Welcome to my page of Gluten Free Living... I hope you enjoy the recipes we have figured out and feel free to give any suggestions!!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

GF Challah Bread (Jewish Egg Bread)

As classes end and we suddenly find ourselves faced with summer break, all those little jobs and activities that we had no time for during the semester are suddenly topping the 'to-do' list. I tend to happily immerse myself in every possible physical, outdoor, dirty chore or project I can find, while my sister tends to get into more indoor activities. This year I think she is already missing note-taking as she just graduated from SVSU and is already cranking out notecards of information. However, it is this time and info that I can now thank her for some great new recipes. She has been lately in to researching interesting gluten free recipes and writing them all down to get a collection of recipes together before she heads to the UK in august.

Regardless, I was trying to come up with a 'different' bread to make for breakfasts the other day and decided to dive into Elayna's collection. Here, I found the interesting base to this Challah bread recipe. I made a few alterations and still might consider a few more, but this was probably the closest thing to real bread texture that Ive tasted in a long time! When it says to only fill 2/3 full, it means it as it truly does rise that much! The taste is great, slightly less sweet than traditional challah bread, but is awesome when you toast it and add a light layer of natural jam or even peanut butter. I assume if would also make great sandwhich bread, but have yet to try it. Also, as rolls, these are great!!

(This smelled so good, I forgot to take pictures of it before I dug in!)


2 c white rice flour
1 3/4 c tapioca flour
1/4 c + 2 tsp sugar
3 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c lukewarm water, + 1 cup
1 1/2 T yeast
4 T melted butter
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
4 eggs
sesame seeds (opt)

In mixer, combine the flours, 1/4 c sugar, xantham gum, and salt.
Dissolve the 2 tsp sugar in the 2/3 cup of water and mix in the yeast. In a separate bowl combine the butter with the additional 1 cup water and vinegar.
With mixer on low speed, blend the dry ingredients. Slowly add the butter/water mixture. Blend in the eggs, 1 at a time. The dough should feel slightly warm. Pour the yeast mixture into the ingredients in the bowl and beat the highest speed for 2 minutes.
Place the bowl in a warm spot, cover with greased plastic wrap and a towel, and let rise approximately 1 hour.

Return the dough to the mixer and beat on high for 3 minutes. Spoon the dough into a greased, floured loaf pan. Fill 2/3 full, you may bake the remainder in greased muffin tins, etc. (or make all rolls~about 18). Sprinkle tops with sesame seeds. Let the dough rise until it is slightly above the tops of the pans, about 45-60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake the large loaf for approximately 1 hour. Bake the rolls 25 minutes.

3 comments:

  1. Hi! your bread looks wonderful! So I made some today with fairly good success. I was wondering if you could provide some insight as why my larger loaf fell? I did substitute guar gum for xanthum b/c of a corn sensitivity and I used a 9x5 & a 8 1/4 x 41/4 pan. The smaller loaf did wonderful but the larger loaf fell. Thanks again!

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  2. This was awesome! I just made it tonight having found the recipe on Recipezaar. Commented there too.

    It really DOES rise! My loaf rose so high it hit the oven roof! I had to have an emergency intervention, but it still turned out incredibly well.

    To Marnie above, I'd say lack of Xanthan Gum would be your problem, as my loaf turned out swell, and I followed the recipe pretty precisely. Xanthan Gum is just super clever at holding things together, you know? Don't know much about Guar Gum....

    I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!

    It really is revolutionary this gluten-free bread ... honestly, i keep saying it, but the texture was just insane - so sturdy and soft and damn close to real bread.

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  3. I've made this countless times and would like to add that, according to my g/f cousin, it tastes like REAL bread and it makes a kick-a$$ French Toast! One question: what should the internal temperature of a finished loaf be?

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