CBC Almanac Visit - all about bread

This first photo is my first try with a no gluten recipe. Not bad! Today I have posted four recipes: a no gluten bread, a sprouted bread, rye and Nic's Crackers - a recipe that came to me through the grapevine all the way from New Zealand! Nic, if you are listening "Thank you!!"

Run all the way to the bottom to see what I will be posting tomorrow - the final recipes for stolen, candied fruit and pizza. 

No Gluten Bread

Ingredients

3 cups Bob’s Red Mill blended all-purpose no-gluten flour

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1 ½ teaspoons tragacanth powder

1 ½ teaspoons gelatin

a little salt

1 ½ cups water

2 eggs

5 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons honey

Little, tiny splash of white vinegar

2 ½ teaspoons yeast granules, dissolved in ¼ cup water with a teaspoon Bob’s Red Mill flour

brown rice flour

butter for greasing pan

Preparation

1.      Blend flour, xanthan powder, tragacanth powder, gelatin and salt in a bowl.

2.      Blend water, eggs, melted butter and honey in a mixer until well combined.

3.      Add flour mixer slowly to the liquid mixture, mixing well between additions. After the first addition add the yeast mixture.

4.      Once all the flour has been added, beat the batter on med-high for 4 to five minutes. It will have lightened slightly in colour.

5.      Meanwhile, grease and flour a 8 by 4 loaf pan.

6.      Scrape the batter into the loaf pan, cover and let rest/rise for one hour in a warmish, draft-less spot in the kitchen.

7.      Bake at 375 for one hour. Cover the loaf with foil half way through baking.

8.      Allow the bread to cool before slicing.

Notes:

     The recipe online was kind of confusing, (so of course I decided to use it!)not to mention I didn’t have guar guar gum. So I substituted tragacanth for it. We will see what happens. Both seem to be used to provide structure – although the tragacanth gum I usually use for my pastillage, so it isn’t cooked.

I am assuming all these gums are the structural substitute for gluten. They guar gum is legume based, while the tagacanth, while derived from a plant, is made from sap. Xanthan powder is derived from the fermentation of sucrose, fructose and lactose and is used as a stabilizer – it holds other ingredients in place or suspension. I guess this is to address the potential for the ingredients to separate during the rising and baking process.

     We shall see how my substitutions go.

     The substitutions went just fine. The bread has a very fine texture, small bubbles and a moist, kind of spongy crumb. It doesn’t bounce back like gluten bread, hence the spongy rather than springy description. Not at all bad … there is a distinct legume-y kind of smell to it, although no one else mentioned it in the family.

     So, I tried making it with rice flour....I'll talk about that on the show!

 Sweet Rye Bread

Well, this one did not turn out as well as my last one….I think the starter is not vigorous enough yet. We will slice it thin and spread it with sweet butter and it will still taste lovely. I am going to assume that if you make this recipe you have already made a starter. It doesn’t have to be 100% rye starter, you can use the recipe for a standard starter.

Rye Poolish (overnight batter)

240 ml boiled water – cooled to body temperature

½ cup rye flour

Dough

rye poolish

200 ml rye starter

120 ml honey (just over a 1/3^rd of a cup)

50 ml water

2 ¾ cup rye flour

1 tsp salt

generous ½ teaspoon ground cardamom

zest of one orange, minced

Preparation

1.      Butter and flour a 7 inch square pan.

2.      Combine rye polish, starter, honey and water.

3.      Stir in flour, salt, cardamom and zest.

4.      Pour the batter into prepared pan, smooth the surface. Cover and let rise 5 to 6 hours.

5.      Bake the loaf, covered with foil, for 1 hour at 375. Remove the cover and bake for 30 minutes more.

6.      Cool, wrap and let sit 2 days before serving.

 Sprouted Wheat Bread

Approximately one and a half days before baking:

Soak 3 cups of wheat berries 8 to 12 hours in tepid water (overnight). Drain, place in a colander lined with cotton cloth (no lint-ish fabric) or fine mesh fabric, cover with plate and set aside on another plate for 8 hours. Rinse with tepid water, cover and set aside again for 8 hours. Rinse and look carefully at the sprouts. You want them to just start sprouting for bread making. If they haven’t started by now, rinse again, set aside covered for 4 more hours and check again. Keep checking regularly until you see the little white sprout.

Ingredients

4 cups soaked, sprouted wheat berries

1/8 cup tepid water

1 teaspoon flour

2 ½ teaspoon granulated yeast

Approximately 2 tablespoons water

Preparation

1.      Grind soaked wheat berries in the food processor. This can take approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

2.      When the grains are approximately ½ ground, (you will see the berries will be broken in half), add the yeast mixture.

3.      Continue blending. Add one or two tablespoons water to help grind and create a dough. This addition of water is dependent on how wet the wheat berries were when they were put into the food process. Grind the berries until a sticky, chunky coarse paste is formed that spins into a ball. Continue processing for a few more moments – the ball can break back down to spread to the sides, but when it does, stop processing the dough.

4.      Turn into an ungreased bowl, let rest/rise for an hour and a half.

5.      After the first rise, press the dough down, knead briefly (about 6 turns) working some more air into the dough. Shape into a round, place on a sheet of parchment set upon a bread/pizza peel or flat cookie sheet. Cover and let rise one to one and a half hours, or until when pressed with one finger, the dough bounces back slowly.

6.      Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375. Bake the risen bread for one hour.

Nic’s Crackers

1 ½ cups flour

1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

1 tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix, or oregano (or one tablespoon fresh oregano, minced)

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

½ cup water

Preparation

1.      Mix flour, sesame seeds, herbs and salt together in a bowl.

2.      Combine oils and water, add to dry ingredients, stir to combine well.

3.      Divide the dough into four. Roll each piece into a ball, then start rolling out at thin as you can on a lightly floured surface. You can roll these crackers about as thick as a sesame seed. Cut into squares, bake at 325 for 15 to 20 minutes. The crackers will be golden brown when ready. 

Pear and blue cheese with caramelized onions

Stolen with marzipan filling and homemade candied fruit