Fabulous French Bread Recipe

[celiac-mommy]

I made it again. This time we made french bread pizza out of it. SOOOOOO great!!! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, again! (My kids thank you as well )

[Jo Ann]

WW340 - I made the French Bread in a regular 9x4 1/2" pan, letting it rise a little longer and baking it for 55 minutes. Think it could have baked another 5 minutes, but the crust was browning so much. I did use melted margarine on the top (after baking) to soften the crust. Anyway, it turned out great, and everyone enjoyed it! Thank you for letting us know about this bread. Although I have BH's 1st two books, I did not have much success with her bread recipes; however, this French Bread is a keeper. I also have made the Flax Bread recipe mentioned elsewhere in this Forum, and that is also a very good bread and is better for us with brown rice flour and flaxmeal in the ingredients. Elsewhere I read that glass bread pans are better for gluten-free breads. Does anyone agree with this? I have always used light coated, heavy duty pans.

[WW340]

Jo Ann - I am happy to hear this bread is working for you, too.

Try covering the bread with foil after it starts browning, so it can bake longer without it getting too brown. I put melted butter on the bread before I bake it, but as you found, you can do it afterwards to soften the crust.

On the question of the pans - It seems that the professional cooks like Carol Fenster recommend the heavy non-stick metal pans (gray not black). Glass pans are considered OK, but the silicon and shiny aluminum are to be avoided. Sounds like you are using the right pan.

I liked the flax bread recipe too, but I was not able to tolerate all the different flours, especially flax.

I now make this french bread with 1 cup of brown rice flour to make it a little more nutritious. It comes out just as nicely. I can't really tell the difference. I use the finely ground brown rice flour from Authentic foods. I have read that the fine ground makes a difference. I may even increase the amount in my next loaf.

Good luck with your experiments!

[mamatide]

I too am enjoying this bread, especially the "normal" taste and smell and "close-to-normal" texture.

I substituted milk for the water and it flopped. Possibly rose too quickly or something but it never did get round on top. Still tasted good but I don't think I'll be doing that again.

I was going to try to make a regular sized loaf so that I can have toast that doesn't require me to whip the toaster lever up and catch little tiny toasts in mid-air.

Did the poster above ever perfect the bake time for a loaf?

I thought maybe using my angel food cake pan (round with a hole in the middle) might be a good idea because it would allow heat to reach more of the batter? What do you think?

[WW340]

mamatide - I don't know if anyone has perfected the times yet. I would suggest you bake it for at least 60 minutes and then try thumping it to see if it sounds hollow. You will need to cover it with foil to keep it from over browning at about 30 minutes or sooner.

I have been out of town, so I haven't baked it again yet. I will probably do that today or tomorrow.

[thecookingnerd607]

I'm going to try making this today. I don't have tapioca flour so I'll be using potato starch. lets hope that works!

I also just bought white rice flour from the ethnic section at my wegmans. The bags say produced in a facility that produces wheat products.

I can eat the walmart seasoned fries that say this too, with no reaction. Anyone have issues with these flours? I plan on hitting up my asia food store and seeing if they have the flours I will need. I got lucky and bought out a closing health food store on mixes @ 50% off! Bobs red mill mixes were $2.25 a bag! I got like $80 worth of them lol. Ill report back later.

[HomesteadMommy]

I've made this recipe so many times and it's always come out great. I also use it for pizza crust. I have used both white rice flour and fine brown rice flour. It works great both ways.

However tonight we had a problem...I mixed it up as usual and it was really lumpy/clumpy like there was WAY to much dry to wet ratio...We tried to fix it and it just wouldn't. We had to toss it. I mixed it up AGAIN and it did the same thing....This time we saved it by putting it in the food processor adding some more water and turned it into a sort of dough that way. We patted it out on a pan but it cooked up really doughy to. It was just not the same as I've made every other time...

Is there any reason someone might know of for it not turning out???

Thanks so much,

[Jo Ann]

I haven't had any problems with it, but wondered if your brown rice flour was finely ground. Annalise Roberts says that the only finely ground brown rice flour she's found is the one from Authentic Foods. I have only used white rice flour from the Oriental/Asian Market, and have't had a problem with the mixing at all. Of course, this is one of the few Bette Hagman breads that has turned out so good.

[HomesteadMommy]

I haven't had any problems with it, but wondered if your brown rice flour was finely ground. Annalise Roberts says that the only finely ground brown rice flour she's found is the one from Authentic Foods. I have only used white rice flour from the Oriental/Asian Market, and have't had a problem with the mixing at all. Of course, this is one of the few Bette Hagman breads that has turned out so good.

No I get my brown rice flour from a local bulk store/flour mill. I've used the same flour every time for this bread except for the first time I made if from white flour...

I just made pizza crust out of it last Sunday with brown rice flour from the same bag I used this time..

I just can't figure out why it didn't come out this time, especially with two trys...Except for its just not my day

[WW340]

I'm going to try making this today. I don't have tapioca flour so I'll be using potato starch. lets hope that works!

I also just bought white rice flour from the ethnic section at my wegmans. The bags say produced in a facility that produces wheat products.

I can eat the walmart seasoned fries that say this too, with no reaction. Anyone have issues with these flours? I plan on hitting up my asia food store and seeing if they have the flours I will need. I got lucky and bought out a closing health food store on mixes @ 50% off! Bobs red mill mixes were $2.25 a bag! I got like $80 worth of them lol. Ill report back later.

Good luck with the bread making. I hope it turns out good for you. If it doesn't do well, try it again using the tapioca flour. I find that tapioca flour really adds a degree of body to the bread you can't get with other flours. Sweet flour might add some of the same properties as tapioca, but still not the same.

I try to avoid products made in factories that produce wheat products. I don't always get glutened by them, but sometimes I do.

I've made this recipe so many times and it's always come out great. I also use it for pizza crust. I have used both white rice flour and fine brown rice flour. It works great both ways.

However tonight we had a problem...I mixed it up as usual and it was really lumpy/clumpy like there was WAY to much dry to wet ratio...We tried to fix it and it just wouldn't. We had to toss it. I mixed it up AGAIN and it did the same thing....This time we saved it by putting it in the food processor adding some more water and turned it into a sort of dough that way. We patted it out on a pan but it cooked up really doughy to. It was just not the same as I've made every other time...

Is there any reason someone might know of for it not turning out???

Thanks so much,

I am sorry you are having a problem with this. I have never had a problem with this recipe, but I have some things that I bake that turn out well one time and can be a disaster the next. I don't know, I think the gluten free flours are very tempermental. I use a candy thermometer now to check the temperature of my liquids. I proof my yeast, and try to control the temperature of my kitchen. Some times I think I just didn't hold my mouth just right, lol.

[kbtoyssni]

I also just bought white rice flour from the ethnic section at my wegmans. The bags say produced in a facility that produces wheat products. I can eat the walmart seasoned fries that say this too, with no reaction. Anyone have issues with these flours?.

I think it really depends on the brand.

[WW340]

Homesteadmommy - I had one other thought for you. Have you checked the size of your eggs. You need large eggs for the recipe. If yours are not large, I would suggest you add some extra egg white.

[janicekelleher]

I made this french bread last night to go with soup. I cannot believe how tasty it is.

I actually messed up and used my new sweet rice flour instead of white rice flour, so the inside is slightly on the gummy side, but my husband and I still ate an entire loaf last night.

The crust is really crusty and tastes like wheat bread. In fact, my husband thought I said I messed up and used wheat flour and he said "I can taste and smell the wheat in this." LOL, I have to agree with him though, it did taste and smell like wheat.

I am going to make it again today and try to use the right flour. It is really good even with the sweet flour. It is superior to anything in the way of bread that I have made to date, even with the error on the flour.

I took a picture and will post it later after I figure out how to do it.

Here is the link to the recipe. I used egg whites and no egg substitute. Open Original Shared Link

[janicekelleher]

Can anyone tell me if you can use tapioca starch in place of tapioca flour? I am at my witts end not being able to find these flours at my local grocery stores. I am very unfamiliar with this web site.
Thanks, Jan

[WW340]

yes, Jan, you can use tapioca starch. It is the same thing as tapioca flour. That is not true for other flours however. Potato flour is not the same as potato starch, corn starch is not the same as corn flour. It can all be a little confusing.

[thecookingnerd607]

I made it and it came out pretty good. Could use a little more salt for my taste. It wasnt quite as airy and chewy as I was hoping for. From what I understand the tapioca flour will help with this. I ended up using 1 cup of the bobs red mill all purpose stuff in place of it (didnt feel like opening the potato flour) lol. Do most asian and indian food stores carry bulk flours? I just got another fridge, so Im wanting to make a crapload of baked goods and freeze them!