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Expandex (Tapiuoca Starch For Baking)

IrishHeart

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IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted

So, we thought we'd try this stuff suggested in Jules Shepard's book called Expandex (which is tapioca starch). She suggests using it to make bread more "gluteny" and it did seem to work. The loaf rose well--quite high actually-- and the bread was "squishy" and tasted good.

But, half a sammy in.... and I started to have heart palps and feeling sort of anxious and spacey head---like when I eat gluten!!! I call them the "gluten-willies".. :blink: It lasted all afternoon (bummer)

Now, I know it wasn't gluten, but it was a lot of tapioca starch in the recipe.

Does anyone else have this reaction to tapioca starch? I didn't seem to notice it when we used it in our bread before this, however, this recipe using the Expandex requires quite a bit of it --so maybe it was the dose??

just wondering ...

whoops, I misspelled tapioca...I think I have some left over yuckies going on!! LOL

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sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

So, we thought we'd try this stuff suggested in Jules Shepard's book called Expandex (which is tapioca starch). She suggests using it to make bread more "gluteny" and it did seem to work. The loaf rose well--quite high actually-- and the bread was "squishy" and tasted good.

But, half a sammy in.... and I started to have heart palps and feeling sort of anxious and spacey head---like when I eat gluten!!! It lasted all afternoon (bummer)

Now, I know it wasn't gluten, but it was a lot of tapioca starch in the recipe.

Does anyone else have this reaction to tapioca starch? I didn't seem to notice it when we used it in our bread before this, however, this recipe using the Expandex requires quite a bit of it --so maybe it was the dose??

just wondering ...

I've never used Expandex but I'm having a difficult time using Jules all-pupose flour blend that includes it. Not that I feel ill but just that I can't seem to get the recipe to turn out. Do you use her flour?

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

No, we use Bob's Red Mill flours or flour from NUtsOnLine. We did use an "all-purpose" flour mix from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts for a while. It was okay!

Now, it's more like a mish-mash of several people's ideas and suggestions. Not one "all-purpose flour".

He worked on that basic bread recipe for 5 months :lol: (mostly, they just plain collapsed) and when a baker (at a local gluten-free bakery) gave him advice about how long to leave the loaf in and at what temp, he finally got it to stand tall! :D

I will post it separately.

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

No, we use Bob's Red Mill flours or flour from NUtsOnLine. We did use an "all-purpose" flour mix from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts for a while. It was okay!

Now, it's more like a mish-mash of several people's ideas and suggestions. Not one "all-purpose flour".

He worked on that basic bread recipe for 5 months :lol: (mostly, they just plain collapsed) and when a baker (at a local gluten-free bakery) gave him advice about how long to leave the loaf in and at what temp, he finally got it to stand tall! :D

I will post it separately.

I couldn't resist an introductory offer when I signed up for emails on Jules blog...sucker that I am. :lol: Always searching. I have Annalise Roberts' book and have had success with it. I especially like the multi-grain bread recipe and have made it several times.

Today when I baked a loaf of bread from Jules' cookbook, the sides sorta collapsed, which is the problem I've had with it. I left it in longer and used an instant read thermometer, which indicated it was baked to 210° Just how much longer do you normally bake your breads? I think next time (maybe tomorrow) I'll add 1/4 cup flaxseed meal to give it more stability. Either that or reduce the liquid.

GlutenFreeManna Rising Star
GlutenFreeManna
Posted

No, we use Bob's Red Mill flours \

Are you sensitive to oats?

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

Are you sensitive to oats?

No. that's a good thought though! I eat gluten-free oats and suffer no reactions.

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

I couldn't resist an introductory offer when I signed up for emails on Jules blog...sucker that I am. :lol: Always searching. I have Annalise Roberts' book and have had success with it. I especially like the multi-grain bread recipe and have made it several times.

Today when I baked a loaf of bread from Jules' cookbook, the sides sorta collapsed, which is the problem I've had with it. I left it in longer and used an instant read thermometer, which indicated it was baked to 210° Just how much longer do you normally bake your breads? I think next time (maybe tomorrow) I'll add 1/4 cup flaxseed meal to give it more stability. Either that or reduce the liquid.

I just posted the bread recipe on the other thread we are conversing on. Hope you like it... :unsure:

We had all the same issues until we raised the oven temperature 50 degrees (a gluten-free baker gave us this advice) and we tried reduced liquid, longer cook-time. etc to no avail...the secret was raising the temp in the oven.... ;)

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sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

I just posted the bread recipe on the other thread we are conversing on. Hope you like it... :unsure:

We had all the same issues until we raised the oven temperature 50 degrees (a gluten-free baker gave us this advice) and we tried reduced liquid, longer cook-time. etc to no avail...the secret was raising the temp in the oven.... ;)

Got it! Thanks! Good to know the "secret" and I hope it works for me, too. :)

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

Got it! Thanks! Good to know the "secret" and I hope it works for me, too. :)

hope it works for you. At first, I thought...that sucker's gonna burn :P ....but it did not. Outside was dark, but tasted good.

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

hope it works for you. At first, I thought...that sucker's gonna burn :P ....but it did not. Outside was dark, but tasted good.

Do you tent it after it's been baking for awhile?

Juliebove Rising Star
Juliebove
Posted

I bought some Expandex but don't know what to do with it. How do you use it?

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

I bought some Expandex but don't know what to do with it. How do you use it?

Expandex is tapioca starch/flour so you would use it in a flour mix as you would use (regular) tapioca starch. I'm not sure how it's different except that it's modified tapioca starch. Clear as mud, huh. I've never seen Expandex around here but you could pull up their website. Open Original Shared Link I know it's in Jules Shepard all-purpose flour.

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

Do you tent it after it's been baking for awhile?

I don't think he does....he's at the gym right now :) ....I'll get back to you on that!

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

I bought some Expandex but don't know what to do with it. How do you use it?

This was an experiment on our part...the bag of Expandex came with recipe cards and we followed the one for French Bread. That sucker rose so high, it overflowed and made a mess of the oven :blink:

I suggest you put something under the bread pan!

It's really just tapioca starch...and you use quite a lot of it in the recipe.

So, it DOES the job, but be careful. The bread was really moist, "stretchy" and tasted pretty good. But as I said, I had a reaction and I am not sure why... :unsure:

freeatlast Collaborator
freeatlast
Posted

I just posted the bread recipe on the other thread we are conversing on. Hope you like it... :unsure:

We had all the same issues until we raised the oven temperature 50 degrees (a gluten-free baker gave us this advice) and we tried reduced liquid, longer cook-time. etc to no avail...the secret was raising the temp in the oven.... ;)

What other thread? Couldn't find it. :(

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

What other thread? Couldn't find it. :(

here ya go...

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

Do you tent it after it's been baking for awhile?

Nope. the baker told us that tenting makes it steam and that causes some collapsing of the loaf. It will get a dark crust, but it still tastes good.

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

Nope. the baker told us that tenting makes it steam and that causes some collapsing of the loaf. It will get a dark crust, but it still tastes good.

Thanks! I'll try your suggestions and hope for the best. :)

IrishHeart Veteran
IrishHeart
Posted
  • Author

Thanks! I'll try your suggestions and hope for the best. :)

hope it comes out okay!! :)

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