I jokingly banned anyone from making toast in my house and so someone delightful surprised me with a bread maker for my birthday. And so began months of experimenting in the art (and it is an art!) or gluten free bread making. I made loaves that were harder and drier than a brick, some tasty while others still were just a disaster. We tried making rice flour with a blender. This worked well enough actually especially if you use a softer rice like jasmine and I found brown rice was easier to grind to a flour. I just don’t particularly like the taste of rice flour.
I got frustrated the more I could not replicate a decent slice of toast and the websites and information I found were overwhelming and so far from my South African reality. Frustration, it seems, it part of the process of gluten-free living and eating but the good news is that is does get better. And I am here to help try alleviate some of that burden.
I now use 2 recipes which are delicious and an excellent substitute for normal bread. They don’t crumble, are not dry as bricks and actually taste great! In fact, I even know someone who now prefers the gluten-free bread I make to normal bread. Today, I will share the first recipe with you, a sorghum flour bread that is similar to rye– dark with a lovely chewy crust but is soft inside, very much like a ciabatta. I found the recipe at Gluten Free Goddess’s website. I can’t find sorghum flour so use Maltabella which you can buy in any Pick and Pay or Checkers (SA readers will be familiar with this brand). Instead of millet flour, I use tapioca flour for this recipe and use balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice or rice vinegar for a darker colour.
The result: a bread I can eat fresh, or freeze and this makes an excellent substitute for Bunny Chow, which I love. I also can eat this in a typical Italian way: with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, along with a glass (or two) of red wine. Delicious! If you give it a go, let me know how you like it. Next week, I share the other recipe and let you know where I source my flours in Cape Town.
Have a great week
Ciao
glutenfreeginja 