Loopy Whisk Gluten Free Bread

Gluten Free and Vegan

Please see the original recipe for this amazing bread at theloopywhisk.com. I have copied the basics and the link here so I can be sure to find it again, and made very minor changes, but please see the full instructions and pictures at the recipe author’s blog.

With thanks to Kat | The Loopy Whisk

Ingredients

  • 8 g (2 1/2 tsp) active dried yeast
  • 20 g (2 tbsp) sugar
  • 390 g (1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp) warm water, divided
  • 20 g (1/4 cup) psyllium husk (rough husk form)
  • 130 g (3/4 cup + 3 tbsp) buckwheat flour
  • 100 g (1/2 cup + 3 tbsp) potato starch
  • 90 g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) brown rice flour
  • 10 g (2 tsp) salt
  • 12 g (2 tsp) apple cider vinegar

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar and 150 g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) warm water. Set aside for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the mixture starts frothing. If you’re using quick-rise yeast, you can skip this step, add the yeast and sugar directly into the flour, and the water in when you mix everything together.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, potato starch, brown rice flour and salt, until evenly combined
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together the psyllium husk and 240 g (1 cup) water. After about 15 – 30 seconds, a gel will form..
  4. Add the yeast mixture, psyllium gel and apple cider vinegar to the dry ingredients. Knead the dough until smooth and it starts coming away from the bowl, about 5 – 10 minutes. You can knead by hand or using a stand mixer with a dough hook.
  5. Transfer the bread to a lightly oiled surface and knead it gently, forming it into a smooth ball. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, seam side down, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  6. Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it gently while forming it into a tight ball (see post for step-by-step photos). Flip it seam side down onto a part of the work surface that isn’t covered in flour and rotate in place to seal the seams.

Artisan Loaf Instructions:

  1. Place the dough into a 7 inch round proofing basket that you’ve dusted with some brown rice flour with the seams facing upwards. Cover with a damp tea towel and proof in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  2. While the loaf is proofing, pre-heat the oven to 480ºF (250ºC) with a cast iron skillet on the middle rack or a Dutch oven/combo cooker on the lower middle rack. If you’re using a skillet, place a baking tray on the bottom rack of the oven.
  3. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out of the bread basket onto a piece of baking paper* and score the top with a pattern of choice (the easiest pattern is a cross, about ¼ – ½ inch deep), using a bread lame or sharp knife. Take the hot cast iron skillet or Dutch oven/combo cooker out of the oven and then transfer the bread along with the baking paper* into it.
    *The first time I made this I used parchment paper and it stuck so firmly to the final loaf that I could not even peel it off and had to cut off the crust. The second time, I used cornmeal instead of baking paper, and it worked great.
  4. For a skillet or combo cooker, this is easiest by sliding a pizza peel or baking sheet underneath the baking paper and then using it to slide the bread along with the baking paper gently into the hot skillet/combo cooker. For a Dutch oven, use the sides of the baking paper as handles to transfer the bread into it.
  5. If using a skillet: place the skillet in the oven, pour hot water into the bottom baking tray, add 3 – 4 ice cubes around the bread (between the baking/greaseproof paper and the skillet), and close the oven door.
  6. If using a Dutch oven/combo cooker: add 3- 4 ice cubes around the bread (between the baking/greaseproof paper and the walls of the Dutch oven/combo cooker) and close it, then place it into the pre-heated oven.
  7. Bake at 480ºF (250ºC) with steam for 20 minutes don’t open the Dutch oven or the oven doors during this initial period, as that would allow the steam to escape out of the oven.
  8. After the 20 minutes, remove the bottom tray with water from the oven (for cast iron skillet) or uncover the Dutch oven/combo cooker, reduce the oven temperature to 450ºF (230ºC), and bake for a further 40 – 50 minutes in a steam-free environment. The final loaf should be of a deep, dark brown colour. If the loaf starts browning too quickly, cover with a piece of aluminium foil, shiny side up, and continue baking until done.

Regular Loaf instructions:

  1. Place the dough into a lightly oiled loaf pan. I used a 7 inch round Pyrex dish with 3 inch sides. Cover with a damp tea towel and proof in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375ºF and bake for 50 minutes.

Closing instructions for both types of loaves:

  1. Transfer the loaf onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
  2. Storage: The gluten free bread keeps well in a closed container or wrapped in a tea towel in a cool dry place for 3 – 4 days.

Recipe Notes

POSSIBLE SUBSTITUTIONS

Active dried yeast: You can use instant yeast, in which case you don’t need to activate it, but just add it straight to the dry ingredients along with the sugar. Add the water that would be used in activating the active dried yeast to the dry ingredients along with the psyllium gel and apple cider vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar: You can use other types of vinegar, although I recommend sticking to apple cider vinegar if at all possible.
Psyllium husk: YOU CAN’T SUBSTITUTE IT WITH A DIFFERENT INGREDIENT. But if you use psyllium husk powder as opposed to the rough husk form, use only 75% of the weight listed in the recipe.
Potato starch: You can use corn starch, tapioca starch or arrowroot starch instead.
Brown rice flour: You can use millet flour instead.
Buckwheat flour: You can use white teff flour, sorghum flour or oat flour instead.
NOTE: All substitutions should be made by weight not by volume.

Additional cooking notes from Bill

1st Cooking note:

1. Loaf Pan: After the 1st rise, used a loaf pan, sprayed with oil.  Let the 2nd rise happen in a loaf pan with sprayed soaked parchment paper on top. preheated oven to 375, cooked for 70 minutes.

2. Dutch Oven: While 2nd rise is happening, put dutch oven bottom into oven at 450-500 degrees.  When 2nd rise is complete, take empty hot dutch oven out of oven and sprinkle corn meal on bottom.  Add dough as best you can.  Cook covered for 65 minutes, uncover for last 5 minutes.

2nd cooking note:

  1. Doubled the recipe.  cooked in a loaf pan like 1st cooking note above, cooked for 1 hour 30 minutes.  Needed to cook longer, thinking about 350 degrees for 2 hours.

Recipe by The Loopy Whisk (www.theloopywhisk.com).

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 thoughts on “Loopy Whisk Gluten Free Bread”

  1. I do not understand the long lengths of some of the cooking times of your breads. I followed one of your recipes that had two cooking times at different temperatures. it was about two hours and the 1/4 inch crust was anything but soft and I took it out 1/2 an hour early. I started helping my mom bake bread as a very little girl and have always been able to make very moist, soft crust delicious bread. However as an adult, I have had to go gluten free. [ due to a wheat allergy] Soft light bread has always been a challenge. Until my experience with your recipe I have never baked a loaf of bread for much more than 1/2 an hour. I did the recipe again and it turned out okay. I baked it for 35 minutes However, the bread itself did not rise as much as I had hoped and the bread was still a bit denser than I like.
    I do have a flour blend recipie that I have developed myself. I use it for all of my other baking from cookies and cakes to pie pastry and no one knows it is any different until my husband tells them. Sometimes they just think he joking because the dessert is absolutely delicious delicate taste and texture.
    Could you please explain your reasoning for such long baking time?

    1. Hi Gail, thanks for commenting. I’d love to know your flour blend recipe, if you’re willing to share it!

      I want to answer your question “Could you please explain your reasoning for such long baking time?” I can’t really claim to have a reason; I’m just following other people’s recipes and experimenting with them. I am certainly not a baking expert. Since my family members were diagnosed with Celiac disease, I have been, like you, searching for that perfect loaf of gluten free bread.

      As for this particular recipe and its long cooking time, you’d have to go back to the original recipe. As I wrote in this post, I just copied the basics so I could read it more easily, and so I could keep track of changes I make.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.