Bake with these gluten-free grains for bread under the guidance of a pastry chef and a doctor with this simple gluten-free bread recipe book.
It all started with an unlikely partnership between a pastry chef and a doctor. A national bestselling series of cookbooks resulted, featuring delicious and simple gluten-free bread bread recipes with instructions simple enough for even a self-proclaimed “so-so” baker, such as myself. Jeff Hertzberg’s and Zoë François’ differing backgrounds marry flavor, ease of preparation, and balanced nutrition to produce artisan bread creations that can be prepared in minutes and baked fresh daily. Even better, the duo’s latest installment adapts the beloved quick and delicious creations into recipes that can be enjoyed by individuals who have long since assumed tasty bakery treats are a thing of the past: those on a gluten-free diet.
As a person diagnosed with celiac disease, my diet is barren of doughy treats, buns, loaves, and most bakery goodness. Imagine my pure delight when I discovered this collection of 90 recipes made with gluten-free ingredients, so many new culinary options to add variety to my somewhat bland daily menus.
No doubt, you know one or more people who require a gluten-free lifestyle. This limiting diet has become less rare over the years as more scientific research is available on several illnesses. There are now three known types of medical issues caused by consuming variants of wheat, barley, and rye: celiac disease, wheat allergy, and gluten sensitivity.
Celiac Disease
An autoimmune disorder known as celiac disease can be definitively diagnosed through biopsy of the upper small intestine. While often mistaken as an allergy, celiac disease causes the body to mount an immune response triggered by gluten protein. The result can be a variety of symptoms, beginning with a decrease in nutrient absorption in the damaged intestine. This can lead to anemia as well as many unpleasant digestive issues. Malnutrition can cause an extensive list of complications that are often misdiagnosed. Celiac disease is estimated to affect nearly 1 out of 100 individuals. The tiniest amount of gluten (1⁄2,000 of an ounce) can trigger an autoimmune response, although this number can vary. Because of this low threshold, the only treatment for this disease is a completely gluten-free diet.
Wheat Allergy
Gluten, or other wheat seed components, can be a triggering allergen. Symptoms resulting from a wheat allergy can include hives; itching; nausea; vomiting; swelling of the lips, face, tongue or throat; wheezing; and a dangerous decrease in blood pressure known as “anaphylactic shock.” Children can outgrow a wheat allergy, making this issue uncommon in adolescents and adults, and much less common than celiac disease. Again, to be safe, complete gluten avoidance is the best course of action.
Gluten Sensitivity
A lot is unknown about this newly emerging syndrome. Without medical explanation, some people benefit digestively from removing gluten from their diet, although the exact reasoning is unclear. This is a difficult diagnosis, and often people come to the conclusion through a trial of cutting out gluten.
Gluten-Free Grains for Bread
According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, “Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat (wheat berries, durum, emmer, semolina, spelt, farina, farro, graham, KAMUT® Khorasan wheat and einkorn), rye, barley and triticale – a cross between wheat and rye. Gluten helps foods maintain their shape, acting as a glue that holds food together.” If you’re looking to remove gluten from your diet, you’ll need to identify and avoid the following ingredients when baking: wheat (all-purpose flour, bread flour, whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, wheat germ, graham flour, pastry flour), barley and barley malt, bulgur, durum, einkorn, emmer, farro, freekeh, sprouted wheat, Kamut, triticale, yeast containing enzymes that enhance wheat doughs, rye, semolina, and spelt.
The authors of Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day replace traditional gluten ingredients with suitable gluten-free grains for bread, such as amaranth, bean flours, buckwheat, corn, cornmeal, cornstarch, garbanzo flour, millet, nut flours, certified gluten-free oats, potato, psyllium, quinoa, rice, sorghum, soy, tapioca, teff, and gluten-free yeasts products not containing added enzymes.
Traditional bread recipes include gluten ingredients to give texture and rise to the finished product. Baking the “old-fashioned” way requires much more time and cleanup, requiring many bowls and utensils. The adapted, simple gluten-free bread recipes developed by Hertzberg and Francois will have you baking fresh gluten-free creations daily using pre-mixed, pre-risen, high-moisture refrigerator dough. This dough doesn’t require kneading, as there’s no gluten to develop. Portion off a section of pre-made dough, shape it, and pop it in the oven. You don’t need to follow the recipe start to finish daily, because the high-moisture dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 10 days, or frozen and kept longer. You won’t need a sponge or starter, and proofing the yeast isn’t required.
Tools for Simple Gluten-Free Bread Recipes
Along with the 90 new simple gluten-free bread recipes, Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day also has chapters that thoroughly teach kitchen novices the ins and outs of baking success from start to finish. There’s a practical guide to ingredients that will help you select the perfect blend of gluten-free grains for bread for your dough. There’s also a section on the equipment you’ll need, items such as oven thermometers and baking stones. If this is your first foray into bread-making, skip the search and purchase the Breadsmart Artisan Bread Making Kit from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Store. The curated selection of items is everything you’ll need to start making bread at home, besides a regular oven. This tool set is for all experience levels and doesn’t require a bread machine. The Breadsmart Artisan Bread Making Kit includes a Danish dough whisk, dough scraper, proofing banneton basket, cotton basket liner, and dual-ended lame with 10 spare replacement blades.
The “Tips and Techniques” chapter will tutor you on when to measure ingredients by weight and when to measure by cup, as well as on how much dough to make and store for your personal needs. Be sure to check out the chapter that includes frequently asked questions from readers to help with any additional bread-making queries you may have.
Decisions, Decisions
You’re ready to mix and store your dough, but where do you start? The glossy photo section of this recipe book will have your head spinning with the myriad of options you can now introduce into your gluten-free diet. So many delicious recipes requiring so little time and effort! When I was diagnosed with celiac disease, the first thing that flashed through my mind was all the delicious, doughy foods that were now in my rearview mirror. Sure, I could try to special order gluten-free bakery items and artisan breads, but those items come with a hefty price tag, and availability is scarce depending on geographic location. Even the most simple and unsatisfying loaf of gluten-free sandwich bread at your local grocer is going to cost several times that of a loaf containing gluten. This book offers 90 options at a fraction of the commercial cost. Now, I can decide to have baguettes one day and beignets the next. Other recipes included are: Pull-Apart Rolls, Deli-Style “Rye” (without the rye), Spicy Pork Buns, Vermont Cheddar Bread, Panettone, Monkey Bread, Crisp Cheesy Bread Sticks, and, my personal hard-to-find favorite, English Muffins. The list goes on and on, but I’ll let you explore this collection of gluten-free adapted bread recipes for yourself.
Christine Stoner is an editor for Gas Engine Magazine and works on various other titles within Ogden Publications. She has a passion for fitness, healthy living, and sustainability.
Visit the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Store to order the Breadsmart Artisan Bread Making Kit and Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François.
