As one of us has to confine the bread on their plate to gluten-free (while looking a little sadly at the sourdough delights across the table) there has been a fair bit of experimentation here in recent years to find a decent recipe for gluten-free loaves. The stuff you can buy on the expensive shops is a bit “Mother’s Pride-ish” to be honest. I had settled for some time on baking bread based on the GF flour mix from the Angélique company in Quebec. It is actually quite nice and has been well received but contains some chia seed which is also problematic in this house. Seeking some variety and wanting a challenge, I have tinkered and fiddled and researched and now offer this new recipe for your consideration should you want or need GF bread at your table … .

One of the criteria for this bread was that as well as being gluten-free, it was not to contain any hint of the Chia seeds which are used a lot to help these breads rise but which have been declared troublesome by my test subject in recent months. Most people are fine with it but those that are not are very much troubled by its presence.

So, here is the method … gluten free bread is not regular bread and is generally heavier than wheat-based breads. That’s just the way it is. You can do the same things with it however – sandwiches, toast etc. This recipe produces quite a solid loaf, but not a heavy one and is certainly tasty. It toasts nicely. Just don’t expect light and fluffy, commercial style GF bread – at least when you make this recipe you know what you are putting into it. Plenty of fibre and good flavour from a somewhat complex mixture of flours.

Do note that this flour mix is something that you can adjust by making substitutions according to your taste and the availability of ingredients. You can increase the weights to suit the bread tins you use but do make sure to keep the various ratios as described here. Note: a number of GF bread recipes use rice flour – up to you, but frankly the only thing it brings to the bread is to reduce the cost and add bulk – if you want a “whiter” bread though you could substitute rice flour for the teff.

Dry Ingredients

  • 100g teff flour or buckwheat flour
  • 100g tapioca starch
  • 100g oat flakes (as in porridge oats, not oat flour)
  • 50g garbanzo or fava bean flour
  • 50g millet flour
  • 50g almond flour
  • 50g of Amaranth flour OR an all purpose gluten-free flour (Angelique’s blend is much the best)
  • 1 cup of pumpkin seeds or toasted sesame seeds (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons of xanthum gum
  • Salt
  • 2 teaspoons of rapid yeast

Then add:

  • 1 egg (note if you are vegan you can omit the egg but it does help the bread to retain its rise)
  • 350g of tepid water
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey
  • 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar

Stir it all together to form a wet and rather sticky dough

Put into your bread tin and smooth the top with a damp spatula. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and put into a warm place for two hours … I put it into the oven with just the light on which seems to be perfect as far as temperature goes.

After two hours it will have risen quite a bit.

Turn the oven to 350F – use fan assist if available – and bake for 50 minutes to one hour. Don’t pre-heat the oven but put the bread in right from the start. The loaf starts to cook slowly as the temperature rises. This is unlike regular bread which goes into a pre-heated hot oven.

Turn out, allow to cool, slice and eat.