Smart tips for those making food and baking with gluten-free flour mixes
Baking Gluten-free
When you bake with gluten-free products, you cannot expect to get exactly the same results as with regular kinds of flour. A flour or a flour mix without gluten takes on qualities different from ordinary flour.
Gluten-free bread dough is looser than other kinds of bread dough. The consistency resembles that of a thick cake batter. Gluten-free flour and flour mixes are packed together more lightly, which means that you need to be extra careful when you measure them. More dust arises when you handle gluten-free flour. A gluten-free dough lacks the natural flexibility found in ordinary dough. If you use the coarse flour mix, you furthermore get a relatively compact bread. The added fibre makes the mix a bit heavier, which affects both the rising qualities as well as the final result.
We have put together some simple tips and advice which will help you to succeed in the kitchen.
Measuring
Be careful in measuring. It is best to get into the habit of always weighing the mix. It is extra important that you have exactly the right amount when you use larger quantities of mix, for example when you bake bread, but also when you are baking soft cakes and small breads which are easy to measure correctly. Note that the weight per dl differs between the various products. If you do not have a kitchen scale, you can pour the mix carefully into a measuring cup. Do not shake the measuring cup and be careful in scraping off the excess mix with a knife. Do not put in all the mix at once; save 0.5 - 1 dl for subsequent kneading and shaping.
Processing and handling the dough
Yeast dough for bread and sweet buns should be worked heavily, 5 - 10 min is great with a kitchen appliance or electric mixer and twice as long if you work the dough by hand. Bread dough made from gluten-free flour mixes is often looser than ordinary bread dough and it is therefore easiest to pour or drop the dough. When you are baking in bread tins or, for example, paper muffin forms, you can brush on a little oil or liquid margarine at the bottom of the form so that the bread comes out easier. The dough can be made firmer so that it can be kneaded if you put in a little extra flour mix - the bread often becomes more compact and heavy and has a tendency to dry faster. Kneaded bread makes for a nice change in terms of appearance, flavour and consistency.
How to get a more succulent bread
Gluten-free bread becomes most succulent if the dough is relatively loose and is poured/dropped out of the forms. The dough can even piped out into buns with the help of a paper cone or a plastic bag with a corner clipped out.
How to get the bread to rise properly
Pour 1-3 teaspoons of sugar or baking syrup into the dough to facilitate rising.
How to get an even surface on the bread
Brush / spray the bread with water, spread over the moist surface with a spatula and sprinkle on poppy seeds, sesame seeds or buckwheat flakes before you let the bread rise in order to get a more even surface. If you do not want to sprinkle seeds/flakes over the bread, spray / brush it with cold water at the end of the baking.
The best way to make the bread last
The best way to store gluten-free bread is to freeze it. Let the newly baked bread cool, slice it and then place it in freezer bags. The frozen bread slices can be placed directly into the toaster or grilled with toppings in the oven.
How to get a more pliable dough and a better consistency of the bread / cake
If you add psyllium seed shells, Husk or Stort A (available for sale at the chemists, in health food stores and in certain grocery stores) to the dough, it takes on a more pliable consistency and the bread / cake becomes more stable. For bread dough with 5 dl liquid ingredients, 1-2 tablespoons is recommended, 2 tablespoons if you are using a non-dairy mix. For soft cakes, you should take 1 teaspoon per batch of dough and for small breads, 0.5 - 1 teaspoon per batch of dough.
How to get a bread that is richer in fibre
If you want a fibre rich bread, you can change 1/4 of the flour mix with fibre mix.
How to avoid the dust
Gluten-free flour raises more dust than other flour does. The best way to avoid the dust is always first to direct the flour mix downward into the liquid ingredients with a ladle or a wooden fork. Then work the dough together; a kitchen appliance or electric mixer works fine.
How to succeed with gluten-free loafs
When you bake loafs, you should try to get as even and unbroken a surface as possible. Place the breads as close to each other on the sheet as they rise together - that way the breads can support each other. If you brush both the top and the sides with melted margarine or oil before you bake the breads, it is easy to divide them when they have finished baking.
How to succeed with soft cakes
Mix the flavouring with the flour mix before mixing the flour into the liquid ingredients. That way you avoid handling the dough for too long a time and you get a more airy cake.
Experiment!
Go ahead and make a test-cake from the dough when you bake biscuits and small breads. If the cake flows out while baking, you can add a little more flour mix in the dough. If it is difficult to form cakes and the dough crumbles, you can add a little more cooking fat or the liquid used to make the dough.
How to succeed with pie dough
Gluten-free pie dough is often very brittle and can be difficult to manage. It gets easier if you place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll it out. Carefully pull off the upper layer of plastic and lift it by the lower when placing the dough into the pie tin. Carefully pull off the other plastic sheet and press the pie dough out into the tin. Prick the edge as usual with a fork and pre-bake the pie shell for about 10 minutes at 175° before filling it. If you switch half the quantity of cooking fat for quark cheese, the pie shell will be stronger.
In food preparation
- Sauce for 1 portion: ¾ - 1 teaspoon of cooking fat, 2 teaspoons of flour mix, 1 dl liquid (cream, milk, water, diluted stock or soup base)
- White sauce for 1 portion: ¾ - 1 teaspoon of cooking fat, 1 teaspoon of flour mix, 1 dl liquid (cream, milk, water, diluted stock or soup base)