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.

New to the Gluten Free Diet

It is not easy when even a trace of gluten will affect your health seriously and this is the case with celiac disease.

Even when the ingredients do not show any gluten and seem gluten free, the factory that processes them may also process gluten products. Not all products have allergy warnings, despite the seriousness of celiac disease. So it comes down to being your own detective and in most cases if the information is out dated online, calling or emailing the company. Products that were gluten free can then contain gluten so regular checks are needed.

So it takes constant vigilance. It's been a mine field to navigate through. I'm nervously checking labels, emailing companies and keeping the kitchen as clean as possible. Separate chopping board, toaster and food cupboards. But when a trace of gluten is a problem, then having gluten in the kitchen is a real issue. Suddenly taking up a dinner invite is a problem, do they know, should I take my own food? People may not have heard of celiac disease or if they have, they probably won't understand what it is.

I guess with time it will get easier, I'll adjust and learn the best ways to deal with all this. The test will be to have another blood test and see if my immune system is still reacting, then I'll know whether the measures I've been taking are good enough.

Then there are the digestive issues, as celiac disease means that your intestines are damaged and so you're not digesting or absorbing nutrients properly, but this should all soon heal on a gluten free diet. At first I felt better, less bloated most noticeably, but then with all the gluten free baking I've done I didn't feel that great. All the recipes are laden with butter, oil and eggs and I'm just not used to that, plus maybe I don't get on with some of the numerous ingredients needed for gluten free cooking which aren't particularly natural. So gradually I'm navigating through all this. I want to be healthier not unhealthier with this diet and of course avoiding gluten is the first step but now how to make healthy, nutritious gluten free food..bread, snacks, crackers. There are recipes out there but so far I'm not convinced by them.

On a gluten free diet it's important to make sure you're getting the nutrition you need. That's because regular bread and flours are fortified but gluten free bread and flours aren't. So it's down to us to find the most nutritious foods we can.

I'm beginning to work on some recipes so keep an eye on this blog..

On a search for organic, nutritious gluten free flour

When I first had to start this gluten free diet I just bought everything gluten free that I could. In retrospect I wish I'd been a bit more discerning but really there wasn't much choice. Looking at all the flour I bought I saw it wasn't organic, and I always try and eat organic and not only that, it didn't contain much nutrition. After a few weeks of eating rice cakes I just had to try baking some gluten free bread, I could barely face another day eating them!

So after some research I discovered these flours that are not only gluten free but also nutritious and a good source of protein from which once sourcing I'll be coming up with some recipes:

Teff flour - this is one of the smallest grains and is grown in Ethiopia. It is rich in protein and nutrients and good for flat bread, cookies and pancakes.

Quinoa flour - good for complete protein and healthy oils and minerals and is good generally in baking when combined with other flours.

Coconut flour - high protein, nutritious and good fibre source. It has a similar consistancy to wheat and is really versatile.

Almond flour - another versatile flour for use in baking, high protein and nutritious. It's expensive although a cheaper way is to make it by blending blanched almonds carefully as too much blending will turn them into a nut butter.