It is with great joy and anticipation that I share this recipe with you today. I have been trying to create decent and palatable gluten free breads for longer than I care to remember. I have had so many failed attempts in my kitchen, the fingers on both hands aren’t enough to count. My main concern with the end product was a lack of flavor and a texture that was together too crumbly, too crunchy and too sticky. The many requests I received from you inspired me to look for more suitable flours and, about a month ago I got my hands on Caputo Fiore Glut flour, especially made for bread baking. And the bread pictured above is a result of such fortunate encounter. In case you are wondering, yes, it tastes as good as it looks! I served it to my husband and eldest son, who are used to eating my home-made wheat sourdough, and for a moment they didn’t even realize this bread was gluten free! I have trialed this recipe six times, to make sure I have the right familiarity and confidence to talk you through what to expect when using, touching and tasting it. I hope my experiments and advise are enough for you to try for yourself and succeed.

PS I would advise you go online and find out how to get your hands on this flour, as I am not sure substituting with any other GF flour would work. I have no commercial association with this brand, so I can’t be helpful in suggesting where to find it. Please note I am in Sydney, Australia. You can try searching for “deglutinated” bread flour” and see what you find.

Please remember this flour contains no gluten, which, once reacting with water and yeast is the force that makes the bread dough rise. As there is no gluten in this recipe, the dough will not rise as much as a regular wheat loaf.

This bread is very similar to the flavor and texture of sourdough. If you are after a softer type of bread (like sandwich bread or rolls), hang in there, I will start testing for those soon!

INGREDIENTS 

450 gr Caputo Fiore Glut GF flour

1×7 gr sachet of dry yeast

300 ml of luke warm water

1 teaspoon of  GF rice malt syrup (or honey)

1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt flakes

METHOD

Please note I have only included metric measurements as this is how I tested this recipe and feel more comfortable. You can try translating into oz, but I would avoid cups, as they are not precise enough for this type of preparation. 

The timing and oven temperature is based on my own home oven (Ilve). All ovens seem to vary slightly, so you may need to adjust according to your oven specifications

1. Place flour in a large mixing bowl, add yeast, rice malt syrup, oil and 250 ml of water. Use a wooden or plastic chopstick to mix ingredients together. Add the rest of the water gradually, as needed. Add the salt and mix through.

At this stage the dough looks a bit like cement, hence the use of a stick instead of kneading with your hands.

2. Once the dough is coming together, use your hands to squish it like you would with play dough. You will soon start to notice it’s becoming “kneadable”. Flour your bench with GF flour, tip the dough onto the bench and start reading until smooth. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Roll into a ball, place it back in the bowl, dust with GF flour and cover with plastic film, to rest and prove for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

3. Once the dough has proven, tip it onto a bench, dust with GF flour and stretch the dough into a rectangle.

You will notice it will look slightly crumbly at this stage.

Fold each side into the middle, then roll into a ball. Repeat two more times. Shape back into a ball and leave to prove, smooth side down, onto a bread basket or colander well dusted with GF flour. Prove for 2 hour or until almost doubled in size. In cold climate this can take longer.

You will notice that the more you fold and roll, the more it starts resembling wheat dough. Basically we are cheating this GF flour to act like wheat flour! Also the folding and rolling will ensure you a nicer crumbs, dotted with little holes, just like wheat sourdough.

4. Preheat your oven to 250 C (480 F), conventional. Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, gently tip the risen dough onto a cast iron pot lined with baking paper. If you have proved the bread in a bread basket or colander, make sure the pattern embossed onto the dough is on top. Score the top with a sharp knife or razor. Put the lid on (make sure there are no plastic parts) and bake it for 35 minutes. Turn the heat down to 220 C (420 F), take the lid off and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the top is a dark caramel. Bake it for a little longer, if need be. You know your loaf is cooked through if it sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom, Take the pot out of the over (please use mitts!), lift out the bread, peel off the baking paper and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before slicing.

If you don’t have a cast iron pot, simply place the proved dough onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Score the top with a knife or razor, put in the oven and spray the top with water using a spray bottle. Repeat the spraying after 5 minutes, This will ensure you a lovely, crunchy crust, with a little shine to it. Bake at 250 C for 35 minutes, then turn the oven down to 220 C to finish baking. Cool on a wire rack as indicated above.

This bread will keep for a few days, wrapped in baking paper. When slicing, always use a serrated bread knife, as the crust really needs it. When eating once it has just cooled down, this bread is at its very best! Crunchy crust and soft moist crumb. Once it starts going stale, it is lovely toasted, in fact I have just had a little jam toast using a 2-day old GF bread!

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