Ellen Brown - Gluten-Free Bread More than 100 Artisan Loaves for a Healthier Life

More than 100 Artisan Loaves
for a Healthier Life

ELLEN BROWN

RUNNING PRESS

PHILADELPHIA LONDON

Copyright 2013 by Ellen Brown

Photographs copyright 2013 by Steve Legato

Published by Running Press,

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013933226

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-5072-5

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Cover and interior design by Jason Kayser

Edited by Kristen Green Wiewora

Typography: Freight

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ITSSEEING MY FAMILY GROW THAT RAISES MY SPIRITS

HIGHER THAN A BOWL OF YEAST DOUGH. THIS BOOK

IS DEDICATED TO CHARLIE ROSE CERAMI, THE TOTALLY ADORABLE

AND ENCHANTING ADDITION TO MY WONDERFUL

GROUP OF GREAT-NEPHEWS AND NIECES, WHO BRING SO

MUCH JOY TO MY LIFE.

WHILE DEVISING RECIPES AND WRITING ARE SOLITARYAND SOMETIMES lonelyactivities, it takes the proverbial village to really bring a cookbook to fruition. My thanks go:

To Kristen Green Wiewora, who is a totally awesome editor, and whose vision for this book placed me on the right path.

To Jason Kayser, the inspired designer who created the visual subtlety of the book, and whose design makes it a delight to hold and read.

To Steve Legato, whose talent and versatility as a food photographer never ceases to amaze me, and who shares my taste in jazz.

To Carrie Purcell and Micah Morgan, the meticulous food stylists who accepted the challenge that baking gluten-free breads is not easy, and made each and every one of them look beautiful.

To Mariellen Melker, a wonderful prop stylist who captures the unique nature of every book.

To Annie Lenth, for handling the production process so seamlessly, and to Iris Bass for her eagle-eyed copyediting.

To Ed Claflin, my agent, for his constant support, encouragement, and humor.

To my dear family for their love and support, especially to Nancy and Walter Dubler; Ariela Dubler; Jesse Furman; Ilan, Mira, and Lev Dubler-Furman; Joshua Dubler; Lisa Cerami; Zahir Cerami; David Krimm; and Peter Bradley.

To my many friends who critiqued my work and gave me the thumbs-up that these breads passed the standard of as good as if not better than breads made with wheat flour. They include Christine Chronis, Edye DeMarco, Constance Brown, Kenn Speiser, Fox Wetle, Richard Besdine, Vicki Veh, Joe Chazan, Kim Montour, Nick Brown, Karen Davidson, and Bruce Tillinghast.

And to Patches and Rufous, my adorable feline housemates, who kept me company from their perches in the office and curled up on top of the stove to enjoy its warmth while I baked breads.

BREAD IS THE STAFF OF LIFE. IT IS THE ESSENTIAL FOOD. THE FIRST PETITION in the Lords Prayer is Give us this day our daily bread. Its not Give us this day our daily banana smoothie.

Bread is our go-to food for all times of day. We have toast for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. When you enter a restaurant, the waiter places a basket of bread on the table, and part of every formal china setting is a small plate known as the bread and butter dish.

We even value bread when its past its prime. Stale loaves are given a second life as crispy croutons on salads, or soaked with eggs and milk to become French toast at breakfast or bread pudding for dessert.

And relative to other categories of food, breads are easy to make, especially if theyre made with wheat flour. Those recipes are generally fairly short and contain few ingredients. But to replace that wheat flourjust one line in that short ingredient listwith gluten-free alternatives can balloon the number of ingredients to include six or seven different flours, all of which need to be individually measured. What was a simple process has become far more complex.

The plastic tub in which I store my gluten-free arsenal of dry goods is almost three feet long; it takes up about half of my dining room table, which seats six people comfortably when set for a mealjust to give you an idea of the number of basics youll need to embrace for great gluten-free breads.

The reason for such an extensive pantry is that baking in general and gluten-free baking in particular are much more about precision and chemistry than they are about the spontaneity and wizardry that can be brought to a saut or soup. Each of the myriad flours ground from gluten-free grains or beans and the starches made from vegetables or roots has its own properties. The proportion of each of these elements in a recipe can change the results of the final product, and Im always after the ultimate flavor and texture in my breads.

Thats why it is impossible to create one master formulation for a gluten-free equivalent of all-purpose flour. Increasing numbers of manufacturers want you to believe there is a magic bullet substance that only this manufacturer has in its product to replace wheat flour. But this approach will not give you delicious and nutritious gluten-free bread that I can show you how to create.

Each recipe in this book contains a balance of protein-rich flours and starches, as Chapter 1 explains in the detailed discussion of options. For example, teff flour has a naturally inherent sweetness, so it works harmoniously with the nuttiness of brown rice flour to give you delicious bread that does not crumble when you make it into a sandwich. But the proportion of one ingredient to another changes with each list of ancillary ingredients.

This is the fourth cookbook Ive written dedicated to delicious foods made without wheat yet still full of flavor. My goal has always been to create recipes that are equivalent, if not superior, in both taste and texture to those made with wheat flour. No one eating my recipes should ever say, Not bad for gluten-free.