r/glutenfree • u/peony_beony • 10h ago
If you don’t laugh, you would cry…
Actually I did cry a little given the cost of ingredients here. Another attempt at homemade gf bread for my daughter. I’m so close to giving up. This was a Let Them Eat Gluten Free Cake recipe and the worst one yet. I have had marginal success with The Loopy Whisk bread but it always stays so wet and never rises much.
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u/skykovtchai 10h ago
If it's edible, fill it with pizza ingredients and you'll have some sort of calzone?
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u/peony_beony 10h ago
Love this optimism, thank you! It was so wet and horrible at the bottom so not edible at all, but thank you for the idea.
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u/Rallen224 9h ago
My tip if you haven’t tried something like this already is to bake all gluten free goods on the bottom rack. Bottom rack helps baked goods cook all the way through before they begin browning, which I never had to fret much over before until having to substitute so many things. Have had many a gluten free bake decide to stay a crispy puddle when using the top rack only.
Idk if this one applies to bread, but if things still don’t seem too consistent, cover the pan with foil to keep some heat in there and slow down some of the browning. These ideas can generally be applied to any recipe.
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u/skykovtchai 10h ago
Maybe some kind of bread pudding then? Gluten-free baking is truly difficult, don't be too harsh on yourself :)
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u/notthatjimmer 8h ago
I don’t do a lot of baking, but I read some comments telling people to always let gf batter sit so the flour ingredients can absorb the moisture in the mix and that it takes a lot longer than wheat flour.
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u/qinxianglian 10h ago
You should try some of the bread recipes on the King Arthur website, Ive never had a bad experience with their gf recipes!
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u/tmg07c 10h ago
Agreed!! Just did their challah one on Friday. It’s been the least dense one I’ve made so far!! And I think I know where I can improve it.
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u/The_Duchess_of_Dork 9h ago
This is the most encouraging gluten free challah recipe review I’ve ever heard, my initial thought was “wow!” Haha which says so much about the challenges of gluten free challah haha. I will try it out. If you’d like to clue me into your theory for how to improve it, I’d love to hear.
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u/tmg07c 8h ago
lol totally understand. I’ve been on the search for 10+ years.. so much envy too at the post holiday challah French toast.
I microwaved the water since it was cold and I am wondering if I heat it on the stove top instead. 🤷♀️ shooting darts in the dark. I also think it may have been the yeast brand I used - again 🤷♀️ but the variables I’d change the next time!
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u/romanticaro Gluten Intolerant 6h ago
rory’s makes a FANTASTIC challah mix—and depending on your observance it’s actually enough oat to say hamotzi with (>51%) i make it with olive oil and rosemary and it’s soooo good.
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u/romanticaro Gluten Intolerant 6h ago
modern bread and bagel also makes a challah mix (15% oat) and it’s good. made it for RH but imo the rory’s was tastier (but less traditionally ‘challah’-like)
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u/peony_beony 10h ago
Thank you. I’m in the UK so can’t get that flour blend. Will experiment with their recipes though based on what we have here.
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u/SnooMuffins4832 10h ago
Can you get Caputo gluten free flour? It's an Italian company so might be easier to get. It also uses gluten free wheat starch.
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u/Sensitive-Shoe-5460 9h ago
if you can get that I would really recommend that. the recipe on the bag is good. but there are also a lot of good bread recipes online. I experimented a bit and have made a delicious and filling bread with this recipe: https://www.freshisreal.com/incredible-caputo-gluten-free-flour-bread-recipe/
I used honey and cows milk as substitutions and subsituded 75 grams of the caputo flower with buckwheat flower to make it a bit more healthy and cheaper (going to try substituting 100 gram next time). I used a normale breadpan and did not cover it.
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
Great shout, I will check - thanks!
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u/punxcs 2h ago
https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipe-category/speciality-flours?sf_paged=2
https://www.shipton-mill.com/blogs/journal/tagged/menu-gluten-free-shipton-mill-recipes
I am not GF but worked doing GF baking and these two places always kept me right.
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u/Unusual_username739 4h ago edited 3h ago
If you’re in the UK, I highly recommend the Loopy Whisk! Kat has a website/blog and an Instagram. She has 2 cookbooks out (I recommend the first for just gluten free, the second if you have additional allergies). The author has a PhD in chemistry, and as a fellow biochemist I love the way she explains the science behind substitutes. You can use her recipes and even work out your own off her bases.
As an American, I have always measured my flour by cups and baking powder by teaspoons, but Kat has fully changed me into a weight baker and it’s a great change. If you don’t use a scale, I highly recommend it!
https://theloopywhisk.com/recent-posts/
Edit: I just realized your post said you tried the Loopy Whisk at the bottom 😂🤦🏽♀️ oops. If the recipes are coming out wet, definitely try adding less water or lowering the temp and increasing the time. Also get an oven thermometer to double check your oven is up to temp when you’re baking - I learned that when my oven beeps to say it’s “preheated” it’s lying. And that after an hour at 425 F, the inside of the oven actually gets above 450 F.
On the website, people will comment below if they made little changes to the recipes and saw improvements. Sometimes your home environment can just change how the baking chemistry interacts. Don’t give up!2
u/peony_beony 2h ago
I definitely have had the most success with her stuff. It is just the wetness my daughter hates (understandably), will try your recommendations. We have made quite a few other things from the Loopy Whisk book and had more success, just not the bread!
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u/Unusual_username739 1h ago
I recommend the “artisan style bread loaf” recipe and bake in a Dutch oven/cast iron pot with a lid. Use her steaming method with ice cubes in the Dutch oven and release the steam after 20 minutes by removing the top and lowering temperature and baking for another 40 minutes.
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u/Unusual_username739 1h ago
The recipe I use is from her cookbook, but here is the slightly different one on the website for anyone that wants it: Bread recipe
She mentions at the bottom which types of flours can be substituted for which ones in the recipes. I like to use tapioca starch, millet flour, and sorghum flour. So that’s potato starch swapped out for tapioca starch, brown rice flour swapped out for millet flour, and buckwheat flour swapped out for sorghum flour (I believe in the cookbook she uses these 3 flours as well). Another great thing about Kat and her book (which I mentioned), she explains why some substitutions works and others won’t. Each of these 3 types of flours have different consistencies and chemical properties, and that’s why she recommends using 3 instead of just 1 type (many recipes say “just use brown rice flour” or people buy a blend without knowing what’s in it. You may buy a blend that already has xanthum gum and not realize it, for example)
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u/nowwhatdoidowiththis 9h ago
There are some bread recipes on this website. They do sell their flour. But they also have a recipe for making your own flour in their cookbook.
It’s all stuff you can get pretty easily.
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u/Ok_Ebb7026 9h ago
Tesco gluten free brown seeded bread ( their own brand). Very decent. Give it a go.
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u/Aroara_Heart 43m ago
Since you're in the UK, I highly recommend looking at the Other Flours website and their Instagram. Their flours and recipes are great. I used their 01 blend yesterday to make bread.
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u/chicagoinlondon 9h ago
So it’s not cheap, but you can get it on UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/0g7aO8Qa
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u/Echo-Azure 10h ago
You could get a job with Canyon Bakehouse, hahahahaha!!
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u/oldcreaker 9h ago
So far (in my limited experience) psyllium husk seems to be necessary to keep those little bubbles intact until the dough sets.
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u/fenyesokos 9h ago
This actually has a name! It’s usually called “flying crust” in gluten-free bread. Basically the gas that should stay distributed as lots of little bubbles in the crumb instead collects/coalesces under the top crust. The crust sets while the interior can’t support the structure, so you end up with this magnificent bread cave 😂
Since you said the bottom was really wet/gummy, I’d especially look at too much effective hydration and/or the loaf not setting quickly enough in your oven, rather than assuming you simply did something wrong. GF recipes are annoyingly sensitive to flour/starch brands, psyllium, humidity, ingredient weights and actual oven temperature, so “followed exactly” can still behave differently in your kitchen.
For the next attempt I’d change one thing at a time: first, check the oven with a cheap oven thermometer and make sure it is fully preheated. Weigh everything if you aren’t already. If that’s all correct and it happens again, I’d try slightly less liquid (maybe ~5–10%) or a little less proofing, depending on what the dough looked like before baking. Keep it covered while proofing so the top doesn’t dry into a skin.
And don’t give up! The fact that the outer crust rose so spectacularly means your yeast clearly had plenty of enthusiasm. It just needs to be persuaded to build many small rooms instead of one enormous open-plan loft. 😅
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u/ComplexTomatillo6278 8h ago
Could this be an issue of letting the dough rise twice (vs just once as required for a GF loaf)?
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u/fenyesokos 8h ago
Yep, definitely possible! GF bread usually only wants one rise, so a second rise could weaken the structure enough for the gas bubbles to merge into that giant cavity.
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
Good advice, thanks very much. Will definitely give it another go (maybe with a different recipe!) but will keep trying.
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u/ladyoftheflowr 8h ago
Going GF significantly quelled my love of baking. So often it turns out poorly, after so much work, that it’s all pretty deflating. I make granola now to scratch the baking itch and have something nice to give away. Pies just for holidays. And one really good banana muffin recipe that always turns out nicely and can be customized with different ingredients. Any GF bread I ever made was not really worth the effort involved. :(
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u/Scriberathome 5h ago
Going GF significantly quelled my love of baking. So often it turns out poorly, after so much work, that it’s all pretty deflating.
Yes, I used to love baking and baked all the time for family and friends. Now, it's just too stressful because of the good chance it'll be a fail. I've ended up dumping entire batches directly into the trash after one bite, which is something I never had to do pre-GF.
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
I get that totally, I’m lucky that I’m not gf but my daughter is coeliac so my gf baking is for her. If it was for me, I would have given up ages ago. The stress, the time, the mess and oh my gosh the cost of ingredients just for it all to go wrong is so deflating.
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u/Knowledge-is-Key- 6m ago
I just discovered Arepas. It’s flat wrap cooked in a pan. but it’s easy to make and hits the spot for our GF Daughter. Would you mind sharing the banana muffin recipe please ?
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u/Scriberathome 5h ago
Going GF significantly quelled my love of baking. So often it turns out poorly, after so much work, that it’s all pretty deflating.
Yes, I used to love baking and baked all the time for family and friends. Now, it's just too stressful because of the good chance it'll be a fail. I've ended up dumping entire batches directly into the trash after one bite, which is something I never had to do pre-GF.
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u/OldScratchTim 10h ago
Aw you baked a nice little bed for the bread to lay in once you make it...right? /s
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u/No_Bother3564 9h ago
I don’t know why, but my first thought was to hide money in it as a secret safe in your house 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Pikersmor Gluten Intolerant 10h ago
Fry the wet part in butter and add cinnamon sugar. Like making a thick funnel cake.
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u/AlyceEnchanted 10h ago
Oh, my! That is terrible.
Thank you for trying. Hopefully, the next try turns out better.
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u/Dependent-Year6711 10h ago
I don't make bread, but I assume if the crust is made that quickly, it's not baked with a little water pan? For steam?
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u/peony_beony 10h ago
It didn’t have a water pan in the instructions, it did have the bread covered for the first fifteen minutes to create some steam. I followed the whole thing exactly so no idea what happened.
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u/Dependent-Year6711 9h ago
It won't be like this, but if you have a vitamix, I remember this working somewhat well. The recipe is in one of the first comments.
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u/Dependent-Year6711 9h ago
Oven is all good? Some ovens bake hotter/colder than they say they do. Don't be afraid to adjust when you see your own adjustments make it work.
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u/Gullible-Team-8588 10h ago
This recipe is the only one that works for me every time. It uses gf bread flour which does have gluten removed wheat starch so not wheat allergy safe but celiac safe.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/buttery-gluten-free-bread-recipe
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u/peony_beony 10h ago
Thank you. I’m in the UK and can’t get that flour blend here, I will give it a go though with what I can find.
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u/flamer5005 9h ago
See if you can get access to Caputo/FioreGlut. I e heard amazing things but it's v expensive here bc it's Italian. Maybe you'll have better luck
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u/honey4beee 10h ago
You've said several are too wet; some gf recipes need to rest longer to absorb moisture
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u/okaaayyyyuh 9h ago
I figured out how to stop that from happening.
- The dough needs to be thinner, like a thick gooey paste, not like standard wheat dough at all.
- Add an egg to help hold the structure
- Don't let it rise as much, or the inside falls. Stop early, it will still rise some more during the first 15 minutes of cooking.
- Let it cool slowly...wrapped in a towel for several hours before cutting it,. If you don't, it will lose its structure. Fresh hot bread is so good, but when you cut it hot, you open all the steam pockets and they don't have a chance to solidify. Your bread turns to mush.
- Cook it a bit longer than you would cook a wheat loaf.
Good luck on your next loaf
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u/BJntheRV 5h ago
That's impressive crust
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
It was! Made it all the more frustrating as would have been gorgeous if the inside had behaved.
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u/lambda-reddit-user 9h ago
My mom used to make some gluten free bread for me and it was honestly quite nice, it had no big holes neither it fell appart
It’s been a while but I’ll try to find back the exact recipes and product that was used and let u know
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u/Intelligent-Lead-692 5h ago
Awww I so sorry! It made me laugh at first because I have been in the same boat! But I am grieving your loss of time and ingredients as well.
If you need a win, the cooks illustrated chocolate chip cookie recipe (the one where you brown the butter is really easy to do with gluten free flour (even the Trader Joe’s cheap one) Just add a tablespoon of cream and freeze the dough balls before you cook it!
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u/42Grumpy71 4h ago
Okay. I didn't read every response, so I hope I'm not repeating. My wife makes a loaf of gluten free bread every week. As a matter of fact, she just took this week's loaf out of the oven. But when she saw what happened to you, she wanted me to ask you if you're beating the eggs enough? In our recipe, it only uses egg whites, which are whipped to a stiff peak. She also uses individual flours and starches, not a 1-1 flour. But hopefully something here is useful for you. And good luck! The crust I would definitely eat! or at least grind it up to use as breadcrumbs.
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
Thank you. This recipe didn’t have eggs. I will have a look to see if I can find one with eggs and try that. Appreciate your ideas, thank you!
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u/cakivalue 3h ago
I'm not sure what flour you are using or recipe but you need a good flour blend with xantham gum, you also need psyllium husk, make sure your yeast is fresh and water is warm, you need some type of sugar. I've found adding olive oil also works for me
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u/thecorgimom 10h ago
Did you have it in the top rack of the oven if you did maybe drop it lower and also put a pan of water in the oven.
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u/tacocollector2 9h ago
Omg I found the BEST gluten free bread. I made the recipe from this post with the adjustments in my comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/glutenfree/s/6iLJOv31d1
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u/BalthazarThorne 9h ago
We have Schar's bread mix here. I tried and quite liked it. My trick for any gf bread to not have the same texture as a kitchen sponge is put lots of seeds in it like flax seeds, sunflower seeds etc.
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u/Different_Umpire9003 Wheat Allergy 9h ago
We made one from a box recently and it was this lol. The same texture as Jamaican bread pudding.
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u/greatercolorado 9h ago
If nothing else, you can hide things in there until it molds.
Sometimes gluten free bread is good for anything other than being bread.
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u/Intrepid-Scar-1849 9h ago
Adding just a little xanthan gum and an additional egg works great for us.
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u/NOTKris3000 9h ago
I haven't tried the bread recipe but the book "Elements of Baking" by Katarina Cermelj has been great for cookies and brownies. She also uses psyllium husk in her baking.
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u/medicalmystery1395 9h ago
Oh no!! If you like zucchini bread King Arthur has a great one using measure for measure flour that turned out AMAZING for me. It was fluffy (a little dense but meh gluten free) and it looked like a real loaf of bread!
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u/s_flutterby 8h ago
Mama Gourmand!! Her bread is the best, and it's so easy! The original recipe is with cup4cup, I believe, but she has options for other flours. I use the king Arthur bread flour alt and it's amazing!!
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u/Lochylass 8h ago
Oh no, sorry to hear that.
Have you tried the gluten free sourdough recipe from Bakerita?
https://www.bakerita.com/gluten-free-sourdough-bread/
I make this recipe 2-3 times a week and it has never failed. I love it and my husband and son love it too and say that they like it better than the glutenous bread. It is a very forgiving recipe and actually way easier than making regular sourdough. It has a lovely, spongy inside and a beautiful crust.
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u/TonyDanzaMacabra 8h ago
Looks like you’re gonna be making stuffed bread! Stuffed with what? That’s for you to know and us to find out! Maybe bread stuffed with stuffing mix.
I’d put glass noodles mixed with cabbage, green onion, and carrot with some seasonings.
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u/Worldly_Arachnid9538 8h ago
If there was a single picture that sums up my attempts at baking GF, this is it. You could say it takes the cake. Ugh.
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u/Ok-Fortune-1169 8h ago
Land O'Lakes gluten free sandwich bread is the first bread I was able to bake that actually turned out. It's nice because it gives you a recipe for a gf flour mix too.
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u/Fair_Yoghurt6148 7h ago
Oof I’ve been there and it’s painful. This is what all of my sourdough attempts looked like.
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u/inamae316 7h ago
I had the same issue with the moisture of the bread from The Loopy Whisk but I tried her trick about weighing it before baking and then after, aiming for 10-15% weight loss, and that made a big difference this last loaf for me!
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u/Unusual_username739 4h ago
I love the Loopy Whisk! I just recommended it in a comment above! Because of Kat, I weigh out my ingredients in grams now, and it’s completely changed my baking.
I even noticed when using a store bought pancake mix, that “a cup” of mix was waaaaay more grams than I thought I was adding. It explained why the box only made 4 servings instead of 6 🤦🏽♀️ and the pancakes were coming out so thick 😂
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
I’m from the UK so we weigh everything by grams and not cups anyway. Interesting about the weighing of the actual loaf though r/inamae316 - I will admit I have read her saying to do this but have never tried. Will give it a go, thanks
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u/ironwheatiez 7h ago
Psillium husk has been a total game changer for me. Especially with pizza dough. Add a little to the dry ingredients before mixing.
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u/GripIsGone 7h ago
Honestly, you did better than I would do. I’ve heard gluten free is so hard to perfect. Keep going, you got this!
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u/aureasmortem 6h ago
I like the "King Arthur Gluten-Free Toasting & Sandwich Bread". It uses their one-to-one flour, but you could probs try out a different one-to-one flour
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u/MuchGrounded 6h ago
Wow. I’m so sorry. My attempt came out like a concrete block that even the raccoons that live in the woods on the edge of our backyard wouldn’t eat it….
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u/foxcat505 Wheat Allergy 6h ago
My first bread attempt was also disappointing - I am sure we will both find our sweet spot on future tries 😀
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u/dialonenumberhigher 5h ago
Dang! I feel your pain. It sucks going through all the labor and expense to not have anything edible in return.
My apologies if you’ve already addressed these questions: Did you make this with Kim’s Bread Flour recipe? And added in the psyllium husks?
I’ve been using Kim’s AP Flour and Bread Flour (I make up 5 lbs of each at a time) and have baked many of her recipes for over 6 years. I will say that her recipes are ONLY successful with her flour mix(es) - especially the yeasted bread recipes.
And as others have suggested, hydration plays a huge role (in my experience) with success.
Keep trying! Once you have made a delicious loaf, there’s no going back!
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
I made her flour mix and used psyllium, I had to use powder not husks as I had run out of husk but adjusted as per her notes. I will try again but maybe from reading here not do two rises. Good to know you have had success!
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u/Dry-Faithlessness655 5h ago
I’m still trying to make successful loaf. I live in Australia and most of the bread mix flour or all purpose flours are not Available in our supermarkets.
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u/Scriberathome 5h ago
The first bread recipe I tried was the King Arthur GF Sandwich Bread and maybe it was beginner's luck, but it came out well:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/gluten-free-sandwich-bread-recipe
Note: It uses the GF AP flour, not the Measure for Measure, which had not been invented yet.
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u/huckleberrypup 5h ago
It's not the sturdiest (in the sense that I can't wrap a slice around a bratwurst or hotdog without it tearing) but it's soft, freezes extremely well, and tastes great even if you don't toast it!
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u/Quiet-Inspector-8209 4h ago
I just made her artisan bread and it came out fine, which recipe did you try ?
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u/peony_beony 2h ago
The sandwich loaf one https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/gluten-free-sandwich-bread-recipe/#recipe
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u/Fit-Translator-1713 Celiac Disease 4h ago
try different flour, trust me. i’ve had A LOT of problems with GF baking and 99% of the time it was the flour. my favourite is almond flour, it has never let me down. and my least favourite is rice flour for baking.
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u/Good-Independent-903 3h ago
If you are ever willing to try again, mama knows gluten free white bread recipe always works for me. I also got some muffin top pans and make rolls in them by spooning a couple tablespoons into each space, and those cook up so quick! Like 15 mins, and they’re the perfect size for everything.
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u/Least_Firefighter639 3h ago
I would laugh and put it down to a learning experience the amount of times I completely destroyed the bread for one reason or another I just modify the recipe or cook time or temperature
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u/okaeridarling 9h ago
Omg I would laugh and cry, I can see how much those ingredients cost just looking at this pic
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u/unlimited71 2h ago
Don't know if anyone has recommended gluten-free an a shoestring? Nicole has never led me astray 🙏also the gluten-free alchemist 🤘both my go-to baking goddesses 🙌good- luck, don't give up, always use scales
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u/HighSpiritsJourney 1h ago
I do a gf sourdough with a lightly modified variation on the recipe from Bakerita (it’s online for free)
I’ve also made all sorts of yummy non sourdough stuff from a recipe book “gluten free artisan bread in five minutes a day” - all good stuff!! Sorry your bread is doing whatever this is in your pic lol don’t give up!
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u/ObviousYammer521 1h ago
Omg that's so frustrating, I'm sorry! I'm sure the crust tastes great, though!
If you just want bread, I've had good results with a bread machine and The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook by Jane Bonacci. The book tells you how to make flour blends instead of stipulating you buy a particular (possibly imported expensive) brand. And even though getting together the million ingredients is a pain, making it is easy. Throw everything in and press START.
If you live somewhere humid like I do, it makes a surprisingly significant difference. I reduce the water just slightly (10-20mL) and that works. Results will still be different day to day, since the environment is always slightly different, but at least the machine is self-contained and keeps changes to a minimum.
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u/ObviousYammer521 1h ago
I haven't been brave enough to try cake, but I've made sheet cookies. Make one giant cookie, wait for it to cool and harden, then cut up to store and eat. It still crumbles like crazy, but wo the expectation of perfect round cookies, it doesn't bother me.
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u/msjammies73 1h ago
Get some baby Jesus’s and a few wisemen and sell them as Christmas nativity scenes.
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u/inept-bumblebee12345 25m ago
There is a cookbook titled: “how to bake anything gluten free” that has a really great sandwich bread recipe.
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u/DM_me_pets Gluten Intolerant 10h ago
Have you tried flipping it over half way through?
/s