Bread Questions

[carecare]

I made a loaf of bread yesterday...from a mix. It's from "Life Beyond Wheat"...and was the Multi Grain Sandwich bread. Basically it had all the flour mixture prepared for me and I added the yeast, minegar, eggs, honey, oil and milk. So I've never made bread from scratch before (besides my bread machine stuff). The directions just said to mix all the ingredients together on medium wiht a mixer for 4 minutes...let rise and then cook it. It didn't tell me how long to let it rise and it sat for 20 minutes without moving so I just threw it in the oven..LOL. I more than doubled it's size in the oven. Then I take it out after it was done and let it sit a bit before cutting. I thought wow...it looks just like regular gluten bread But then it started to condense a bit...and became a more dense bread. It was still really good though and everyone in the house loved it. This morning it's even more dense than last night.

So on to my questions. There were no directions about temperatures of the liquids and how you introduce the yeast. It just said to mix it all together. I thought yeast is a touchy thing and has to be worked with carefully to get the desired results. Would the way I just threw it all together matter. The eggs were cold. The milk..because I didn't think I should put ice cold milk in was warmed in the microwave first. But then I thought maybe the cold eggs effected the rising too. Should I have let it rise longer than giving it only 20 minutes for it only to do nothing. Does gluten free bread tend to get more dense as it sits out after baking?

Any helpful tips would be appreciated . I also made choc. chip banana bread yesterday with similar densness. Is that just the way it's going to be?

I guess I'll ask this too. It would be much less expensive for me to start making my own bread mix right? Getting all the proper dry ingredients and have that mixture read at any time.

[larry mac]

One of the most universal baking recommendations (gluten-free or not) is for all ingredients to be at room temp. I warm my eggs in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes.

I let my bread dough rise in a slightly warm oven. I also put a pan of very hot water on the bottom rack during this process.

Yes, gluten-free bread tends to deflate, get a bit dense, and dry out quickly. I always slice mine after cooling, wrap individually, and freeze. Good luck, your gonna need it!

best regards, lm

[carecare]

LOL..thanks.

Now I know the bread wasn't such a disaster. I'll remember that tip about the eggs and warm water...doh..I didn't even think about that. ...and warming in the oven...I did think of that but I had the oven preheating..LOL

Hopefully I get the hang of this soon.