A tale of two loaves

Once upon a time, as you may have read, I received a bread maker as a gift. Immediately, I set to work crafting my first mechanically-assisted gluten-free loaf. The recipe I chose was from the bread machine's instruction booklet: a simple white bread that I made GF by substituting Bob's Red Mill GF flour in place of the white flour called for. That this machine was not designed to handle gluten-less baked goods did not bother me. I figured I would simply add some xanthan gum to the mix and call it good. Alas, it was not good. It was really, truly, not good.

The bread never rose. It looked exactly the same after 3 hours as it did after the kneading cycles. It was dense and had kind of a salty flavor. When right-side up, it resembled a skull.

Unbeknownst to me, a standard bread machine kneads the bread three times... a process that is detrimental to finicky GF products. So I packed it up and set out for Bed Bath & Beyond, where I exchanged it for a machine with a specific gluten-free setting.

After stopping by the health food store for a few GF-specific baking products (something I could have done with the first machine, though I doubt it would have made a difference) I was ready to embark upon my second adventure.

Just as I did with the first loaf, I selected the most simple recipe in the booklet (a cheese bread, specifically written for the GF baker) and went to town. What a difference!

This one turned out moist, airy, and delightful in every way. The crust was crunchy but not burnt, and there were no funky aftertastes or odd textures to contend with. It wasn't overly cheesy (in fact, I couldn't taste it at all) and it did not fall after cooling.

The H said this was probably the best gluten-free bread he's tasted. What a compliment! It really was delicious bread, gluten-free or not. I have another loaf (different recipe) in the bread machine right now, this time a simple sandwich bread. I can't wait to try making French toast and clean(ish) BLTs. The specialty ingredients were a bit of an investment, but I can get all of it online for a lot less once we decide what our favorite recipes/ingredients are. Regardless of the price, it will taste WAY better than store-bought stuff! Totally worth it.

And we'll all eat happily ever after.

Well, here goes nothin' ...

My first attempt at homemade bread-machine bread is kneading as I type. It's more of an experiment than anything else; I fully expect to laugh at the result and toss it out after a taste test. Gluten-free breads are tricky when you're *not* trying a new machine at the same time!

The manual was very specific about the temperature of the water and how to add ingredients, and I felt like a sweaty-palmed 7th grader in the chemistry lab for the first time. (What will happen if I DO let water come in contact with the yeast? What if said water is 116 degrees instead of 115*? Are there charred eyebrows and fried textbooks in my future?) Following the instructions on the bag of my GF flour blend, I added some xanthan gum to the mix. The bag also said that yeast breads can be finicky (not a direct quote) and that eggs, vinegar, and even more liquid than the recipe calls for may be required. Well, shoot. How am I supposed to know?! Trial and error, my friends. No doubt many, many errors, in various states of edibility. I am not what one might call "a baker." Cooking has always been more sensory than scientific for me. I love to stir, smell, taste, add and poke when I cook, and last I knew, breads did not take kindly to such involvement.

As I left the kitchen, the little kneading arm was spinning its heart out, and my lumpy lump of dough was being dutifully tossed about. Given the appearance of some flour clods stuck to the sides of the bread pan, I likely will not be photographing the end result... or maybe I will. Laughter is good for the soul.