Better White Sandwich Bread

I don't know about you, but my tastebuds didn't fall off when I stopped eating gluten. Most of the bread recipes I find just make me sad. You know what I mean- mix xanthan with the following nine flours and some eggs- make sure the mung bean powder is organic, get your magnifying glass ready when it comes to the rising step. . . and you're left with a sad, squat little brown loaf that tastes like bread, if you close your eyes, hold your nose, and shoot half a bottle of whiskey before you try to eat it.

What these recipes do wrong is put the onus on the flour mixtures. In fact, flour mixtures matter much less than you'd think, and many specialty flours do nothing but drain your wallet and add strange aftertastes. The magic of gluten free baking happens in the binding agents! And xanthan, though it's really good at sticking things together, isn't the best choice when rise is paramount. Though I couldn't find much precedence for using alternatives, I kept trying because a little voice in my head was very insistent: There must be a better way. This can't possibly be as good as it gets.

Happily, that turned out to be true. The result of my months of experimentation is a loaf that uses a combination of three binders. The first is cooked rice flour- you may have heard this called a water roux or tangzhong. The second is golden flax, which is wildly underappreciated, in my opinion. And finally, a small amount of guar. The combination produces a white sandwich loaf that is so clearly real bread that you may find yourself doubting that there's no wheat flour in it even after making it yourself. If you're nervous about making your own bread, check out the YouTube video at the end of the post that shows all the steps. Enjoy :-)

**I highly recommend measuring ingredients with a baking scale. This recipe is really tough to get right measuring by volume.**

Ingredients

• 65 g (1/3 Cup) Sugar
• 165 g (2/3 Cup) Boiling Water
• 25 g White Rice Flour (1/4 Cup White Rice Flour or 3 Tbsp Superfine)
• 370 g (1 1/2 Cups) Tap Water
• 80 g (1/3 Cup + 1 Tbsp) Canola or other Oil, plus extra for greasing pan and painting loaf
• 10 g (1 Tbsp + 2 Tsp) Golden Flax Meal
• 1 Tsp Guar
• 9 g (2 1/4 Tsp) Dry Active Yeast
• 430 g White Rice Flour (4 2/3 Cups White Rice Flour or 3 1/4 Cups Superfine)
• 180 g (1 2/3 Cups) Tapioca Starch/Flour
• 20 g (1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp) Salt

Special Equipment
  12-Cup Food Processor
  9 x 4 x 4 Pullman Pan
  Spray Bottle
  Pastry Brush

Time
 About 2 hours + cooling time

Yield
1 9-inch loaf

Instructions 

Set some water to boil, and add the 65 g (1/3 cup) sugar into the food processor. When the water is boiling, add 165 g (2/3 cup) to the processor and mix until no grains of sugar are visible. Add the 25 g (1/4 Cup) white rice flour and blend again. (This must be done in the processor- the flour will clump otherwise). Pour the water, sugar, and rice flour mixture into a small pan, and cook, stirring, over medium heat, until large bubbles appear in the middle and the mixture has thickened. This should take just a couple of minutes on a gas stove, maybe a little longer on electric. Return the cooked mixture to the food processor. Add 370 g (1 1/2 cups) tap water and 80 g (1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp) oil and blend briefly to equalize temperature. Add 10 g (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) of ground-up golden flax seeds, 1 tsp guar, and 9 g (2 1/4 tsp) yeast, and blend thoroughly. Take the lid off the food processor, and allow the contents to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. This will allow the guar to gel, as well as giving the yeast time to eat the sugar and multiply.

When 15 minutes have passed, Add the 430 g (4 2/3 cups) white rice flour, 180 g (1 2/3 cup) tapioca starch and 20 g (1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp) salt to the food processor and blend again. Oil your loaf pan well, and scrape the dough into the pan, flattening it out as well as you can. Holding the spray bottle about 12 inches from the pan, mist the top of the dough lightly with water. Dry off the lip of the pan, and cover tightly with plastic wrap, adding a rubber band to hold it on if needed. Sit the loaf somewhere gently warm; on top of your fridge or near the pilot light on your stove should work well. Let it rise for about 40 minutes, or until the dough is almost touching the plastic wrap.

Set an oven rack on the second-to-lowest position and preheat the oven to 350. When the oven is preheated, remove the plastic, mist again, and cover the pan with its lid. Bake 10 minutes, remove lid, paint the top of the loaf with oil, and return to the oven for about 45 more minutes. Rotate partway through baking if it seems to be browning unevenly.

The bread can be removed from the loaf pan after 10 minutes to help it cool faster, but should not be cut for at least an hour, unless you'll eat it all right away. When the bread has cooled completely, put it in an airtight container or bag and store at room temperature. Once it's too stale to eat without toasting, slice the rest, and put the slices in the fridge or freezer.

Amazon Links for Ingredients:
White Rice Flour
Golden Flax
Guar 
Yeast
Tapioca Starch

Food Processor
Loaf Pan
Spray Bottle