If you love bread and have recently found you have coeliac disease, it can be difficult to contemplate a life without it. Luckily, you do not have to think about life without bread, as there are some fantastic options open to you, including a gluten free bread roll or a gluten free loaf through prescription, if you qualify. Alongside this, gluten-free yeast is available if you would like to try baking your own gluten-free bread at home.
Making delicious gluten-free bread is easier than ever before. In some ways, it could be said that making gluten-free bread is easier and quicker than baking traditional bread that contains gluten. All you need is the best gluten-free ingredients, some tips and advice, and some recipes to follow. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to make good gluten-free bread.
- Use room temperature ingredients
To get the best result when making bread you should use room temperature ingredients. Chilled ingredients will slow the chances of leavening bread. Measure your flours and leave in a bowl overnight before baking and measure perishable ingredients about an hour before you begin to prepare the recipe.
- Don’t scoop flour
If you have a measuring cup, do not use it to scoop your gluten-free flour directly from the bag, as this can compress flour, sometimes up to 25%. Instead, use a spoon to scoop up the flour into your measuring cup.
- Choose high protein flour
Gluten is protein, so when making gluten-free bread you need to incorporate proteins in different ways. By using high-protein gluten-free flour you add flavour and structure to the final product.
- Choose a recipe with eggs
Eggs naturally help with the leavening process, boosting the rise and volume of bread, whilst also adding moisture, protein, and flavour to the recipe. Including eggs in your gluten-free bread recipe, the bread is more likely to have a better colour, more volume, and a soft texture, whilst also extending the shelf-life of the gluten-free loaf.
- Use carbonated water
As you will struggle to get the same volume as bread with gluten, you can use carbonated water or gluten-free beer instead of water, helping to add flavour and to lighten the batter before you bake the dough.
- Don’t follow your instinct for baking bread
If you are used to baking traditional bread, you’ll instinctively know how much to knead the dough and to punch down on the dough. This does not need to be done with gluten-free bread, and punching down on gluten-free bread will just destroy the rise you might achieve, as it is designed to help stretch the gluten and the dough.
- Shape your gluten-free bread
Because it is harder to get a rise with gluten-free bread, you should shape it before they rise, as they will only rise once during the whole process. Depending on the type of bread you are baking, there are different ways you can shape the bread.
- Take the temperature
It’s important not to take the bread out of the oven before it is cooked, as this will leave a bottom that is rubbery. Insert an instant read thermometer that is placed all the way to the bottom of the loaf but without touching the pan. The temperature should be between 96-99 °C.
- Take your time cooling bread
When the bread is cooked, turn off the oven, open the door and allow the bread to cool down slowly. If you take it out of the oven straight away and onto a cold counter, it can sometimes lead to the loaf sinking.
As you can see, there are a few things that you can do to give yourself a better chance of making good quality gluten-free bread. With access to quality ingredients, whether through a gluten-free prescription (should you qualify for this) or in the supermarket, it is easier than ever before to eat good gluten-free bread if you have coeliac symptoms. If you want to buy ready-made gluten-free bread however, you can also gain access to quality products through prescription or in supermarkets.
