Gluten-free Bread Recipe

It's wee and little, but full of goodness

Here it is people, my own gluten-free bread recipe! Now, the first time I tried this recipe I mis-measured my flour and managed to create a super fluffy bread loaf. Unfortunately I couldn't remember what I'd done wrong and it's taken several attempts to recreate that glorious first loaf.

But I think I've finally got it - and here it is (or download the printable verion):

Some of the ingredients I use - soon to be replaced by bulk items!

Dry Ingredients:

• 4 tsp millet meal
• 1/4 cup of arrowroot
• 1 cup brown rice flour with 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour (or any other gluten free flour you want to try)
  
• (optional Baking powder (see the packet for instructions))
• 1/4 cup psyllium husks
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp instant yeast

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 tsp of chia/flax seed 'slurry' (for every tsp of seed add 2 tsp of boiling water and whisk together, it will form a glutinous texture)
• 2 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, but any will do)
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil (plus extra for brushing)
• 2 tbsp yoghurt (I used Greek yoghurt)
• 325ml warm water (keep this separate)
• 30ml soy milk (or whatever milk you prefer)

Mixing the dry ingredients

1. Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together. I've included baking powder to give my flour some extra lift, but you don't need to include it. I also keep my flours in the freezer, so I measure these out and let them sit till they are room temperature.
2. Whisk the liquid ingredients separately (NOT the water, keep that separate).
3. Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix well.
4. Pour the water in a little at a time until you get a good dough consistency, I find this varies each time depending on the weather.
5. I left my dough in a bowl, covered, overnight but if you're short on time you can leave it for an hour.

Shaping the dough

6. When you are ready to bake - shape the dough into a log, grease your baking tin, pop the dough into the tin and brush with oil.
7. Preheat the oven to 245C (220C fan-assisted)/475F/gas mark 9. Bake for about 50 mins.

Ready for the oven

8. Remove from the oven, pop your loaf out of the tin, and leave to cool on a wire rack, covered with a cloth - this helps keep the bread soft.

After quite a bit of research I found this recipe by Dan Lepard (for The Guardian) and adjusted with advice given by Shauna of glutenfreegirl.com. I wanted a recipe that didn't include eggs - whole eggs create a cake consistency, and separating yolks to get the whites is just plain irritating. I stuck with yeast because I like as fluffy a bread as possible, rather than a soda bread variety.

I replaced the soya flour with millet meal; the potato starch with arrowroot; the cornflour with a mixture of buckwheat and brown rice flours and the milk with soy milk. Xanthan gum can be replaced by chia or flax seeds - I could only get chia seeds so that's what I used. I'd like to perhaps try adding some flaxseed oil next time.

I'm loving my gluten-free bread, even though the bread is quite small I still enjoy my vegemite toast in the morning. I also have buttered slices with my soup each night. The buckwheat flour has a strong, earthy taste which took some getting used to - but now that the cold weather is setting in it's quite hearty and comforting! I'm almost out of buckwheat flour, so I'm keen to try some other grain flours like barley, rye and spelt. Have you tried baking with any of these? Let me know your thoughts!

Freebie! Meal/Exercise Planner

Daily planner in my diary to record the day, with stickers!

Yay for freebies! I designed this simple, fun little meal and exercise planner for myself yesterday and thought it would be nice to share with you all. You can choose from a weekly planner or daily.

Each plan is divided into morning and evening exercise; breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning tea and afternoon tea. There is also space to record what time you head to bed (or get up, whatever you like), along with additional notes (i.e. vitamins/supplements taken), and most importantly a space to record something nice you did for yourself that day (bought yourself flowers, went to a cheap movie, whatever!)

Simply cut out and stick in your diary or planner

 Use the weekly version to plan ahead

Download the planner here. Hope you enjoy it and find it helpful to motivate you each day. So far it's been working for me. And it's a great excuse to use all those fun washi tapes and sticker sets I've been hoarding. Mwah! xx

Descending to Ascend

Hand-stitched Kikki.K card for a friend

Cryptic title I agree. But if you're in the mood for self-development and healthy change stories - via bread making - then this may be a blog post for you.

I've been going through a lot of changes of late. The big, life-changing, soul-searching variety. After several years of feeling lost and out of place I've finally had my light-bulb moment. As with most people it took a series of traumatic events to catapult it, and while they were painful to go through I don't regret them because they have brought me to the place I'm at right now.

Often when we go seeking help, we're not actually ready to see what's right in front of us. It takes quite a long time to actually see things as they really are. It's a necessary process. It's taken me about six years to reach my light bulb moment. A moment where I saw how I was directing my life simply through the way that I think. That all the negativity, discord and trauma were a result of how I was thinking, a mode of thinking that was a combined result of upbringing, education, environment etc etc.

Snap-shots from my every day

We take what we've learned and continue practicing it, even though it's out of sync with our true nature, is negative and self-sabotaging. Sure, you can blame other people who taught you those things, but eventually (with luck) you see that you are both the problem, but also the solution (in the immortal words of Megan from Bridesmaids).

So I'm in a state of change and adjustment. It's going to take me a while to get good at all this new way of thinking and living. Some of the books I'm reading that have been guiding, inspiring and reassuring are:

• The Heroine's Journey - by Maureen Murdock (aimed more at women 40+ who are what's known as "father's daughters" - apparently I share their issues, even though I'm in my 20s. Maybe you do too).
• Creative Visualization - Shakti Gawain (basically the pioneer book from the '70s about how to use meditation, visualization etc to create the life you want).
• You Can Heal Your Life - by Louise Hay (she's written heaps of books, audio-books, workbooks etc on how to change the way you think and thus change your life).
• Tao Te Ching - by Lao Tzu (there are various translations, I've actually been listening to the audio version by Ursula K. LeGuin).

But enough of that, let's get to the bread-making! As part of the health changes I'm making I'm reducing my wheat intake and switching to gluten-free options. I'm also reducing my lactose intake. I say reducing because I believe that these changes should be moderate rather than extreme. Get to know what triggers your body and adjust accordingly, but I like to keep to the general rule of a variety and balance of everything.

Hand-stitching a Typo card for Mother's Day, my window, new hair & shades

Many of the gluten-free breads in store have a cake-like consistency, and the bread mixes you can buy still contain some ingredients that are a bit too chemical for me. So I decided to make my own version and include all those good grains and seeds with heaps of nutritional value - it makes sense to me to include all those things in something as staple as bread - you're eating all the good stuff without having to think about it (I'm also adding All-Bran, millet meal and quinoa to my rustic style muesli, another no-thinking-involved option).

Unfortunately, when you take the wheat out of bread you take the gluten, the stuff that binds the dough together. So most recipes out there have extensive ingredient lists in order to create a glutenous texture. They also tend to be a bit on the chemical side (i.e xanthan gum, I'm sorry but I wouldn't even know where to find that in a supermarket). So in my usual style I researched all the ingredients to find out why they're in recipes, and then researched more natural alternatives.

I've decided to create a separate, short post with just the recipe, so hang tight for that. After two failed attempts I am yet to replicate the amazing fluffiness I achieved accidentally the first time. But I think I've almost got it - so I reckon the recipe will be up in the next few days.

In the meantime, hold on to your knickers for one more hour for my next blog post. I've created a meal/exercise planner that's fun and easy to use, in both weekly and daily options!