Omg The Mess I Made!

[TinkerbellSwt]

Ok, so I get all the stuff together for lorkas wonderful sounding bread... I get the flax seeds, I find out how to grind them into meal... and I prepare the dough. OK, now this stuff is sooo thick.. the recipe says pour, ummm.. no where near that consistency. So ok, I have overly thick dough.. not a big problem hopefully. Then I put it in the oven to rise, nope, not at all, and I know I put the right yeast in and everything.. so then I take it out and put it on top of the heating oven covered with cloth, nope no rise. nothing. phooey.. not gonna work.. threw it out.. one baking disaster.. NEXT

I decide to finally make carriefaiths breadsticks... ok, I get all the ingredients together, start putting them in my mixer (btw this uses the last of my honey, so I cant even retry the bread) I open the yogurt and yup... its bad.. double phooey... now I had to throw out all the eggs and such that I already put in the mixer b/c I had no yogurt.

Today was just really a bad day for baking for me!!! I am going to get the rest of the ingredients hopefully tomorrow and try again... anyone have any idea why my bread might not have risen? I forgot to put cornstarch in it.. I didnt use the garfava flour, I used the 1 cup of brown rice with sorghum and the regular 1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour mix.. just forgot the cornstarch.. any help???

I want to make these sooo bad.. I just really stink at baking!

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Aww, what a frustrating day it must have been for you!

There is a French term, "mise en place," that chefs use. It means to measure out EVERYTHING and put them in place before you start adding things and mixing them together. That way, you're less likely to forget the cornstarch (and maybe one of the liquids, from the sound of your dough).

After you have everything all measured out in separate little bowls, you can start at the top of your list and check everything off to make sure you haven't forgotten anything. THEN, you can mix the dry ingredients together, then the wet ingredients together, then all together!

It's also fun to have all the little bowls of ingredients--you can pretend you're a TV chef like Emeril, with all your ingredients all ready to go.

BAM!

[TinkerbellSwt]

that is a good idea! I retraced my stuff, and I dont think I missed any liquids.. oh heck, maybe I did.. gonna try again tomorrow, its another day!

[ArtGirl]

Stephanie, the dough IS really thick and it rather drops into the pan instead of pouring. You have to push it out to the edges and smooth the top.

Make sure you eggs and other ingredients are room temperature - yeast doesn't rise when its cold. If you set the pan in a cold oven, you can place a pan of hot tap water in there to warm up the air and make it more humid. That usually gets my dough to rise, especially now that it's winter and the kitchen is anything but warm.

Good luck tomorrow.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Good luck, Stephanie!

[larry mac]

.....I dont think I missed any liquids.....

tbs,

I frequently find that the batter requires an adjustment, usually adding much more liquid than called for. I'm guessing it's the xanthan or guar gums that's thickening things up. In my brief experience, I've found these wheat free breads to be not only very difficult to make but also very unforgiving. Instead one one flour, you are blending multiple flours and multiple starches. Then you must add a thickener or binder. And finaly, you end up with a sticky mess that more times than not, is appearently the wrong consistency. Then, if you're lucky and everthing seems to be going really well, the thing falls before you get it out of the oven. Really kind of sucks.

I've been making bread for many years and never had any problems till now. Don't feel bad, you're not alone.

best regards, lm

[Fiddle-Faddle]

When I make gluten-free breads, the batter does NOT look anything remotely like wheat-based bread dough--but after baking, it does. I think it might turn out better if you don't add extra liquid to make the batter look "right."

[Cheri A]

((HUGS)) for the no good, horrible baking day yesterday! I can definitely relate!

Hope that it goes better this time! I have yet to make the other bread, but the bread that I make for Carleigh took me a while to get perfected. Now it comes out beautiful and she loves the taste. I preheat my oven to 200 and then turn it off for the bread to rise. Then kick it back on to bake.

[TinkerbellSwt]

I am going to the store today to get the final ingredients i need to make the bread and breadsticks. I cant wait to get home and try.... and its started to snow.. . oh no!

[wacky~jackie]

I'm not sure why your bread didn't rise other than the suggestions already posted. But I did find out from another post (not sure what thread) that Xanthan gum has different strengths. I have found that with the Xanthan gum that I use I need to cut back a little or things turn out really gummy - this seems to have helped. The best success I have had with this bread is to use 1 1/2 cups Bette Hagman's fleatherlite mixture for the 1 1/4 gluten-free flour and 1/4 garfava flour . Keep trying even though it's frustrating - it's worth it when you end up with something edible!!

[TinkerbellSwt]

I made the bread, it came out great.. except for the fact that I stupidly forgot to spray the pan.. so most of the crust stuck.. but its still good.. i ate a few hot pieces with butter melting into it.. ohhhhhhh.. now I will wait until it cools.. next time.. duh, spray the pan!