Sandwich Bread

I just bought a breadmaker. I had been avoiding them, not wanting to deal with yet another appliance on my counter. I don't mind baking gluten-free bread in the oven. But sometimes it is great to be able to put it in there and leave the house. I spend enough time in the kitchen as it is.

There are some pretty good store-bought breads here in Boulder. But they are $5.50 per loaf and the loaves are small, verging on tiny. Also, the ingredients are not the healthiest. You can eat unhealthily as a gluten-free person if you rely too much on processed food. I like to know what is in my food anyway.

I am experimenting with my bread recipe. I have tried a lot of different ingredient combinations, but what seems to be most important is the ratio of the ingredients. Try subbing for what you have on hand or whatever sounds like a good combo to you. Let me know if you come up with one you like.

Here are the general instructions:

SANDWICH BREAD
Wet ingredients:

1 cup almond milk (or regular milk)
1/2 cup applesauce (or sour cream)
3 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup, or agave)
1/4 cup oil (canola, olive, sunflower)
2 eggs


Dry ingredients:

3 cups gluten free flour of your choice
2-3 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp sea salt
2.5 tsp. active dry yeast


Get your ingredients out ahead of time and allow them to come to room temperature before starting. This will make a huge difference in the success of your loaf!
Whisk together the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients well. Pour the wet ingredients into the bread maker. Scoop the dry mix into the bread mixer. Run through a gluten-free cycle in your breadmaker if you have one. If there is no gluten-free cycle, see if there is one with just one rise instead of two. Newer models tend to have a gluten-free cycle. My breadmaker is a Cuisinart.

Note: it helps sometimes in the first 20 minutes or so to check on your dough and use a spatula to scrape the sides if necessary.

When its done, leave it in the Breadmaker for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing or storing. Can be frozen. Slice first and put in a ziplock freezer bag.