Is My Mix Master Bad Or Am I Just Bad At Baking?

[kelly z]

Hi all.

My husband was so sick of the bread maker gluten-free bread that he stopped wanting sandwiches altogether. I told him I'd try once more...this time making it in the oven...I was successful. However, when I try to make some breads or cakes, the batter is not "pourable". It's so sticky that it just climbs right up the beaters of my mixer and actually stops the mixer. I am following package and recipe directions to the "T". I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I don't even want to make this anymore, but feel bad for him. This doesn't even resemble batter hat you can pour into a pan. I have so slop it in the pan in spoonfulls, then pat it out and try desperately try to scrape it off my hands.

Can anyone help me?

Thank you for reading!

Kelly

Hubby diagnosed after scope & biopsy in 4/06.

[AndreaB]

Do you have dough hooks? I have a Bosch Universal system and use the dough hooks to mix the dough. With my machine that's what they recommend. What I have done is use the spatula to scoop the mix into the pan and also use that to smooth it out a little.

You'll find that dough hooks will prevent the batter from climbing.

[kelly z]

Do you have dough hooks? I have a Bosch Universal system and use the dough hooks to mix the dough. With my machine that's what they recommend. What I have done is use the spatula to scoop the mix into the pan and also use that to smooth it out a little.

You'll find that dough hooks will prevent the batter from climbing.

Thank you Andrea.

I am still using the Hamilton Beach mixer we received as a wedding gift 10 years ago. I have been wanting to save up for a KitchenAid. Now is the time I guess...that way I can have a new mixer AND dought hooks.

Is there a certain type of sandwich bread that your family likes? I use Favorite Sandwich Bread from the Gluten Free Pantry. I'd be interested if you have one that your family likes as well.

Thanks again,

Kelly

[AndreaB]

We use Annalise Roberts Cookbook "Gluten Free Baking Classics" for our bread. I haven't tried any mixes as we are soy intolerant and tend to have problems with other beans as well. She does use dairy and eggs. We substitute the dairy but do eat eggs. Haven't made much aside from bread and muffins yet though. My children love the bread. Annalise uses a millet/sorghum/tapioca/cornstarch/potato starch mix for bread. The bread does have good flavor.

[Pilgrim South]

Hi all.

My husband was so sick of the bread maker gluten-free bread that he stopped wanting sandwiches altogether. I told him I'd try once more...this time making it in the oven...I was successful. However, when I try to make some breads or cakes, the batter is not "pourable". It's so sticky that it just climbs right up the beaters of my mixer and actually stops the mixer. I am following package and recipe directions to the "T". I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I don't even want to make this anymore, but feel bad for him. This doesn't even resemble batter hat you can pour into a pan. I have so slop it in the pan in spoonfulls, then pat it out and try desperately try to scrape it off my hands.

Can anyone help me?

Thank you for reading!

Kelly

Hubby diagnosed after scope & biopsy in 4/06.

[debmidge]

when you make bread, you do not want the batter to be "pourable" like cake mix. Don't add all the flour in at once -- Before the dough becomes solid mass of dough while in the bowl, lift the beaters out and keep them out, and just blend in the remaining flour either with a wooden spoon or your hands and keep fliping it over and over until the flour gets absorbed; knead it a little; then take out of bowl and shape in in your bread pan; do not knead it again; let rise for about an hour in a warm place and bake.

I use gluten free pantry and use a Breadman machine. I let machine knead it once; then I shut the machine down and quickly shape the loaf right in the pan as soon as the kneading ends; then I shut the door and put 60 mins on my egg timer to let it rise. If it rose enough, I set the Breadman on "Bake only" and bake it for about 46 minutes.

I do not let the Breadman do the two cycles together as it could take longer than 60 minutes to raise if the room is not as warm as it should be. I feel I have more control that way.

[kelly z]

when you make bread, you do not want the batter to be "pourable" like cake mix. Don't add all the flour in at once -- Before the dough becomes solid mass of dough while in the bowl, lift the beaters out and keep them out, and just blend in the remaining flour either with a wooden spoon or your hands and keep fliping it over and over until the flour gets absorbed; knead it a little; then take out of bowl and shape in in your bread pan; do not knead it again; let rise for about an hour in a warm place and bake.

I use gluten free pantry and use a Breadman machine. I let machine knead it once; then I shut the machine down and quickly shape the loaf right in the pan as soon as the kneading ends; then I shut the door and put 60 mins on my egg timer to let it rise. If it rose enough, I set the Breadman on "Bake only" and bake it for about 46 minutes.

I do not let the Breadman do the two cycles together as it could take longer than 60 minutes to raise if the room is not as warm as it should be. I feel I have more control that way.

Thank you. I will try the bread machine again, like you suggested. Maybe that's the key.

I appreciate it!

Kelly

[Pilgrim South]

Thank you. I will try the bread machine again, like you suggested. Maybe that's the key.

I appreciate it!

Kelly

Hi,

I had the same problem with an almost identical mixer. gluten-free batter is sticky, no way around that for most things. I had also tried using different bread machines. Zorishi (sp?) is the best, our daughter has one that I use, but I still think regular oven gluten-free bread is the closest to normal bread. I talked to Carol Fenster in my frustration over "climbing dough" and she said she used a Kitchen Aid mixer. I finally got one and it is not recommended to use the dough hooks though. I think people use them with mixers like what you and I had to try to keep the dough from climbing, but the action of the dough hook doesn't work as well as the kitchen aid "flat beater" for gluten free things. That is not the beater for things like egg whites, etc. its a flatter beater that looks almost like a peace sign. Also, my Kitchen Aid came with aluminum beaters so I got coated ones, because aluminum is terrible for our bodies and I did not want it to have direct contact with any food products we eat. I can't tell you the difference having the Kitchen Aid makes with gluten free bread. I get more loafs per pre-packed bread mix too. I use Bob's Red Mill and we love it. I use it to make fr;ovopid bread, yummy cinnamon buns, great hamburger and hot dog buns etc. and etc. I also order their baking mix in 25# bags. When I went looking for my Kitchen Aid mixer the best price was ordering it through a local Ace Hardware, believe it or not. They were $50.00 cheaper than anywhere, even refirbished models. I got the largest one I could find so the bowl would be really big so I could do mulitiple loaves. Mine is a 6 qt. bowl and I can put 4 of the Bob's Red Mill packages in it. Its really full, but if I start the mixer really slowly it does fine. I got 4 loaves of bread, a nice batch of cinnamon rolls, plus a batch of hamburger buns! The next time I used only 2 packages and got 3 loaves of bread and a nice batch of cinnamon rolls, plus some hamburger buns! I think the power of the Kitchen Aid mixes it so well that it increases the volume. I served them blt's for lunch and they even asked if it was gluten free bread! They thought it was regular bread. Some people don't like the bowl lift on the larger Kitchen Aid machines and prefer the head of the machine to tilt to lift the beaters out, but I really love the larger bowl so I can make multiple loaves and freeze tons of gluten free items at a time. It saves so much time and energy to do it that way. I just unhook the flat beater then lower my bowl. The Kitchen Aid mixer has surely improved our gluten free baking in this household, that's for sure! Hope this help and happy baking!

[Guest nini]

I have better luck with gluten-free breads in my bread maker, if I try to use my mixer I get the sticky climbing dough that is impossible to remove, and dough hooks don't work well with gluten-free breads. With my bread maker I set it on the rapid cycle which only kneads it once, since gluten-free breads don't need to be kneaded a lot.

[TriticusToxicum]

I have found that if I wait to add the Xanthan gum until the everything else is combined and then mix for about 1 minute the climbing problem is eliminated. Once the Xanthan gets "activated" for lack of a better term it makes the whole mess really sticky and that is (IMO) when the climbing gets out of control.

[GFBetsy]

As far as getting bread all over your hands goes, try getting your hands wet with water before you spread it out in the pans. And just re-wet your hands if the bread starts sticking to you. It works well for me!

[kelly z]

Wow everybody - thanks so much! Now I don't feel so frustrated and am ready to give it another go (with more confidence)!

Obviously I'm new to the boards (I don't have a clue what I am doing) but it seems that other than baking bread, I've got a pretty good handle on what celiac disease is all about and can help my husband live a more normal gluten-free life.

Thanks again! You all are awesome for taking the time to get back to me with your tips!!!

Kelly