Corn Free Corn-Style Bread Recipe

After some research and trials I created this recipe which is really tasty and buttery, very similar to corn bread and best eaten warm. It goes very well with butter and jam and has a really wonderful flavour and no one will be able to tell it's not wheat! Also this is ideal if you aren't able to eat to eat corn, but miss corn bread!

2 cups (460 grams) Brown Rice flour (white if preferred)
3 1/3 Tblsp (47 grams) butter (room temperature)
3/4 tsp Bicarb of soda
1 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
1 1/5 cup (300ml) buttermilk
1 large egg

Set the oven to 400 F

1. Sieve all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

2. Cut up the butter into small cubes and add to flour rub into the flour with finger tips until it becomes the consistency of bread crumbs.

3. Whisk the wet ingredients together

4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients slowly mix together.

5. Tip mixture into a 9" X 5" loaf tin and dust the top with a little white rice flour.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and a test with a skewer or knife and if it comes out clean it's done. Let cool for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack. It can be eaten when still warm and is best eaten within a few days and kept in an air tight container, but can be frozen and eaten later warmed in the oven.

The Best Gluten Free Bread

So here I am still on a quest for the best gluten free bread.

The photo is my first attempt at making gluten free bread from a recipe. Ingredients: brown rice flour, tapioca starch/flour, cornstarch, flaxseed meal, xanthan gum, salt, olive oil, honey, 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, yeast and cider vinegar. It does taste like bread but also has other mildly unpleasant tastes. Tapioca flour is one of those tastes that I'm not really sure about, however it is in the ingredients for a reason, as I found out. Generally the bread has a good texture though and is an improvement on rice cakes! There is a lot you can't do with rice cakes.

Bread basics
Making gluten free bread is very different from making regular gluten bread. It reacts very differently and to create the same taste and texture there are various steps and ingredients that are essential for a risen loaf.

1. Yeast - As with regular bread to make a rising loaf yeast is used. Gluten free bread won't ever rise twice, but only once and can double in size.

2. Some flour essentials. Sorgham flour is a good wheat flour replacer but tends to be dry, however in combination with the other ingredients it works well. Tapioca flour helps to bind the mixture and create a good final consistency. If you replace the Tapioca flour with rice for example, the end result will be less 'springy' and more on the dry and crumbly side.

3. Xanthum Gum is a fermented corn sugar which acts as a gluten replacement, so is almost always required. The amount will vary depending on whether it's required for bread, pastry, cookies or cakes.

4. Eggs are essential in gluten free bread and for those not eating eggs, there is egg replacer. The eggs help to give the bread the right consistency, hold it together and and help it to rise.

5. Temperature is key, the warmer the better for the liquid ingredients (around 100 degrees) and room temperature for the eggs and flour.

The good news is once you have all the flour and ingredients it is quite straightforward to make. The benefits of baking are it tastes better, is fresher and is more economical.