Kneading

[The Glutenator]

Quick question to all you excellent bakers: do you need to knead gluten-free dough that does not have yeast in it? I thought kneading either helped with the yeast or, in yeast free doughs, it activated the gluten. So if I am adapting a biscuit recipe (no yeast) and using gluten-free flour, can I omit the kneading step? Thank you!

PS Had several failed attempts to adapt an english muffin recipe because the dough wouldn't rise, so I am avoiding yeasty stuff for now, haha. Maybe one day!

[AlysounRI]

You can't kneed gluten-free dough.

It always has the consistency of thick cake batter.

And it only takes 1 rise before you bake it.

[Kay DH]

gluten-free dough is usually too thin to knead; it is more soft mounds than cake-batter consistency for breads (at least at 1.6 km elevation). However, it is good to mix the dough completely so it is homogeneous. Just an observation, but the xanthan gum seems more elastic if the dough is mixed well. If using a breadmaker, I usually have a full "knead" and one rise with yeast breads. A second rise doesn't hurt unless you have really wimpy yeast. With cakes and yeast-free breads, there is no real risk of it being too elastic, so you don't need to limit the mixing like you would with gluten-based batter.

[GlutenFreeManna]

The previous posters are correct about most gluten free doughs not needing to be kneaded. I'm just curious what recipe you are trying to convert, because I actually never kneaded biscuits when I made them prior to gluten free. Usually the more you knead a biscuit dough the tougher the biscuit will be. I like my biscuits light and fluffy. I'm not sure if the same approach would work with a gluten free biscuit, however. I have yet to have success making gluten-free biscuits. So maybe they need to be kneaded? Do you care to share the recipe you were trying to make gluten-free? I would love to be able to make good gluten-free biscuits. Everyone here is great at helping with converting or suggesting alternative recipes.

[The Glutenator]

Oh, these are delicious and I highly recommend them. I have made them with the kneading step and without, and didn't notice a difference between the two batches (hence this topic post ) In place of the flour I use Carol's Sorghum blend (1 1/2 c sorghum flour, 1 1/2 c corn starch, 1 c tapioca flour) and then add about 1/2 tsp xanthum gum to the recipe. I also usually form it into 8 individual biscuits/scones as well. They are superb, especially with honey!

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal

3 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375

[GlutenFreeManna]

Thank you for the biscuit recipe. They sound wonderful, I have never seen biscuits with eggs in them, but I bet that helps hold it together.