Buckwheat Bread

[halfrunner]

I was home today and got an idea for a "regular" loaf of bread for DH. When he got home from work, his reaction was "THAT'S BREAD!!!" He would have easily eaten a good portion of the loaf if he wasn't watching his diet.

I don't have a story to how it was developed, it was a blind attempt loosely based on Michael Ruhlman's (reguar wheat based) bread ratio from his book "Ratio". Emphasis on the word loosely.

Buckwheat bread

2 1/4 c. buckwheat flour

1 3/4 c. rice flour

1 1/8 c potato starch

3/4 tsp. dough enhancer (or vinegar)

3 tsp. salt

3 tsp. xanthan gum

3 tbsp. ground flax seed

3 tbsp. sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. yeast

1 1/2 eggs (beaten)***

1/2 c. oil

2 3/4 to 3 c. warm water

Combine all the dry ingredients in a stand mixer, mix well. Add oil, egg and 2 1/2 c. water (you will have to eyeball the rest) and beat for about 2 min. on low speed. The consistency should be like sugar cookie dough thickness.

Divide into 2 (4x9x2.5 ie "standard") loaf pans (I used dark nonstick) and let rise in a warm place for 40-50 min. Heat oven, bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.

Bread should sound hollow when gently thumped. Immediately remove from pan and cool on a cooling rack for 3 hours or until completely cool.

****My trick is to beat two eggs, then pour 3 oz. worth into the dough. (Large eggs are usually 2 oz. each.)

[Takala]

Sounds interesting!

[halfrunner]

I was curious to see what would happen if I made this recipe with all rice flour and no buckwheat. It came out like a regular loaf of white bread. I was pleasantly surprised, although I was pretty worried about how this was going to turn out when I was making it.

[mushroom]

I got all excited, halfrunner, when I saw "a recipe for Buckwheat Bread" and then I saw the potato starch . However, I am going to try making it with buckwheat and rice flour only and see what happens. My gluten-free bakery at home bakes batches of buckwheat bread for me omitting the potato starch and it is hard to tell the difference so dh says, although of course they won't give me the recipe. Would love to be able to duplicate it as it is soooo good fresh with butter, just like real bread as your hubby says.

[halfrunner]

I got all excited, halfrunner, when I saw "a recipe for Buckwheat Bread" and then I saw the potato starch . However, I am going to try making it with buckwheat and rice flour only and see what happens. My gluten-free bakery at home bakes batches of buckwheat bread for me omitting the potato starch and it is hard to tell the difference so dh says, although of course they won't give me the recipe. Would love to be able to duplicate it as it is soooo good fresh with butter, just like real bread as your hubby says.

You don't have to use potato starch. Corn or tapioca starch would be just as good. You need some sort of starch, that is the glue in the dough.

Sorry, I usually try to include cornstarch or tapioca starch along with the potato starch in any baking recipe I post. Somehow we just got in the habit of only using potato starch.

[Monklady123]

Sounds good! Adding this to my list of possible recipes. Me, who hates to cook and bake. lol.. I'm just recently diagnosed so I think I'll be getting over my fear of baking, at least. I'm buying a new stove/oven tomorrow so once I get an oven with good temperature control I'll be trying some of the recipes you all have posted here.

[mushroom]

Well I had already made the recipe subbing brown rice flour for the potato starch before I saw your post, halfrunner. It turned out pretty good, although I was really unsure about the amount water because the dough kept clinging to the paddle of my Kitchen Aid Mixer. And because our humidity is really low here - about 13% at that time - I added the whole 3 cups of water, plus a little bit. The dough doubled during the rise and came out very moist but a little bit dense. Hubby liked it though - thought if I added caraway seeds it would taste like rye bread (I gave him a ham and cheese sandwich ) I will try it with the tapioca starch next time and see what happens. I presume the dough should not cling to the paddle???

[halfrunner]

I presume the dough should not cling to the paddle???

Oh, it definitely will. I'm sure that you did fine with the 3c. of water, since it rose and didn't collapse on you after baking. I haven't found a gluten-free bread that isn't at least somewhat dense, although toasting really seems to make a difference. Anyway, I find that this dough is sturdy enough to handle some extra water without too much fuss.

I'm glad your DH liked it.

Laura

[Takala]

Sounds good! Adding this to my list of possible recipes. Me, who hates to cook and bake. lol.. I'm just recently diagnosed so I think I'll be getting over my fear of baking, at least. I'm buying a new stove/oven tomorrow so once I get an oven with good temperature control I'll be trying some of the recipes you all have posted here.

_________________________

Baking's easy. It's the eating that can be challenging.

I keep thinking of the immortal Peg Bracken, who wrote the old, classic "I Hate to Cook Book." The chapter on leftovers says "every family needs a dog."

The thing with gluten free baking, is that sometimes there will be results that are somewhat sub prime.

If you have a microwave, you can try the bun in a cup type recipes, especially if playing around with a new gluten-free flour mix. This way, you can quickly see if a small amount of whatever ingredients you are using are pleasing or not, without having to wait for an hour for a full loaf to be done. And they are handy- you can mix the ingredients right in a cereal bowl or ramekin, and bake it directly in the microwave for about a minute and a half.

With the over baked gluten free bread loaves, always stick a table knife in the loaf and pull it out and check to see if it is clean, after you have tapped them on the top. If a sticky residue remains, bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer. You may have to tip the loaf out of the pan and bake it on its side or upside down a minute or two to finish the crust. This has saved me many gummy loaves.

[Monklady123]

Good tips Takala. Thanks!

I'm leaving shortly to go look at new stoves, so hopefully by next week I'll have a working oven.

[mushroom]

_________________________

The thing with gluten free baking, is that sometimes there will be results that are somewhat sub prime. . You may have to tip the loaf out of the pan and bake it on its side or upside down a minute or two to finish the crust. This has saved me many gummy loaves.

My sub prime loaves usually end up as croutons, bread crumbs or squirrel food, depending on their degree of subprimeness

And yes, I too (actually on all my loaves) bake for another five minutes out of the pan because I love crustiness (must be why I have naturally curly hair )

[DMarie]

Buckwheat bread

2 1/4 c. buckwheat flour

1 3/4 c. rice flour

1 1/8 c potato starch

3/4 tsp. dough enhancer (or vinegar)

3 tsp. salt

3 tsp. xanthan gum

3 tbsp. ground flax seed

3 tbsp. sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. yeast

1 1/2 eggs (beaten)***

1/2 c. oil

2 3/4 to 3 c. warm water

Just wanted to double check on the salt amount. Is 3 tsp correct? Seems like more than recipes usually call for - but - I also know salt is very important to the outcome.

Can't wait to try this recipe - my DD and I really like buckwheat and heartier type breads. :-)

[halfrunner]

Just wanted to double check on the salt amount. Is 3 tsp correct? Seems like more than recipes usually call for - but - I also know salt is very important to the outcome.

Can't wait to try this recipe - my DD and I really like buckwheat and heartier type breads. :-)

That is what I used. It is a lot, because DH said it was too bland with 1 1/2 and 2 tsp. of salt respectively.

If you don't want to use that much, I doubt it would make any real difference, just don't leave it out entirely.

[sa1937]

I made this bread yesterday but cut back the ingredients to make only one loaf...nothing like having the oven on when we had a heat index of over 100

[halfrunner]

I have been continuing to tweak this bread. The latest batch I tried cutting back the potato starch to 3/4 cup. It seemed lighter in density compared to the previous loaves when I cut it and last night DH told me that it was the best loaf of gluten free bread that he's had.

I may pull the starch amount down a bit more just to see, but 3/4 c. works just fine.

SA, I'm soooo glad that you had good results with this recipe. It's nice to know I can help others as well as my hubby.

[sa1937]

I have been continuing to tweak this bread. The latest batch I tried cutting back the potato starch to 3/4 cup. It seemed lighter in density compared to the previous loaves when I cut it and last night DH told me that it was the best loaf of gluten free bread that he's had.

I may pull the starch amount down a bit more just to see, but 3/4 c. works just fine.

SA, I'm soooo glad that you had good results with this recipe. It's nice to know I can help others as well as my hubby.

I'm continually searching for a recipe for the "perfect" loaf of bread...a recipe that I can stick with and have turn out well every time. Gluten free yeast bread remains my biggest challenge as far as a gluten free diet is concerned.

When you cut down the amount of starch, did you increase the amount of buckwheat flour or decrease the amount of water? I know you're good at eyeballing it...I'm still getting a feel for gluten free bread baking.

When you made it without buckwheat to make white bread (a previous post in this thread), did you use all white rice flour? And if so, did you make any other substitutions?

Do you cover the loaf when it's rising? I laid a piece of aluminum foil over it (sprayed the foil with non-stick cooking spray) but it stuck to the bread and caused it to fall slightly when I removed it.

Please keep posting the results of your experimentations!!!

[halfrunner]

When you cut down the amount of starch, did you increase the amount of buckwheat flour or decrease the amount of water? I know you're good at eyeballing it...I'm still getting a feel for gluten free bread baking.

No on the extra buckwheat. Like you said, the water always ends up eyeballed, but I don't THINK that I added any more than usual.

When you made it without buckwheat to make white bread (a previous post in this thread), did you use all white rice flour? And if so, did you make any other substitutions?

Nope on the substitutions. I followed the recipe as is, just using all white rice flour. I've found that many flours can be interchanged with no or minimal adjustments, oat flour is one exception to that though. It must be something in the oat flour consistency.

Do you cover the loaf when it's rising? I laid a piece of aluminum foil over it (sprayed the foil with non-stick cooking spray) but it stuck to the bread and caused it to fall slightly when I removed it.

Nope. I never cover bread in my oven when I let it rise. Pretty much because it always sticks and then deflates.

Please keep posting the results of your experimentations!!!

My next tweak is to see if adding powdered milk will help with the little bit of dryness that DH mentioned is still there. I'll make the next batch this weekend.

[sa1937]

My next tweak is to see if adding powdered milk will help with the little bit of dryness that DH mentioned is still there. I'll make the next batch this weekend.

Thanks for your response! I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with next!

In the meantime I want to also experiment with the recipe using a half cup of flour posted by RiceGuy under the "Uprisings" thread.

[naiiad]

I absolutely love buckwheat bread. It has a very unique flavor and the texture holds well. It's even very tasty on its own. Also makes great pancakes!

Although I've never personally had any problem with Buckwheat, I know that most (if not all) of the brands of buckwheat flour I have access to in Canada do not guarantee that they are wheat free. Watch out for labels!

[conniebky]

I didn't know we could eat buckwheat!

My mom makes buckwheat pancakes with the maple syrup from around here!

Yippeeee!

I'm callin my momma right now!

[jackay]

A lot of buckwheat pancakes also have wheat flour in them so be sure there isn't any in hers.

[Takala]

If something is baking up "dry," add some more fat or oil to it. With this 2 loaf recipe maybe go for 2 eggs instead of the 1 and a 1/2, and a little more oil.

Could also add a bit of vegetable or fruit fiber such as mashed pumpkin, yam, bean, sweet potato, banana. Or substitute part of another gluten free flour/meal/seed for the rice flour, I think rice flour makes things dry unless there is a lot of oil and sugar added. (like the Betty Crocker brownies are really good but they've got a stick of butter in them- you put enough butter into anything, it becomes "moist." )

[Tina B]

I didn't know we could eat buckwheat!

My mom makes buckwheat pancakes with the maple syrup from around here!

Yippeeee!

I'm callin my momma right now!

Buckwheat is actually not wheat but a berry. Do be aware, as someone else here said, most buckwheat pancake recipes also use regular flour. I have replace that with fine white corn flour and they came out great.

[halfrunner]

I cut the starch down to 3/4 c. and added 3 tbsp. dried milk to the batter, as well as upped the eggs to 2. DH said it was a little bit less dense and that it still tasted great.

I think I'm done messing with this recipe. DH is very happy with it in whichever variation I make so it's all good.

My one personal comment is that I like my homemade version of Udi's bread for french toast better, but DH prefers this one more for french toast. Since it's not my bread, I'll just do whatever he likes best.

[miles]

Here is a recipe for buckwheat pancakes, easy and are very good.

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