It seems that it's hard to have it all. When I'm looking around for easy, tasty gluten-free loaves, they usually rely quite heavily on eggs. When I'm looking at vegan loaves, they often use soy, wheat or nuts. What's the answer? Give up on bread if you want to feed a mixed crowd or a sensitive eater who can't have several allergenic ingredients? No way!
When I was working on what feels like my life's work (though really only 6 years), Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen- and Gluten-free Vegetarian Recipes, I fooled around a lot with different kinds of breads. One of the easiest and most effective options I found was to make a "beer bread." In the upcoming Welcoming Kitchen book, I have two different breads that use gluten-free beer to create the rise. In the spirit of one of my favorite times of year, Apple Picking Season, I wanted to create an apple-y loaf. Instead of using gluten-free beer for this one, I went for a hard cider. Fermented apple cider is naturally gluten-free (though you always need to check the label to ensure that there are no additives you can't tolerate). To build on the apple flavor of the cider, I added a diced apple to the batter.
, pumpkin butter or on its own. It's got a crunchy, chewy crust and an oh-so-tender middle. The folks at King Arthur Flour sent me a sample of their Gluten Free Multi Purpose Flour
to try. I got it yesterday, and put it into action in this loaf right away. My Aunt Nancy is gluten-free, but she also has trouble with sorghum, so this flour is a good option for her, because it is sorghum-free. It also doesn't use any bean flours, so it's a good choice for folks who need to avoid bean flours, too.Note: Megan tells us that although a lot of the alcohol in the cider burns off in the cooking, some does remain. The kind of cider I used had 5% alcohol content when it was in the bottle, so I feel comfortable letting my kids enjoy a slice or two, but you should use your best judgment.
I shared this recipe with Allergy Free Wednesday!
Gluten-free Apple Loaf
Ingredients:
3 cups gluten-free multi-purpose flour
(I used King Arthur Flour)1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 12-ounce bottle hard cider
1 apple, peeled and cut into small dice
canola oil for pan
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375.
Oil a standard loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, xanthan gum, salt, sugar and baking powder.
Stir in cider.
Add diced apple, stir until incorporated.
Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake 50 minutes or until crusty.
Cool on wire rack
before slicing.Happy Cooking!
Kim
My new book, Ancient Grains: A Guide to Cooking with Power-Packed Millet, Oats, Spelt, Farro, Sorghum & Teff (Superfoods for Life)
, is available now! You can also find tasty recipes in Super Seeds
and Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen- & Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes
.
deeeelicious! the cider is a good idea. I may have to get some and try it (or drink it).
ReplyDeletei usually use arrowroot and tapioca starch in place of eggs and i usually get a pretty good rise with baking powder. i'm gonna have to try this though. :)
Thanks, Ginger for the great egg-replacement idea. I usually use a combination of fruit or vegetable puree with baking powder or flaxseed slurry, so I'm always glad to hear about something different!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a lovely loaf! Do you have any thoughts on how the KAF gluten-free flour performed compared to other flours you've tried? Thanks for giving it a whirl! -Allison@KAF
ReplyDeleteI honestly really liked the King Arthur Flour mix. I thought it worked really well. I'm looking forward to trying it in some other recipes.
ReplyDeleteHello! Love your site! Just wanted to drop in and say hello.
ReplyDelete-Lexie
Hi, I was wondering if there is something else that I could use instead of xanthan gum.
ReplyDeleteHi Nessie,
ReplyDeleteIf you're using a gluten-free all-purpose flour, you're going to need something to bind it together, so if you're not using xanthan gum, you could use guar gum. If you have GF oat flour, you could try that and then you wouldn't need a binder. Also, if you don't need it to be gluten-free, you could substitute all-purpose flour (wheat) for the GF flour and then you wouldn't need xanthan gum, either.
Good luck!
Kim