February 23, 2003

• My Best Gluten-Free Bread Yet

  
  

  Here’s a little glimpse into the Mad Nutritionist’s experimental kitchen.  Most readers won’t be interested, and even some of the cooks who read this will wonder what’s so special about gluten-free bread.  I’ll tell you.

  
  

  For many people, gluten is acceptable.  Wheat, oats, and some other grains contain gluten, so most of those things commonly called simply “bread” in Western culture contain gluten.  Most of the “cold cereal”, the boxed flakes and shapes found in supermarkets also contain gluten.  You get a dose of gluten in your donuts and in your burgers.

  
  

  Gluten is the gooey, stringy stuff that forms as a wheat dough is mixed and kneaded.  Agronomists have bred strains of wheat to be higher in gluten and milling companies supply high-gluten flours to baking companies because it makes “superior” cakes and breads, which rise higher and fluffier, faster and more uniformly, without big holes in the bread or cake.

  
  

  Gluten is also the stuff that forms “nests” in our guts for Candida yeast to grow in.  Yeast spores, being tiny and light, are airborne in most outdoor and indoor environments.  People with healthy intestinal flora can inhale or ingest live yeast without a problem.  People who have lost their healthy intestinal flora (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, etc.) usually because of treatment with antibiotics, but also for other causes such as eating raw yeast dough and overwhelming the bacteria with yeast, have no way to kill it off.  If it finds some glutinous stuff in the gut to grow in, and some sugar to grow on, it multiplies.

  
  

  Yeast is a parasite.  Intestinal and vaginal yeast “infections” or infestations cause a number of uncomfortable and unpleasant symptoms.  If left untreated, a resultant systemic yeast infection can really be nasty, and even life-threatening.  Anyone with a history of yeast infections has a good reason to eliminate gluten (and sugar) from the diet.

  
  

  Others with a personal interest in gluten-free or wheat-free recipes are those in blood group A.  My blood type is A.  One of the most significant recent improvements in my general health followed my reading Eat Right 4 Your Type by D’Adamo.  It was there that I learned that those with my blood type do not tolerate dairy foods, the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes) or wheat/gluten.  I feel better and function better without those things.

  
  

  That is the “why” of it.  Now for the what and how.

  
  

  My first gluten-free bread was coarse and grainy.  It tasted okay to me, but it crumbled badly and wasn’t suitable for any kind of spread, and not even for sopping up the yolk of an over-easy egg.  My husband and son tried it, but wouldn’t eat much of it.  I finished off that batch by myself.

  
  

  My next batch was a little bit better, but the guys still didn’t like it.  I think those first two efforts, made with strong flavored grainy things like amaranth and buckwheat, put them off the concept of gluten-free.  They  didn’t even taste the batch before this one.  That’s okay.  The store-bought bread is what they like, and so I only have to bake for myself every week or two.  I freeze my gluten-free muffins, and eat one or two a day.  Besides corn tortillas, they are the only bread I eat.

  
  

  I kept trying to improve the recipe.  I read labels in the health food aisles at the stores.  I went to the Bob’s Red Mill website and read the gluten-free recipes there, and came up with two ingredients to make my bread more like the bread most of us are used to.  A small amount of tapioca starch “sweetens” and softens the bread.  Xanthan gum makes the particles stick together so that they rise nicely and don’t fall apart into crumbs after baked.  The last batch before this one was good, but the batter was extra stiff and the muffins were rough on top, not pretty.  So I tried again.  This latest batch is my best yet.  The experimental kitchen is now closed.  I’ll stick with this recipe for a while.

  
  

  
  

  Gluten-Free Muffins

  
  

  Makes about 18 medium muffins.

  
  

  Preheat oven to 425 and line muffin pans with paper cupcake cups, oil lightly, or spray with non-fat cooking spray.

  
  

  In a large bowl, combine and whisk together thoroughly:
  1 1/4 cup garbanzo flour
  1 cup sorghum flour
  1 cup rice flour
  1/4 cup tapioca flour
  1 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
  1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  1 tsp. baking soda
  2 tsp. salt

  
  

  Beat in a separate bowl:
  2 large eggs

  
  

  Add and mix thorougly:
  1/4 cup olive oil
  1 cup lowfat plain yogurt
  2 cups water
  2 Tbsp. honey

  
  

  Make a “well” in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid and blend with a few quick strokes, just until all the flour is moistened.  Spoon into muffin cups and bake at 425°F about 12-15 minutes.

  
  

  UPDATE–Caution!

  
  

  These things are too good!

  
  

  I wrote the recipe and history above on my laptop, started it while still eating a warm muffin, my second.  I said “18 muffins” in the recipe because my 12-cup muffin pan hadn’t been big enough.  I ended up baking the extra batter in a loaf pan.  It took too long to bake the center of the loaf–three times it was returned, doughy, to the oven.

  
  

  By the time it was finally done, I was salivating from the sight of the cooling muffins and the aroma of the baking loaf.  I weakened and ate the test slice that had been returned to the pan a few times.  Even overbaked and a little dry for its experiences, it was still good. 

  
  

  The problem was that it would have been best for me to have stopped with one muffin.  Two would not have been too harmful.  But after eating the third piece, I got an inflammatory / glycemic response.  Now I’ve got the burny diabetic neuropathic nastiness in my feet.  These cupcakes sneaked up on me.  Cut the honey down to 1 tablespoon or eliminate it completely if carbs in general are a problem for you.

  

  • 8:09 pm
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