Gluten-Free Crusty Boule

gluten-free-boule-13a

Gluten-free breads were a major request from readers of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The options for buying gluten-free bread are both unsatisfying and expensive. So here is a wonderful bread that anyone, celiac or not, would want to eat.

Several readers have asked about the olive oil dough on page 302 of The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. While the Crusty Boule (page 299 in the book) has a chewy and toothsome texture, the bread made with the olive oil dough has a much lighter, almost fluffy interior. Replace the neutral flavored oil in the Gluten-Free Crusty Boule recipe with olive oil if you prefer the texture of that loaf. They are both wonderful and give you fantastic options for free form loaves, sandwich breads, pizzas and even crackers. You will find all of these, plus many other gluten-free breads and awesome sticky buns in the book, with the link above.

For those of you who are celiac or just baking for someone who is you will find all of the directions and tips for handling gluten-free dough below. It is just as easy as the other recipes, but requires slightly different techniques and a new list of ingredients.

Gluten-Free Crusty Boule

Makes enough dough for at least four 1-pound loaves

2 cups Brown Rice Flour

1 1/2 cups Sorghum Flour

3 cups Tapioca Flour (also called tapioca starch)

2 tablespoons yeast (can be reduced but you will have to increase the rise time)

1 tablespoon kosher salt (increase or decrease to taste)

2 tablespoons Xanthan Gum

2 2/3 cups lukewarm water

4 large eggs, whisked together

1/3 cup neutral-flavored oil or olive oil

2 tablespoons honey or sugar

Click here to see the video of this recipe

mixing-gluten-free-dough01

Mixing and storing the dough: Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt and xanthan gum in a 5-quart lidded Round Food Storage Container. Combine the oil, honey and water, set aside.

mixing-gluten-free-dough02

Dump the eggs into the dry ingredients and then stir while you pour in about 1/3 of the oil and water. Unlike my wheat doughs, do not add all of the liquid at once and stir. If you do, that will result in a lumpy dough.

mixing-gluten-free-dough03

Continue to stir while you pour in another 1/3 of the liquid.

mixing-gluten-free-dough04

The dough will start to come together in a thick dough. Add the final 1/3 of liquid and

mixing-gluten-free-dough05

Stir until the dough is smooth. Cover with the lid, but do not snap it shut. Allow it to rest on the counter for about 2 hours. Place the dough in the refrigerator and store for up to 7 days. (I have a piece in the freezer and I will report back about how that turns out once I defrost it and bake it up. Stay tuned.)

gluten-free-boule-01

On baking day take the bucket from the refrigerator. The dough will be quite fluffy still and you want to try not to handle the dough too much. Just like our other doughs the trick is to keep as much of the air bubbles in tact as possible.

gluten-free-boule-02

Use wet hands to remove 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough from the bucket.

gluten-free-boule-03

The dough will be quite scraggly when you take it out, just place it on a piece of parchment paper.

gluten-free-boule-04

Use wet hands to smooth out the surface of the dough.

gluten-free-boule-05

This may take dipping your hands in the water a few times…

gluten-free-boule-06

to get a nice shape.

gluten-free-boule-07

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest on the counter for about 90 minutes. If your kitchen is very warm you may only need about 75 minutes.

30 minutes before baking time preheat the oven with a 5 1/2 quart Dutch Oven in it to 500 degrees. Be sure it is fitted with a metal Replacement Knob, the original plastic knobs can only be heated to about 400 degrees. To find directions for baking on a stone see page 237 of HBin5.

gluten-free-boule-08

The dough will not have grown much while resting, but it will seem a little bit puffier. Use a serrated knife to cut slashes in the dough.

gluten-free-boule-09

Remove the pot from the oven and take off the lid.

gluten-free-boule-10

Lift the bread on the parchment and VERY CAREFULLY lower the parchment and bread into the pot, replace the lid onto the pot. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes remove the lid, turn the heat down to 450 and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

gluten-free-boule-11

Once the bread is done baking remove it from the pot using a spatula.

gluten-free-boule-12

Allow the bread to cool completely before eating or the center may seem gummy.

gluten-free-boule-141

WEIGHTS for GLUTEN-FREE FLOURS

Brown Rice Flour: 1 cup = 5 1/2 oz = 160 grams

Tapioca Flour (Starch): 1 cup = 4 1/2 oz = 130 grams

Sorghum Flour: 1 cup = 4 3/4 oz = 135 grams

Cornstarch: 1 cup = 4 1/2 oz = 130 grams

Note: BreadIn5.com is reader supported. When you buy through links on the site, BreadIn5 LLC earns commissions.

1,097 thoughts to “Gluten-Free Crusty Boule”

  1. Hi there! I’m just starting GF. I have just mixed this in my bucket and it has the consistency of batter. I’ve gone over the recipe many times. I can’t think of anything, ingredient or measurement, that I have forgotten. Have you ever come across this?
    Thank you!

    1. Hi Stephanie,

      As long as you didn’t substitute any of the flours, this is usually due to measuring the flour differently. We use a scoop and sweep method. If you spoon the flour into your measuring cup it will result in a wet dough.

      Let me know if this makes sense for your dough.

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. Thanks for such a quick response. I actually weighed them out. I’ve weighed my final product and subtracted all the other ingredients and it’s coming out right. This is really weird. I don’t know what to do.

      2. OK, so I added it up again and I was missing apx 125g. I thought I may have forgotten a “cup” of rice flour. So I added it and it’s still like a thick batter. I’m thinking I’ll try making some pizza crust so I don’t have to throw it away and try again another day. Thanks for your help!

      3. Hi Stephanie,

        Are you hoping to use the dough tonight? If not, try refrigerating it to chill completely and it may have a tighter texture, which will be easier to use.

        Thanks, Zoë

    2. I too have had some difficulty in making this bread. I have made it twice with the end result being very runny. I did make muffins but I am determined to make this into a loaf. I just made it again holding back at least a cup of water and found it to be still runny. So I fourthed the dry ingredients and added it to the original batch. Added maybe 1/4-1/2 c of water. Hopefully it will turn out.

      1. I made a loaf a couple days ago, but I had to use a loaf pan b/c it couldn’t hold it’s shape. However, it turned out well. Tasted great! I’m excited to try it again. Oh, and I was wondering if you can sub some/all of the rice flour for sorghum.
        Thank you!
        Stephanie

      2. Stephanie: You’re going to need to experiment; that sorghum absorbs water differently than rice. In general, our testing showed that combinations of GF flours worked better than using mostly one flour, so this may be risky.

        If the dough’s too wet to hold a shape, try a little less liquid. 1/8 to 1/4 cup less for starters.

      3. Thank you Jeff. Zoe was helping me with a problem I had with my dough being more of a batter. I just mixed another GF bread recipe from another site and had the same problem. I’m weighing all my ingredients very carefully and when I get to the end and I’m supposed to “form” a bread loaf, all I can do is POUR into a pan. Is there a secret to weighing liquids? I do it the same as the dry. I just put a bowl on my scale, zero it out set to grams and weigh away. How can I end up with that much excess in water?
        Thank you!
        Steph

      4. Hi Stephanie,

        It almost seems like it is something about your ingredients. Are you making any substitutions in the recipes that may have an effect?

        Which recipe are you using from our book? What are you using for a gram equivalent to a cup of water?

        Thanks, Zoë

      5. Poo, I don’t remember how I measured my water :/. The only thing I subbed was chia/flax meal for the xantham. It’s a straight across sub but you add double the water to it and it makes a thick slurry. Maybe this is what did it. I didn’t think it would matter that much. Maybe I should decrease the liquid by the same amount that I put in the chia/flax? I used the above recipe. I will try this again. I am determined to see it work :). Thank you for all your replies and help!!!
        Steph

  2. Hi there! I’ve ordered this latest book (I have and love your first book) but it hasn’t arrived yet. I tried making this gluten free break on my baking stone and I don’t think that I cooked it enough. I made the mistake, perhaps, of letting it rise on parchment paper and then couldn’t get it off it 🙂 So I nervously put both in the oven, turned the heat down to 450degrees (fear of the parchment paper burning). Any suggestions for making this loaf on my baking stone? I have more of the master dough in my fridge and I don’t want it to go bad, waiting for the book to arrive! Many thanks!

      1. Thanks sooooo much, Jeff! I do know that my convection fan is broken, so I bet that my temps are off. Should I be reducing the heat, if cooking on a stone instead in the dutch oven?

        Your (plural) original book completely transformed breadmaking for me. As I tell friends, don’t buy a breadmaker, buy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day instead. It costs significantly less, won’t take up value counterspace and is quiet (unlike the breadmakers that I’ve had in the past) 🙂

  3. Ros: for the Dutch oven, we have you crank up the temp for the beginning, but turn it down to normal when you pop in the bread. Don’t need to do that for baking on a stone. Just use the temp as written in the book.

    Thanks so much for putting out the word, much appreciated.

    1. Hi Jeff!
      I made a big loaf this time, and added in some crumbled extra old cheddar as well as some dry sundried tomatoes. I used the cornmeal as you suggested.

      Not only is my stove most likely off, my second fridge is too (some of the dough was frozen), so I had to let it rise longer.

      Given the size of the boule and the naughtiness of my oven, I cooked in on the pizza stone at 450 degrees for about 15 mins longer than recommended and it is DELICIOUS.

      It is so tasty, especially when toasted, with peanut butter on it 🙂 The crust is excellent and crunchy.

  4. Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been too intimidated to bake gf bread for my hubby so far, but you make it look so easy so I’m excited to try this today!

    I was just wondering… if you want to bake a loaf of this right away — without refrigerating at all, do you still let it rest a full 90 minutes after taking it out of the bucket?

  5. I just made this for a GF guest who is coming to our lodge later in the week, and it turned out great! Living in a small town in New Zealand, though, I had to substitute amaranth flour for the sorghum flour, and I was assured in the store that arrowroot flour is the same as tapioca flour, so I bought that, though I’m not so sure. Still, it came out really well, and I’d happily eat it myself!

    1. Hi James,

      Thank you so much for trying the bread and for letting me know about the substitutions! Arrowroot is not the same as tapioca, but I am happy to hear that it worked as a substitution.

      Enjoy all the bread! Zoë

  6. Hello, I have been making the crusty GF Boule and the Mock-Rye for our sons and some family friends. They have been great! I have a question about the Corn Starch in some of the gluten free recipes. Can Tapioca starch be substituted with cornstarch? The fact that you had it instead of tapioca flour in a recipe made me wonder if maybe you couldn’t….

    Thanks, Deb

    1. Deb: You will have to experiment; we found that these recipes are pretty temperamental to the particular mixture; took a lot of tweaking. But it should work.

      1. Yes, gluten free flours are like that! I just don’t want to use corn starch from GMO corn when I could use tapioca starch!

  7. Hi there!

    Can I substitute EnerG egg replacer or a flax seed/water mixture for the eggs? Or will this totally throw the recipe off?

  8. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve been Gluten Free since September 2011 and previously made all your breads from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. Actually made bread about every other day, then discovered I was gluten intolerant and no more good bread. Then I happened upon your gluten free breads and am now so happy and absolutely cannot wait to make them. Every other type of GF bread I’ve made was almost awful or just downright awful and only the deer would eat it. Looks like now is the best time to go gluten free and happily you two are working on wonderful breads…Happy Day!

  9. I made this bread and it came out a bit sour. I like the texture and think I could have baked it a little longer to make it crustier. How can I take away the funny flavor? I’m wondering if I put in too much baking soda.
    Thanks!
    Rachel

      1. I don’t have a book, so I’m not sure. It’s the GF crusty boule. I was making another recipe at the same time which took baking soda, so I think I confused them. There is no bs in this recipe, so I didn’t use it. My mistake.

      2. Hi Rachel,

        I am confused, did you substitute baking soda for the yeast, or did you just add baking soda along with the yeast? How old was the dough before you baked it?

        Thanks, Zoë

  10. I have had a very difficult time making this bread. The first time I made it the dough was so runny that I had to put it into muffin tins. I just made another batch using half the amount of water and it still was to runny. I am using the scoop method in measuring the flour. The only change I made was i substituted flaxseed for the xantan gum. I hope there is an answer out there.

    1. Hi Cherie,

      The xanthan gum acts as the binder for the g-f dough and without it there is nothing that will keep these flours from just making paste. I have never experimented with substituting ground flax, but I have done a test with ground chia and was not happy with the result. I fear that substituting flax for the xanthan is the issue. Have you done this before with good results?

      Thanks, Zoë

  11. Ok. This looks really good, but I’m allergic to YEAST. 🙁
    Is it possible to omit yeast and increase the tapioca starch to still make the naan bread? I pretty much have given up on loaf bread, but I would be very happy with a crispy, chewy, bubbly piece of naan.
    I have 100+ food allergies & sensitivities and tasty food in a well balanced diet is difficult. Appreciate any other thoughts if you don’t think mine will work. Cheers!

    1. Erin: Naan is leavened in very traditional styles with naturally-occuring yeast, which we don’t yet have a recipe published. You can try the non-leavened flatbreads in Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. We have just two: a corn-masa based tortilla, and a flour roti (aka flour tortilla). Book’s at https://amzn.to/eo10NJ

      Tapioca isn’t going to help— the thicker you make the flatbread, the more you need some yeast. That’s why I’m suggesting those two (very-thin) recipes rather than naan, which has some thickness to it.

      1. Ok. Thanks. I’ll try the thin flat bread recipes but was really hoping for something with some chewiness. I can only eat Chebe bread (mix to bake at home) and Against the Grain frozen baguettes and both are pricey. Both are tapioca based and have no yeast but they do rise and are tasty. Thanks again for your reply! 🙂

  12. About – Yeast free baking – have you ever experimented or heard of baking using food-grade hydrogen peroxide instead of yeast? I have heard about it but I am not a baker and just starting out. Heard that supposedly it creates the bubbles, etc. in bread and muffins and it turns out moist and nice. This was from someone who used it in GF recipes.

    Thanks,
    Ania

  13. As a response to Ania and Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide….haven’t heard of using that in GF bread BUT have heard of using Seltzer Water to replace the water in any GF recipe in order to achieve the airiness and longer shelf life at room temperature. You might try that instead of plain water, what do you think Jeff?

    1. Hi Tiffany,

      This is very interesting, I have never tried it, but am curious to see if it makes a difference.

      Thanks for the suggestion! Zoë

      1. Health conscious and raw food people do mix a very small amount of food-grade hydrogen peroxide in water and drink it. I think it provides more oxygen or something…I do not know. So it may not be as scary as it sounds at first. But I do know one needs to know what they are doing…or it can be harmful.

      2. Thanks for your coments. It was worth a try in case you had heard of it because I had not heard of it before, and I could not find anything on it on the web.

  14. i too found that my dough was extreme wet. the first loaf didn’t rise much, but tasted good. the second loaf was wet as well. altho the frig seemed to help some. i tried grinding some flax and adding it to the dough right after pulling it out of the frig. the flax soaked up some of the moisture. then i let the dough sit, then baked it. it rose great. the texture and taste are wonderful too.

  15. As much as the egg free/King Arthur recipe looks fantastic, I really just don’t have the budget for their packaged flour mixes- I wish I did! Have you perhaps tried this recipe with the flax replacement for the eggs?

      1. Yep. I gave it a try today and it seems to have worked pretty well! I also substituted teff flour for half of the brown rice flour (by weight) because I was low on the brown rice flour. It added some nice color to the bread which gave the feeling of a whole grain loaf. I may have slightly underbaked it though, so I think I’m going to give it another go tomorrow. Thanks for the feedback!

      2. Hi Annie,

        Thanks for the note. I am interested to know that you successfully used Teff in the recipe as a replacement for some of the brown rice flour.

        Cheers, Zoë

  16. Hello, need help! Made your recipe and it did not rise very much. It turned out being the size of a grapefruit still. We live in Santa Fe, NM at 6700 feet and don!t know what I am doing wrong. This is my first effort at making gluten free bread. Your input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

    1. Hi Mirtha,

      When you say it didn’t rise, is this the first resting after mixing, or when you have formed the loaf? Did you make any substitutions to the recipe?

      We have a post about baking at high altitudes, but it is with wheat breads. Not sure it will help you with your g-f baking?

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. Hi,
        I rested it for two hours after I mixed it. The I put it in the fridge overnight, shaped the loaf and let it rest for two hours again to get it to room temperature and the baked it and it did to rise any more than before. It pretty much stayed the size of a grapefruit.

        I followed the recipe with no substitution of ingredients. Is it yeast, water, or time that I need to adjust because of the high altitude?

        Thank you,

        Mirtha

  17. Hey friends, I love your Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day book, and was SO happy I had it on hand when we discovered 3 members of our family have either a wheat allergy, or a reaction to gluten. Unfortunately, one of our GF kids is also allergic to rice. Oh and potato. What grain flour would you recommend as a substitute? Thanks a million!

    1. Hi Melissa,

      I have had good luck substituting sorghum flour for the rice flour. Which recipe are you using with potato flour? That is a tricky one to substitute, it has a very different consistency from any of the other g-f flours.

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. Excellent! I think I even have some on hand. You are my new best friend! lol I don’t have a recipe calling for potato flour, I just know it’s pretty common in a lot of the G-F baking mixes I’ve seen, so I didn’t want you to say, “oh just throw in some potato flour” since we can’t use that either. 🙂 Thanks so much!

  18. In general, when trying a new recipe I always try to use the same method as the person(s) creating the recipe. You used scoop and sweep, so that is what I did as well. As for the liquid, I added it slowly in thirds as you directed, although after the first third, I used my hands–this way I was able to judge the moistness (as others seemed to have difficulty, ending up with batter rather than dough). I did use all the liquid called for with no problems. It is rising right now. I will be following your tips for baking with a baking stone as I don’t have a dutch oven yet. I’ll be baking a loaf later this afternoon and will post my results, but I think that it is going to be wonderful!

  19. Hi!
    This bread looks wonderful and I love the idea of having it ready to use. When you were creating this recipe did you ever try experimenting with bean flours? I have found bean flours, in other recipes, if used sparingly, to add a nice spring to the baked bread, if you use too much then the flavor is compromised. I look forward to trying your recipe and book! ~Sue

    1. Sue: We preferred the flavor of these flours over the various bean flours. Maybe, as you say, we’d have liked them more in smaller doses…

  20. Hi,

    I made this bread last winter several times and loved it, although it did seem to be too runny, so I made little bread pans out of aluminum foil…

    I stopped over the summer because of the heat (no AC in my house).

    Now I have made it again and it is totally different. So I wonder if the sorghum this year tastes different, or if something else is different.

    And I have had to sub guar gum for xanthan gum (1.5 guar to 1 xanthan) because I have developed a cross-sensitivity to corn (!!!) and xanthan gum is derived from corn. I think it is unfortunately not all that uncommon for celiacs or gluten intolerants to develop such a cross-sensitivity, because a corn protein molecule seems to physically resemble the gluten molecule. So it would be nice if folks like you would begin to find ways to leave corn products out as well. (And that’s apart from the GMO aspect, which is quite terrifying when you think about it.)

    So I do not know what has gone wrong, but I’m going to try again, and use sparkling water this time.

    Could you please do a recipe for crackers? Just plain crackers, the kind that are good under a piece of really good cheese? Please? That would be so great! I have been trying myself, but all my efforts have beem miserable failures.

    Thank you.

    1. Hi Ellen,

      Using guar gum instead of the xanthan is going to change the loaf, so it will take some experimenting to get the loaf that you like.

      You may want to try the pizza dough from our 3rd book for crackers, I’ve had great luck with that one.

      Thanks, Zoë

  21. I have several questions. first on the bottom of the page for gf bread, yu give the weight for cornstarch, but I do not see it listed in the recipe,if it goes in there how much?
    second I need to knkow if I can roll this out to24x30 inches, I am trying to make kraut burgers where the dough is rolled thin, cut into 6 inch squares and the filling put on top and corners brought together and baked.
    thank you Donns

  22. Donna: I’m not seeing any cornstarch in this recipe (above). Where are you seeing this, the bottom of what page?

    It might be challenging to roll this out as you describe. It might work better if you do each bun separately– this dough is too unstructured for what you suggest.

  23. Hello, this bread looks fabulous! I have been gluten-free for about 3 months now and have been able to make some very good bread. I have never seen gluten-free bread dough that didn’t look like a batter. Does this bread stay moist for a few days or will it dry out if not eaten the same day?

    1. Pam: All our stuff is best when eaten same day, since home-made bread has no preservatives. Plastic bag will help a little, so next-day works. Certainly for great toast.

  24. That recipe looks wonderful, can’t wait to try it.

    My son Troy was diagnosed with adhd about a year and a half ago. We spent 6 months trying supplements, some worked wonders others didn’t do too much. About a year ago we put him on a gluten free casein free diet and we have had wonderful results!

    Thank you for sharing!!!

  25. Lovely bread recipes, thank you.

    I bought the UK Five Minute Bread book and was a little disapointed that there wasn’t a gluten-free recipe in there. I was hoping to learn how to bake this crusty boule bread on a stone (you make reference to the instructions for that being in another of your books). Can you help, or do I need to purchase the other book not intended for the UK market?

    Again, thanks for the wonderful bread – better than the other no-knead method I’ve been using.

    Diane.

    1. Diane: Sorry-, no that book doesn’t have any GF, either in the US or the UK versions. The loaf on this page can be done right on a stone (rest it on a pizza peel covered generously with cornmeal or polenta, then slide off after the resting period, right onto the hot stone. More on this in https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes/dp/0312545525/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335445381&sr=1-1 … which was our second book, this is the US edition. Not certain when or if a UK version (with weights) will come out.

      1. Jeff, thanks so much for responding so quickly.

        I’m going to get your healthy artisan book as the weight thing really doesn’t bother me. My mistake was thinking the Brit book was a mix of the two US books. Wrong! I should have done my homework!

        Thanks for the stone instructions.

        Diane.

  26. Hi. I used the artisan bread book for ages with much success but now I have to go wheat free (like half the world it appears). But where I live there is no sorghum flour that I can find anywhere, on line or otherwise. I can get hemp flour, amaranth, potato, teff, millet, chickpea (garbanzo bean) and buckwheat. Do you recommend any of them as a possible substitute for sorghum? Thank you for replying.

    1. C: Avoid the nut flour and coconut flour in this situation, but a combo of the others might work. Will take experimentation.

  27. Hi,

    I’m on a candida diet so I have to avoid both the yeast, sugar and honey. I’ve heard great things about your bread and really want to try this. Do you have any substitution ideas? I also have a daughter with severe food allergies so milk, soy, and peanut products of any kind are out.

    Thanks so much!

  28. I’ve been making this for awhile, much appreciated! I want to try and make them into bagels….. any suggestions for boiling/baking times?

    1. Hi Michelle,

      I have never experimented with making bagels out of the g-f dough, but have been meaning to do it. You will need to boil them for a very short time or they will fall apart.

      If you give it a try before I do, please let me know how it goes.

      Zoë

      1. I had a bit of dough left over after making hamburger buns, so I gave the bagel shape a try. I used a little less than a cup of dough, and used rice flour to shape it into a ball and then poke a hole inside to shape it like a bagel. I let them rise/rest normally, and boiled (with 2T of sugar) for about a minute and a half, then baked at 400. I think they were only in there for 35min, and it wasn’t quite long enough. They had good colour outside, but were a little doughy looking inside when I cut them open. My husband hasn’t tried them yet, so no verdict on the taste. 🙂 If they are alright, I might try adding blueberries or something to make them more interesting.

      2. Hi Michelle,

        Thank you so much for reporting back about the bagels! I think you can boil them for slightly less time and this may help with the interior texture.

        Keep me posted! Zoë

  29. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I was hoping you might help me with a couple of questions, though. First, will the dough keep in the fridge for 7 day (as stated here) or 14 (your book says all of the recipes last for 14 days)? Also, I have made the bread three times now (never having the dough in the fridge for more than a couple of days, though), and each time I have had a lot of trouble making the slashes right before baking. The dough is so light and sticky that it won’t cut anywhere near cleanly. Any suggestions? Thanks!

  30. (Also, the bread did not seem to rise much while in the oven. About how big is it supposed to be in the end?)

  31. You know, the texture does seem to be very similar. Mine might be a bit scragglier, though. When I try to slash it, it’s not firm enough to slash. Do you think I might need to press it down a bit when I’m forming it into a ball? I’m very gentle with it. Or have I left it to rise too much?

    Thanks for your help!

  32. Dixie: If yours is looking wetter (is that what you mean by scragglier?), you could consider decreasing the water a little.

    Best to stay gentle w/GF dough, avoid a lot of handling or pressure. No way to tell if you have left it too long, or not long enough! Can try increasing and decreasing the rest time to see. All depends on your room temp. Also check your oven temp with a thermometer like https://www.amazon.com/CDN-High-Heat-Oven-Thermometer/dp/B0021AEAIK/ref=as_li_wdgt_js_ex?&linkCode=wey&tag=arbrinfimiada-20. You may just be missing out on “oven-spring” because of a too-cool oven.

  33. Just an update — I tried the bread again, this time with dough that had been in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. It worked much better; the consistency of the dough was much changed from when I had mixed it. Thanks for the tips!

  34. I made the bread yesterday, and I’m so happy to say that it came out great, I was a little nervous because I have never made bread before, my first bead baking and glutten free was a challenge, but I just follow the instructions and did not have any problems i did put less water since i read in the comments that the dough was coming runny, I end up putting 2 1/3 cups instead of 2 2/3 of water so it was pretty close.
    Also i should mention that i do not own a ducht oven pot, I used a high fired clay pie pan looks just like this one https://www.wayfair.com/Emile-Henry-Bake-for-the-Cause-9-Pink-Pie-Dish-696131-EHY1446.html?refid=GPA49-EHY1446&gclid=CJnHvP7Q868CFYFo4Aodg2e9Yw and covered with foil paper.

    Thanks so much for your hard work. and for explained it so well. This is my first week of glutten free for my 4 year old daughter, and it was hard because she kept asking for bread, well today she has a big smile in her face.

    1. Mache: Yep, anything that retains steam will work, doesn’t have to be a closed Dutch oven. So glad it’s working well for you, thanks for writing!

  35. Hi.

    First, thank you so much for your GF recipes. I know so many of us are thankful, deeply thankful, for lovely bread.

    My question seems a little stupid, but, is the idea of the 90 minute rest after shaping and before baking — is that to bring the dough to room temp? After 2 hours, my dough is still cool to the touch and almost zero rise. It seems to have softened a little, that is all. Should I wait until the dough is room temp before putting it in the oven?

    Many thanks. Big time wheat bread baker for years, so the GF thing is still stumping me at times. But thank you for bringing bread making back into my life. Will motor on. Love your pizza book btw! Fantastic.

    1. Mary: If you skip the rest, it’ll be too dense. Letting it sit allows a little bubble enlargement and softening of the dough so you get more oven spring.

      1. Hi Jeff. Thanks so much for your response! I think my question got lost in my rambling…

        Should the bread get to room temp. before I put it in the oven?

        (I didn’t skip the rest. It’s just after 90 mins –actually 2 hrs — out of the fridge my dough was still a bit chilly and no little bubble enlargement. So I’m thinking, should I wait more before baking? Does your bread reach room temp before you bake it?)

        Thanks!! Sorry for the confusion. The bread came out of the oven a little dense but, it did have some oven spring, and really great flavor.

      2. Hi Mary,

        After 90 minutes the dough will be about room temperature, but maybe not quite. If your kitchen is kept cooler than it may require a little more rising time. Keep in mind that this is not a light fluffy loaf, it is meant to be a bit toothsome, but not overly dense.

        Thanks, Zoë

  36. I’m sorry if this is an obvious question but generally when people say lukewarm water I assume 70-80F. Is that what you are assuming here? I have seen people say lukewarm milk is 100F so I feel uncertain as to how this is defined.

  37. I’ve made this bread several times and it is fabulous! I substituted potato starch for the tapioca and it still came out fabulous! I was wondering if you offer the weights of the flours used anywhere? I find I can get much more consistent results when I weigh ingredients for gluten free breads.

    1. Cynthia: Weights aren’t in our books yet, but please stay tuned, because we are working on it for future titles. Meanwhile can do your own experiments to develop your own weights tables…

  38. THANK YOU!! My husband went G-free a few months ago. I’ve missed making your bread. Can’t wait to try this.

  39. I have learned to stay with the same brand of rice flour as they act differently if ground finer. Asian rice flours are a finer grind and will absorb water at a different rate.

  40. I wonder if xanthan gum can be avoided, and use tapioca starch in its place? Have you tried other subs for the gum? I have all the ingredients handy except for the gum. 🙁

    1. Hi Lisa,

      Some people have used ground chia seeds in place of xanthan, in combination with guar gum, but I have never tried it. Tapioca starch will not work as a substitute. You will end up with a dough that has no structure and will not rise at all.

      You can find xanthan in most grocery stores or co-ops.

      Thanks, Zoë

      1. Thanks so much for your reply. I was so impressed by the texture of Brazilian cheese bread which is comprised of tapioca starch and thought perhaps it would yield similar results. My kitchen has turned into a lab, with many experiments as my son says. Eating was never this complicated before but I know after this learning curve things will get much easier. Thanks again for your help, this weekend we will be making this recipe with or without the xanthan gum, depending on how confident I’m feeling at the moment. 🙂

  41. Thank you for this wonderful recipe <3 I'm German and eating REAL bread comes second nature to me. When I had to start eating GF I thought that meant saying good bye to my beloved bread forever…….. Thank God you saved me 😉 I do however have a couple?? My dough never rises as much as yours which I think its probably

    1. the reason my bread comes out a bit dense and moist =( also I was wondering how I would/ could use a Romertopf (Clay Pot) to bake the bread. Thanks

  42. I’m using the GF Crusty Boule Bread recipe…..i love the flavor but somehow the texture after baking is too dense =( I already let it rise(before and after baking) longer then recipe suggests, its defiantly warm enough here in TX so that can’t be the problem……

    1. Birgit: GF breads are definitely denser, but maybe try using a little less liquid and see if a dryer dough is less dense for you.

  43. You mentioned in the post that you had frozen a portion of the dough to see how it would work once thawed…have you tried it yet? I have most of my dough in the refrigerator right now, but with a baby on the way very soon, frozen bread dough would be quite handy to have around! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I’m going to try baking a loaf in my Crock Pot next!

    1. Sara, I am curious how this turned out in the crock pot. I don’t have a dutch oven yet and thought the crock pot might be an acceptable alternative.

  44. Here’s a question about measuring out the ingredients as you call for the scoop and level technique, rather than spooning into the measuring cup and then leveling it off. That works fine for the flours that are in a big enough package or bin, but I have been buying small bags of tapioca starch and the sweet rice among other GF flours from ethnic markets and they tend to be very small bags. I have been carefully pouring out the amount directly into the measuring cup which itself sits on foil so that I can fold it and dump back the excess. Does this render the measurement inaccurate vs. scoop and level? I always thought that it was most accurate to spoon into the cup then level, but of course that was for wheat flour and now it’s a whole new ballgame and I’m just learning the rules…. Thanks so much for the incredible amount of information that you are sharing, and for your books, esp. this last one so I can make bread for my celiac son. I’ll be making the boule for him this week now that I’ve lined up all the ingredients! 🙂

    1. Lisa: Strictly speaking, I’d say that you should take them out of the small bags, and put them into a bin. But I’m not certain it’s going to matter as much as for wheat flour. The question is whether you’re finding things too loose with your current method– if so, it’s under-measuring and you should adjust these flours upward a bit. The other problem– there aren’t yet a full complement of GF flours nationally distributed, so regionally we’re hearing about more variation, and the need to correct the water amount compared to what’s in our recipes.

      A bit of effort, but we think you’ll find it worthwhile if you’ve switched to GF…

  45. ABi5 is truly awesome, transformed my baking completely! But have been baking GF with miserable results for 2 months now…I just learned about HBi5 and am wondering how many GF recipes are in the chapter? Any GF sandwich bread recipes?

  46. For the recipe above, the Gluten-Free Crusty Boule, you give the weight of the flours. I have two concerns. You list the weight for 1 cup of cornstarch, but there doesn’t seem to be any called for in the recipe–am I missing something. Secondly, you list 1 cup of tapioca as being 120g but in your new book I just got today you list it at 120g and then in the actual pizza recipe (p. 96) you list 2 cups as weighing 265g–help–I don’t want to mess up these recipes! Thanks.

    9/29/10 update: WEIGHT of GLUTEN-FREE FLOURS

      1. oops–I see how mistakes happen. I meant to type 130g as the weight of tapioca (in your pizza book, p.36). I am glad you needed the time to check on that.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.