Happy May Day! It’s wonderful in Seattle today–sunny, warm (70s), a slight breeze. It’s actually much too nice to be in the kitchen, but I just wanted to give you the recipe for French bread I’ve been working on. I’ve been baking loaves upon loaves of this, tweeking the recipe, trying to make it the best tasting/best texture I can.
I started with other recipes that I found online for gluten-free French bread. I looked through Bette Hagman’s books. I looked at various recipes posted online. I also read up on classic French bread in the Baking With Julia book by Dorie Greenspan and Julia Child. And, I referred to Shirley O. Corriher’s book Cookwise for insights into the science of French bread (I know she has a new book, Bakewise, which I can’t wait to read).
I discovered that one of the keys to a crispy crust is a humid oven. I used a pan of water placed on the oven floor and spritzed the oven with water to create humidity during baking.
So, here it is! Let me know what you think.
Gluten-Free French Bread
NOTE: I modified this on 8/12/09–I had forgotten to include the egg whites. Blush…
Yield: 2 baguettes
Special tools needed:
-heavy duty stand mixer (or a hand mixer will work in a pinch);
-French bread pan (this really is helpful–keeps the loaves in the proper shape)
-extra pan for water in the oven (I use an 8″x8″ glass pan)
-water spritzer bottle
Ingredients
1 cup/138 g sorghum flour
1 cup/136 g brown rice flour
1 cup/120 g tapioca flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 TBL sugar
2 TBL active dry yeast (I use Red Star)
1 cup/235 ml warm water (warm but not hot to touch–about 110 degrees F/43 degrees C)
1 TBL olive oil
1 tsp. vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
3 egg whites from extra large eggs (or 1 whole egg and 2 eggwhites for a more rich baguette)
- in mixer place flours, xanthan gum, and salt. Mix to combine.
- in a small bowl, dissolve sugar and then add and dissolve yeast–wait a few minutes for the yeast to foam (this means that it’s working and starts the rising process)
-add olive oil, cider vinegar, and egg whites to the dry ingredients. Add yeast mixture to dry ingredients
-mix slowly to combine
-turn mixer to high and mix for 3 minutes or so
-brush pan with olive oil (yes, the oil will kind of fall through the holes: I set the pan on a baking sheet)
-spoon dough onto the French bread pan in two equal amounts
-shape dough into baguette oblongs
-slash top of each loaf with 3 slashes with a sharp knife or razor blade
-turn on oven to 400 degrees F/204 degrees C
-place pan with dough on top of stove (I do this so they’re in a warm environment)
-let rise for about 30 mins or so (until they are double-ish in bulk)
-while you’re waiting for the dough to rise, boil a pan’s worth of water
-once dough has risen for 30 mins, place water in an oven-proof pan
-place pan of water on the floor of your oven
-spray oven with a spritz or two of water from spray bottle
-wait for another 5 minutes to let the oven get humid (necessary for a crisp crust)
-lightly brush tops of loaves with olive oil (to make them get brown and crispy)
-place bread pan (without the baking sheet) in the oven
-bake for 30 minutes–until brown
-remove from oven and cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely
This bread is best eaten hot or warm–as soon as possible after baking. It’s got a nice crispy crust and my family found it to be delicious! I like it best when I tear off pieces with my hand rather than cutting it with a knife.
Like most gluten-free yeasted items, the baguettes are best the day they are made. Store whole loaf on counter in the open and uncovered (covering softens crust). If you have a bread box, that would be fine. Cover any partially eaten loaves by placing a piece of aluminum foil at open end (not over the whole loaf). Refresh by placing in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes, or by slicing and toasting.
May be frozen. Defrost by placing in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Jeanne Sauvage
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
Just made this recipe using Domato all purpose flour. I omitted the xantham gum and used tin foil for the baking tray. I used Kroger grocery brand traditional dry yeast. While I frequently bake quick breads I do not consider myself a baker. In fact I think this is the first time I have ever used the bread hooks that came with my hand mixer and I’ve owned it more than 10 years. I found the recipe and instructions very simple and easy to follow even with the assistance of my 3 year old. The bread is BEAUTIFUL! Brown on the outside and lovely white on the inside. My 1st loaf is now consumed and it was very yummy being moist and soft on the inside and nicely crusty on the outside. I agree with a previous comment that it is not as fluffy and light as wheat French bread, but hey, it’s gluten free and I didn’t expect it to be an exact match. My little one liked it and I’m not sure we will make it through the end of the day with the 2nd loaf. In fact, I hear it singing that sweet siren song now. Pretty sure this will have to be a special treat cause the smell of fresh bread is just more than I can resist.
Lynne: Aw, I’m so glad! Yay! And I haven’t heard of Domato flour. Will go check it out!
Thanks so much for using weights in your recipes! I appreciate it. This bread is wonderful. I’ve just put another pair of loaves in the oven
Laura: You’re welcome! Happy baking!
French Baguettes, Gluten-Free http://t.co/2Z2E0iw3Hp
Let me rephrase: in regular bakery, with gluten, it’s very common to use a “sponge” made with 40% o 30% of flour, yeast and water of the recepe, and let it got fermented for 2-3 hours. Then the rest of ingredients get together and get mixed with the fermented “sponge”…. this produces a better bread, a better growth, a better flavour……. i wonder if it could work out in a gluten-free recepe…. THANK YOU !!!
Carlos: Yes, this is possible and I’ve done it many times. Check out my sourdough starter and sourdough boule posts!
Hi! i want to congratulate you for this beautiful recepe! I’ve been trying to know without any resoult, if i can do a previous sponge with flour, h2o, and yeast in a dough WITHOUT gluten . . . does it work out?? well it works in gluten breads … i imagine that it’s not the same, but i wonder if it helps to get a better resoult. Thank you! your advice will be very useful to me. Thanks a lot!
carlos!
Carlos: Welcome! I am not sure what you’re asking. Are you asking if you can make this bread without eggs? Let me know so I can make sure to answer you correctly!
I bake a lot and love experimenting. We had friends coming over, one of whom doesn’t eat gluten, and I didn’t want him to feel left out. I tried this recipe and am quite impressed. I didn’t have brown rice flour so I mixed white rice flour with buckwheat. I also don’t use eggs and used a gluten free egg-replacer. The flavor was great. The crust crusty. When I saw the texture of the dough I was skeptical but this bread was good even for non-gluten-free eaters. Thanks very much!
Nicole: Awesome! I’m so glad!
Hi Nicole
Can you please tell me which gf egg replacer you used. I use the ener-g egg replacer or flaxseed. Which would work better? Or do you have another one in mind?
Thanks
I used Energ, if I’m not mistaken. I have another and it wasn’t GF. I didn’t have any flax seeds – I love them and often use them up too quickly.
good luck.
The recipe sounds great. How big cup you use? I guess the standard cup is 250 ml, right? Do you use this one?
Kate: Hi! I just edited the recipe to include the metric measurements–I hope that helps!
Ohh, thank you very much. I was afraid I could use bigger/smaller than you and then the dough would be strange. I am not very experienced and I wouldn’t know what to do then. Thanks again.
Kate: Happy baking!
Wow. I see you also included degrees C. That’s very kind of you!!
Kate: My pleasure. I’ve been meaning to do that for awhile!
I just saw your sd boule – nevermind!
Tonya: OK! Also, you can experiment with baking this in a baguette pan. I’ve done it–but I don’t have instructions at the moment. If you’re comfortable experimenting, you can try it.
Has anyone tried using buckwheat flour in place of the sorghum in this french bread recipe (or any GF bread receipe)?
Linderells: Yes–it will be fine. The baguettes will have a darker color and will taste a bit like buckwheat–but that’s OK if you like it. Happy baking!
Best gluten free bread that I have had. My family agrees. I followed the recipe exactly and this was my first attempt at gf French bread. I did use the French bread pan. Very easy!! I will definitely be making this again. Thanks!
Amy: Yay!! I’m so glad!
Hi, is there any substitute I can use for the vinegar? Or will it work without it? I am intolerant to vinegar, lemon, wine. Thanks
GI: just leave it out.
Do you have weights for the flour amts in this recipe?
Rebecca: At the moment, I don’t. I haven’t had a chance to do that. I think the King Arthur Flour website has a weigh chart of flours if you want to do your own conversion.
Additional to be GF/celiac, I do not tolerate (GI) any of the gums (xanthan, guar etc.) so I use ground golden flaxseed in combination with eggwhites and milk or water to substitute in other breads I bake and that works well. Dou you think that would work with the French Baquette too? Your recipe sounds awesome.
Jag: I think it would be worth a try! Go for it. Let me know your results!
I followed the recipe as written. It came out like real bread, although did find the crust thick and hard, nonetheless with soup or dipped into Sunday gravy it wins a medal. Leftovers were made into bread crumbs for our meatballs, which turned out great.
Thanks for the recipe.
Andrea: Oh, I’m so glad! Yes, this recipe always gets rave reviews. It’s my number one thing to bring to a party–people love to eat it with cheese and dips. And most people don’t know it’s gluten-free–which is always awesome!
Found your site after tasting a vietnamese style French loaf (in Paris, France, funny he) and looking for the recipe.
I’ve just tried your baguette recipe and took the suggestion from someone to use folded high grade/quality aluminium foil instead of the special molds and it worked great in terms of shape. 30 mins rising wasn’t enough I found, the dough was great but denser than I expected. Probably the yeast etc.. will try longer.
I also have found a helpful trick for preparing the yeast (which I use for my brioche): put the oven at 50°C (120°F) and put in the yeast/sugar/water preparation for 10 mins to start, then turn off the oven. Once the dough is ready to raise, put it back in the oven (off) and it helps the process. I’ll try next time with your recipe. What I really liked is that it’s quick and easy on top of very tasty!.
I used the hook of the Kitchen Aid and 2/3 white rice and 1/3 tapioca, and guar instead of xanthan (in Europe we mainly use guar but works the same).
Alexia: Thanks for letting me know what you did! I’m so happy when people make the recipes their own!
I’ve been making these baguettes a couple times a week for the past 5 months or so. The first time I made the recipe and tasted the bread, it made me forget my longing for the wheat versions.
I like to bring my newly bought flours home and measure them out (along with the xanthan and salt) into batches needed for 1 recipe – this way when I’m ready to bake, I just take out my pre-measured batch of dry ingredients and go from there. Saves a little bit of time when I’m ready to bake.
Cathleen: That is such a good idea! I keep thinking I’m going to do that and I never get around to it. It’s basically like making your own mix–which is awesome!
Instead of using teff, I’ve been making flour with amaranth in the Blendec and we enjoy the flavour and moisture we get from this flour. I would like to know if I can make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge overnight to bake the next day. I know I would have to let it rise again and get to room temperature. Have you ever done this? Would it rise again or just go flat? Also, can the dough be made and then frozen?
I can’t thank you enough Jeanne for such a fantastic recipe. Last summer I bought a gluten-free baguette that was small and seemed to contain mostly cornstarch! What a way to put on weight! No fiber in that loaf.
When I have more time, I would love to make your choux pastry.
I bought a second pan so that I can make four at a time and then freeze it as well. Some weeks I am too busy to make it and I do not like to run out.
Dianne: I love it when people make their own adaptations to my recipes. You can make the dough ahead of time and keep it in the fridge up to 24 hours before shaping and baking. If the dough is cold, let it bake a bit longer. Also, you can make the baguettes and freeze them baked. I’m not clear that freezing the actual dough is a good idea, although I know that some people have good success freezing sourdough dough, so who knows? You could try it and see what happens. If you do, let me know how it goes!
Could I just use gluten free all purpose flour instead of all the other flours listed…and of course the yeast and gum?
Thanks
Darlene: Yes, but the gums will be a bit off. Decrease the gums by 3/4 tsp (because I have gums in my gf all purpose mix)
I made this and substituted teff flour for the sorghum. Between two of us we ate one and a half baguette. Some as a main dish with with fish, olive oil with herbs for dipping. We couldn’t stop there, ghee, raspberry and blueberry jam. Delicious.
Not wanting to have anything drip in the oven I placed two small wire racks onto the baking sheet, one was laid flat and the other diagonal on top of it. I then put the baguette pan on top and it had great air circulation. I’m glad I did this as there was some oil on the baking sheet that would have made a mess in the oven.
The crust was crusty all the way around. Thanks for this recipe. I will try it with guar gum next time.
Dianne: Yay! I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know!
Is there a possible egg substitute – am allergic to gluten, egg and dairy.
I am allergic to eggs. Will this recipe work with an egg substitute? Also allergic to dairy.
Nancy: I would experiment. It’s not going to be exactly like the version containing eggs if you use an egg substitute. My favorite egg substitute is 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons of hot water. Mix together and let sit to gel for about 15 minutes. Then use in the recipe.
I tried this recipe last night! I followed the recipe exactly as it is written with the exception of the sorghum flour, which I could only find “sweet” sorghum, is there a difference?
Also, my loafs are extremely dense, I realize that it’s extremely challenging to achieve that light fluffy texture of baguette, but I would consider this to be more of a bread loaf than a “baguette”, unless I did something wrong..
Either way, its a great recipe and we were happy to try it
Isabelle: Yes, sweet sorghum is correct. Let’s see. Yes, the baguettes are more along the lines of the more dense, toothsome kind you would get in a an artisan-type bakery. They are not the lighter-than-air kind that you find in the grocery store.
You might want to let your loaves rise a little longer–that will allow the yeast to work longer and create more air bubbles. Good luck!
Hello! I just stumbled onto your website. I’m still checking it out but while I’m in the recipe section thought I’d ask a question. I have the same bread loaf pan but you don’t say if you spray and flower it before spooning out the dough. I know it’s teflon but sometimes you still need to do that with GF mixes as they can be extra sticky.
Thanks!
Cheryl: Greetings! Yes, I brush it with oil. I don’t flour it though–it has been OK with out it.
Hi and thank you so very much for providing all of these recipes!
I’m wondering if I could make this as a boule rather than french breads, or would they collapse. I know that you have a sour dough boule, but I’m not so fond of sour dough. I recently tried the Heathy Artisan Bread recipe for a boule – nice texture, but utterly tasteless (except a bit salty). It’s the flavor of wheat that I miss the most!
I made the baguettes and they turned out beautifully! You gave good instructions! A few questions, if I want to try a less “sorghum” flavor, could I substitute millet flour for it, same quantity? I hear it is more subtle in flavor. Also, could I substitute all the flours with a rice flour/potato starch/tapioca starch blend all together? And in what measurements? Or simply use an all purpose Gf. flour blend instead?
I am so excited to find bread, I am a newbie at this, my son who’s 5 has an aggressive case of celiac and was just diagnosed. Your site and recipes are such an encouragement! Thanks so much!!
Stephanie: Hm. Let me think. The current blend is equal parts of 2 whole grain flours plus 1 part starch. I would substitute based on that. So I would do something like 1 C brown rice flour, 1 C other whole grain flour (millet, amaranth, oat?), 1 C tapioca. GF oat flour or millet might be the good ones to try first. If you use too many starchy flours in this one, it doesn’t work so well.
Also, glad I can help! It’s so hard for the kids, isn’t it? Agh. Good luck!
Be careful about the amaranth. I use it for baking when I need my flour to act like wheat to mimic an originally wheat recipe–combined with xanthan gum I get great results this way! (BTW, I have the same flour system–1 part rice, 1 part other, 1 part starch). Since this is a truly gluten free recipe, not a transcription, I think the amaranth will be too sticky and will change the recipe significantly. Hope that helps.
Hi Heather: Thanks! I have used it in this recipe (and in my Multigrain Bread recipe). Both have been fine. I find that friends say that the taste is close to whole wheat. There is a “bite” there, which gives it that quality I think. I find that it isn’t my favorite taste, but I play with it sometimes.
I don’t have a french bread pan. do you think i could make foil molds? or will not having the holes on the bottom change the results? I wonder if i could make these into french bread rolls and use the muffin tins? thoughts?
Thanks for your great recipes. I have been eating WAY too much bread lately. but after 7 years of hardly having any, I suppose its excusable.
Rebekah: I’m so glad you asked this question. I’ve had in the back of my mind the need to figure out how to make this without the need for yet another piece of equipment. I would say go ahead and make foil molds! I think that should be fine. Be sure to oil them and maybe flour them with tapioca flour, too, so the loaves don’t stick. And I think trying them in a muffin tin is an awesome idea!! Let me know how it goes!
I was thinking about the box of GF french bread mix that I bought, then I found this recipe. Is sorghum flour necessary, or will three cups of your famous baking mix (which I will swear by) be acceptable? I still haven’t gotten around to the baking yet, but I will try this weekend.
A: If you don’t want to/can’t use sorghum, use 1 C brown rice flour, 1 Cwhite rice flour, and 1C tapioca flour. Don’t use my mix because there will be to much xanthan gum if you follow the recipe. And I’m glad you like the mix–yay!
Thanks for the tip. By the way, you’re in Seattle? I’m in Bellingham, (and sometimes Bellevue)!
A: You’re welcome. And awesome! I think our area rocks!
{ 7 trackbacks }