Sorghum bread (Gluten-free)

It has been an adventurous journey in the making of gluten-free bread. I was motivated to do so after reading a lot of health benefits on gluten-free and wheat-free baking, and that i really determined to explore it further. However, there were several times (around 3-4 times in my experience) that these did not turn out well. Most of the time is due to the failure to rise, tough bread after bake and due to the fact that i did not follow exact ingredients from recipes i referred. I am one that strongly against xanthan gum, which is one typical ingredient you may find in gluten-free baking. This ingredient is important to bind the flour together because gluten-free flour usually fall apart easily. In my best endeavour, i would be heading towards a direction where there would be no xanthan gum in my making of gluten-free bread, for better or for worst.

As for this time, i would say it is by far the most successful attempt of making gluten-free bread along with many failures previously. The failures have made me noted on few key points that i must not miss out in the making of gluten-free bread.

(1) Try to follow your chosen recipe as close as possible. If you decide not to follow, you have to confidently find a suitable substitute, however, this would not guarantee a success and very often would need a lot of research and reading before you could actually proceed.

(2) Do not attempt to modify the quantity of the ingredients if you are not sure if it is necessary. For example, i like to cut down on certain ingredients quantity eg. egg, yeast.

(3) Gluten-free bread cannot over-knead. Over-knead may cause the bread to collapse or fail to rise. The best is to let the machine run for only 5 minutes, while manually scraping the side. Once done, mix well and flat the top nicely using a silicone spatula. You may remove the paddle at this point.

(4) The outlook appearance for gluten-free need not to be compared with non gluten-free bread. It could look like a short bread and that it would be heavy. That is just the way gluten-free bread is made to be, nevertheless the texture could be soft and chewy - not necessary hard to bite.


For this bread, it is the first time i use sorghum flour and after referring to few websites - this is my version -

Recipe (in sequence, using Tesco breadmaker):

SORGHUM BREAD

1 cup hot water
4 free-range eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/3 cup sorghum flour (gluten-free)
2/3 cup sweet rice flour (gluten-free)
1 cup tapiaco starch / tapiaco flour (gluten-free)
2 tsp organic psyllium husk (gluten-free)
1 tsp molasses sugar
1 Tbsp instant active yeast

Step 1:
Set to dough mode and let it knead for 5 minutes, scrape the sides down necessarily. Once done, mix well and smooth the top using a silicone spatula.

Step 2:
Set to bake mode and set timer to bake 30 minutes later for the batter to proof. The baking time should take 55 minutes or 1 hour maximum. Once done, remove from the baking pan, let it cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Optional - After 30 minutes of proofing, you may add some topping. For this bread i combine and mix the followings and sprinkle on the batter right before start baking.
1 tsp organic psyllium husk
1 tsp organic rolled oat
1 tsp oat bran


SOURCE:
http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/sorghum-bread-again/

http://www.glutenfreeliving.com/gluten-free-foods/ingredients/ingredients-index/

http://glutenfreeeasily.com/bountiful-bread-basket-top-20-gluten-free-bread-recipes/