Sandwich bread

I was surprised to realize recently that I haven't posted this sandwich bread recipe here.  I guess it's because I've waxed poetic about it here not too long ago, and since then, it's woven itself into my routine, taking a quiet place in the background.

I am making it today and took some pictures...thought I'd do a step-by-step post.

The recipe comes from Erin at M.A.G. Adventures in ASD and GFCF Living, a blog I really appreciate for the variety of kid- and family-friendly recipes she posts.

My step one usually happens on the weekend.  I mix up a triple or quadruple batch of Living Without's High Protein flour blend: 1 1/4 cup chickpea (garbanzo) flour, 1 cup potato starch flour, 1 cup tapioca starch, 1 cup brown rice flour.  I keep the flour blend in an airtight container in the back of the fridge and this amount will usually last me for the week.

On a bread making day, I take out all the ingredients first thing in the morning (well, usually after what constitutes my morning coffee: checking e-mail, Google Reader and Facebook :-)  When baking GFCF it helps for the ingredients to be at room temperature.

I rouse our stalwart Breadman Ultimate bread machine from its home in our pantry.  We have had this machine since our days in Cambridge.  (We left Cambridge in 2002.)  I love the big lug.

When I set out on my latest pursuit of a nourishing and tasty homemade GFCF loaf of bread, I went online.  There are a lot of GFCF folks out there doing it for themselves.  (There are terrific professional/commercial resources out there, as well.)

Our bread machine is too old to have a GF bread custom program.  It didn't take much digging to find DIY programs that people had fine tuned on their own.  I used these as my base and this is my current custom program:

• The 'white bread' setting for a 2 lb. loaf with medium crust.

• 15 minute knead.

• 40 minute rise.

• 50 minute bake @ 350º.  (no punching and subsequent rises necessary)

The ever important details:

• I start by boiling my water in my electric kettle.

• Mix the dry ingredients well.  I use a small whisk.  I grind my flax seeds in my mini-processor to make the flax meal (in a large batch to have at the ready).

• I mix my wet ingredients in a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.  Once my water boils in the kettle, I pour it into the measuring cup to cool while I mix the dry ingredients.  Then I add the oil and rice vinegar.  Then I make sure it's not so hot that my eggs will start to cook when dropped in.

• This is what it looks like when the ingredients are all in the bread pan and the bread pan has been placed into the machine (that spot is the yeast...I use Red Star active dry yeast).

• During the knead, open the lid and check to see if the wet and dry ingredients are mixing well.  It is pretty much guaranteed that they are not.  I use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides and mix the dough thoroughly.  It won't hurt to check again to make sure the dough is mixing if you don't want pockets of dry flour in your loaf.

• As soon as the knead cycle is done, open the lid and remove the paddle.  There will be no more mixing and this way, the inevitable 'bread machine hole' in the bottom of your loaf will be minimal.  It's a messy job, but worth it.

• Use the spatula to smooth out the top of the loaf.  Make the top concave (lower in the center higher on the sides/edges) because the top of the loaf will dome during baking.

• If you've read this far then you know that this recipe is not as hands off as you might think a bread machine recipe would be.  Once you've gotten to this step, you can now leave the loaf alone for an hour and a half.  But, you want to be around at that 90 minute mark.  When the timer goes off, remove the loaf from the machine as quickly as possible.  Have a wire rack at the ready.  Tip the loaf pan far enough over so that the bread slides out.  Try to make the loaf's landing as gentle as you can...it is delicate right out of the machine.  Use your potholders to turn your bread right side up and let cool.

• By this point, the incredible aroma of fresh baked bread is going to be driving you and yours pretty crazy.  If you can't wait, and especially if this is the first loaf, go ahead and tear into it (be careful of burning tender fingers and don't bother with a knife).  But, if you want slices, then you have to wait.  If you slice into it too early, the loaf will mush down.  If you don't have one, then this would be a good time to invest in a bread knife with a nice serrated edge.

almost as long as a wire rack is wide.

from the side.

so good.

Our family of four will go through a loaf, pretty easily, within 24 hours.  Enjoy!