English Muffin Bread GF

By MaryEllen

After just about 35 minutes in the oven, you’ll have an amazing loaf of soft and tender gluten free bread. To store it, slice it thickly (because it’s amazing that way!), and place a small piece of parchment or waxed paper between each slice and the next before bagging and freezing.

Ingredients

• 3 cups (420 g) Gluten-Free Bread Flour, plus more for sprinkling*
• 1 2/3 teaspoons (5 g) instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon (12 g) sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) kosher salt
• 1 2/3 cups warm milk (110°F)
• Coarsely ground gluten free cornmeal, for sprinkling (optional)
• GLUTEN FREE BREAD FLOUR
• (Makes 1 cup (140 g) flour)
• 100 grams (about 11 1/2 tablespoons) mock Better Batter or Better Batter itself (71% of the total blend)
• 25 grams (about 5 tablespoons) unflavored whey protein isolate (18% of the total blend) (Isopure brand or NOW Foods brand are what I use)
• 15 grams (about 5 teaspoons) Expandex modified tapioca starch (11% of the total blend)**
• Ingredients for Mock Better Batter Blend
• 160 grams superfine brown rice flour
• 160 grams superfine white rice flour
• 80 grams tapioca starch/flour
• 80 grams potato starch
• 20 grams potato flour
• 18 grams xanthan gum
• 8 grams pure powdered pectin

Details

Adapted from glutenfreeonashoestring.com

Preparation

Step 1

Mock Better Batter Blend instructions:

Place all ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk to combine well. The pectin should be used without the calcium packet. Store in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use.

The recipe can be halved or used in multiples easily. Just be sure to whisk fully in a large enough container.

Notes:
Use of lower quality ingredients than those to which I have linked in this post (including the xanthan gum and pectin!) will result in a markedly lower quality product, one that does not behave at all like mine. Proceed at your own risk.
Measure using a digital kitchen scale. There aren’t proper volume equivalents for some of the ingredients.

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In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the flour, yeast, and sugar, and use a handheld whisk to combine well. Add the salt, and whisk to combine. Add the milk and mix with the paddle attachment until the dough is smooth. It will be very wet. Cover the bowl with oiled plastic wrap, and set in a warm, draft-free location to rise until nearly doubled in size (about 40 minutes). You can skip this first rise and proceed right to the following step, if you prefer. The bread will just have a bit less flavor but it should not affect the final rise at all.

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease well an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan and sprinkle the bottom and sides with cornmeal. Once the dough has doubled, stir it down to deflate it a bit. Scrape the dough into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top with a wet spatula, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Place in a warm, draft-free location to rise until the dough is about 1/2 inch above the sides of the pan (about 1 hour). Remove the plastic wrap from the loaf pan and slash down the center of the loaf at a 45 degree angle and about 1/4 inch deep with a sharp knife or lame. Sprinkle the top of the loaf lightly with cornmeal, and place it in the center of the preheated oven. Bake until the loaf is lightly golden brown, registers 185°F in the center on an instant-read thermometer, and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom (about 35 minutes).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Slice thickly and serve.

From the book Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread: Biscuits, Bagels, Buns, and More by Nicole Hunn. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2013. Originally posted on the blog in 2013. Recipe unchanged, some photos new, video new.