dcrehr

My last post on this, to summarize it all, so you won't have to go looking all over the place to make adjustments. I've made this enough times now to be confident that the recipe and technique works consistently.

"UDI" Whole Grain Bread

DRY INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour/Starch

1/4 cup + 1/2 tablespoon Brown Rice Flour

3 tablespoons Potato Starch

1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons Flax Seed Meal

1 teaspoon Xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

WET INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 egg whites extra large

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

3/8 cup water

IN ADDITION TO THE ABOVE:

1 teaspoon dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water

TECHNIQUE -

1) Put together the yeast/sugar/water mixture first. Water should be warm to get the yeast going. Set this aside in a warm place. By the time to get back to it, it should be foamy, indicating the yeast is good.

2) Combine the dry ingredients and mix together well.

3) Combine the wet ingredients and mix together well. (Some people have suggested beating the whites - I did not and therefor do not think it is necessary)

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient... and then dump in the foamy yeast mixture. Stir it all together vigorously with a stout wooden spoon. You'll end up with something that is halfway between dough and batter. If you want, you can use a mixer, but doing it by hand is really pretty easy.

5) Prepare a bread loaf pan (one with handles is preferable) by lightly spraying it with an anti-stick spray (I use Waffle-Off, but something like Pam will do fine). Be very careful not to overdo it. When the bread is done, you will be inverting the pan and resting it on a couple of supports so that it cools upside down, so you do want it to stick at least a little bit.

6) Use a rubber spatula to spread the dough evenly into the loaf pan. Cover and set it aside in a warm place to rise. I don't know all the factors in rising time, but don't worry about it. If the yeast is good, it will rise. Two hours or more is not unusual. Just set it aside and forget about it. Once the top of the dough begins to touch the covering (I use plastic wrap, so I can see it), its ready to bake.

7) Preheat oven to 325.

8) Bake at 325 for 90 minutes. NOTE - this is a lower temp and longer time than for the average bread recipe, but this is what makes it work. What you'll get is a loaf that is very brown on the outside. The crust is a bit thicken than average, but I believe it is this crust that plays a large role in supporting this bread and keeping it from collapsing.

9) Remove bread from oven, invert the pan and rest the handles on two tin cans. Let it cool completely. The upside down position will keep the bread from collapsing, just as one does with an angel food cake.

10) When cool, I like to slice the loaf down. Use a sharp serrated knife, and let the sawing motion do the work. Don't press down too much, because this is still a very delicate bread and you can crush it. Slicing also aids in the drying out process. When very fresh, this bread is almost too moist. It you let it sit in a plastic bag in the fridge a few days, I think its texture is much more user friendly.

11) This bread is absolutely best when toasted. By crisping up the surface of the slice, the bread is firmed up even more.

IF YOU LIKE THIS AND WANT TO DO IT OFTEN: Mix up your dry ingredients in bulk. I put together enough for four loaves at a time, and then use 1/4 of the mixture added to the wet ingredients. Makes for a much faster and more convenient process. 1/4 of the mixture, by the way, is just a smidge over 6 ounces by weight. I don't know what it ends up to be by volume. Weight is a much more accurate way of measuring it.

And that is Udi Bread about as close as you can come to buying it at the store.

Good luck to all.

One more thing...

I put my finished loaf in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. A week later (I only ate a few slices), the texture was much much closer to Udi's store bought.

Duh.

Give it some time to dry out, and the too-much-moisture problem goes away. How old do you think your last Udi's store-bought loaf was??

DR

I read this thread a while ago and have only just gotten around to trying out making Udi bread from the reverse-engineered recipe.

I think I have more or less nailed it, and, lucky for me, on the second try.

I used the whole-grain recipe. The first try was as-written, beat the egg whites and folded them in, baked at 350 for 1 hour, and the bread collapsed. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. I could not get Teff flour, so put in twice the specified Flax Seed Meal instead.

On the second try, I made the following changes:

1) added an additional 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum

2) used about half the amount of water specified (didn't measure exactly)

3) did not pre-beat the egg whites (this, the result of a bonehead mistake that makes no difference at this point).

I mixed this all up with a mixer until thoroughly blended. The dry yeast was proofed in 3 T of water with about 2 tsp of sugar, but I think you can add the yeast directly to the batter and get as good a result. Rising time may take a little longer.

I ended up with a sticky dough (maybe call it a thick batter). It filled the bread loaf pan (glass) only about 1-inch worth. Put it in a warm place and waited for it to rise. I didn