April 30th marked 7 years since I’ve left Poland and moved to New York. I had been here few times before the move, so I mostly knew what to expect. I wasn’t culturally shocked, even though it was very different. I knew the specifics of this country and what they would bring. 7 years in and I’m still getting used to a lot of things but one of the most favorite things in my life – Polish bread, will never find its replacement here. I am truly sorry to say that, but the typical American bread is simply terrible. The idea of wrapping a gummy-like miniature slices of bread in plastic is way beyond my comprehension. And the never-ending list of ingredients in those, and all the different types of sugars – goodness gracious! Why would you need honey, molasses, cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup, all in one piece of bread? The only amount of sugar bread requires is less than a teaspoon, to help the yeast rise. That’s all. This isn’t supposed to be a cake. It’s bread, a simple piece of dough made of as few ingredients as possible – flour, water, yeast, salt, pinch of sugar. Seeds or spices as you wish, when you make special breads.
But I’m not here to criticize. It was crucial though, to mention it, since that was the reason I started my bread making journey all those years ago. White breads, dark breads, yeast breads, no-yeast breads, rolls, baguettes, you name it. My first bread was the consistency of a brick and you could simply commit few murders with it – lethal weapon, I’m telling you…
For no-yeast breads I would make my own starters and failed miserably many times. Once I made a bread starter with addition of few green grapes, as I had read it was a great way to add some bacteria cultures to the starter to ferment better. For the next few days my husband and I couldn’t figure out the source of a foul stench of a moldy cheese left in the desert for a week. It smelled like death and it followed us wherever we went. Well, I guess whoever came with the grape adding idea didn’t take into their consideration the NY climate in the summer. Cause it’s simply a sauna. Take the hottest shower you can imagine, with closed bathroom door and no vent. And that’s what the summer feels like here (reason why I’m dreading visiting Florida, since it’s even worse there). So we bid farewell to the nose cringing grape starter and I had to start from scratch. I had many successes throughout the years, friends would ask me to make breads and rolls for their parties. I also had my share of terrible breads, but hey, that’s how you learn.
As my luck would have it though, suffering for years and not ever being diagnosed, I finally came face to face with celiac disease diagnosis. And it was only 6 weeks ago. My world collapsed. Just like I love potatoes, I love bread as much and I have had gluten free breads before and despised them with all my heart (and all my insides). I got so lost, the first time I stood in front of the Gluten Free isle in the supermarket. I got a panic attack, a real one – the type of panic attack where you can’t sit down in the middle of a store to wind down, so I had to call my husband and have him talk me through it so I could calm down. I’ve tried few store breads so far and I don’t wish to spend money on any more right now, hence I decided to start making them. I’ve made few, mostly successful ones, to my surprise. The only problem with those breads however is that they dry up extremely fast and taste best still warm from the oven. It’s a real challenge to make a homemade gluten free bread that will last for days without tasting like cardboard and crumbling all over the place. I’m still working on mastering that, but this particular bread is pretty close to ideal. Here it is, My Own Gluten Free Olive&Feat Bread:
What you need:
I mostly use Bob’s Red Mill flours and will refer to them here as BRM, to keep it shorter
- 100g BRM Gluten Free oat flour
- 175g BRM Gluten Free 1:1 baking flour
- 75g BRM Gluten Free white rice flour
- 25g BRM Gluten Free brown rice flour
- 50g BRM Gluten Free Sorghum flour
- 75g BRM All Purpose Gluten Free baking flour
- 3tsp BRM Xantham gum
- 13g dry active yeast (not the quick rise)
- 550ml warm water
- pinch of sugar
- 1tsp salt – at least but some of you might want more. Gluten Free breads tend to be a little plain in taste, so adding too much sugar with not enough salt effects in a blend tasting bread. I use the pink Himalayan salt, which is less salty than the regular sea salt, so I have to add a bit more. You can always taste the batter beforehand and see if it’s salty enough.
- Olives – I use kalamata and the big green ones. For this particular bread I used about 8 kalamata olives and 8 green ones, all halved
- Feta cheese (anywhere between 0.20-0.40lb ) – I like Bulgarian or French, since they have a subtle flavor and are very creamy and simply delicious. I can’t stand the flavor of Greek or NY style feta – it just stinks too much and tastes like a rubber manure. Sorry!
Of course, how much feta or olives you’d like to use is up to you, just remember to not overpower the bread with their flavor.
How to:
- Preheat oven to 445°F
- Grease the loaf pan with a gluten free type of cooking spray, or light olive oil and dust with a gluten free flour
- Activate yeast in 50ml of warm water and a pinch of sugar – gently stir together and let sit until it foams
- Mix all the flour and salt
- Add yeast mixture
- Add the remaining 500ml of water
- Using a wooden spatula or hands, or even a fork, mix together until fully blended and let sit under cover for about 20 min. I use a bowl with a lid but if you don’t have one, cover with plastic wrap
- After 20 min uncover the bowl and stir the batter thoroughly. Add olives and feta. Pour into the pan and let sit for another 10-15 min
It’s crucial that you don’t’ let this bread rise for too long. It will cause cracking and will simply destroy the structure, causing bread to fall apart. Gluten free breads are nothing like the ones with gluten and that’s the first lesson you need to learn.
The batter shouldn’t be liquidy. It should have a quite firm consistency but still be pourable and gooey – something like cookie dough I guess.
If, after pouring the batter into the pan it has filled the entire pan already, put it straight in the oven – and that’s ok, it will come out just right 🙂
- Bake the bread for 50-60min. Mine are always ready after 50 min, but it depends on the oven and overall rising conditions. To check if the bread is ready, don’t poke it with a skewer, since it’s a moist bread and will give you a false reading. Take it out of the pan, flip upside down and tap its bottom with your fingers. If you hear a hollow sound, the bread is ready! 🙂 If not, put back into the pan and in the oven and bake for additional 10-15 min, checking again half way through.
Take out of the pan immediately and cool on a cooling rack. It’s best to give it at least 3h to cool down before slicing. I know it will be hard to resist the temptation, but if you cut it too soon, you will cause it to crack and that means crumbling.
Enjoy!
E.
What The Fibro?! 