on middle rack in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until done. Bread is done when the internal temperature is 190-200 degrees F. Lift the bread out of the pan and bake on oven rack for another 5 minutes. Bread is done when it is brown and it sounds hollow when tapped. Place on cooling rack. Remove parchment paper.
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