For years after going gluten free I avoided bread. I was almost too embarrassed to admit to readers that I just didn’t have a gluten free bread recipe. I went completely without bread until we moved to Raleigh. It was here that I discovered Whole Foods Bakehouse Gluten Free Sandwich Bread. For a long time, I really liked it. You kinda had to at $4.99 a loaf. Then one day I decided I couldn’t stand it anymore and decided that I had to make my own gluten free bread. I received a gluten free bread machine for Christmas from my mother (here it is at Amazon) and was determined to create my very own gluten free loaf. Well the fact is I am intimidated by the machine. It is still on my counter in all its glory waiting to be used. My mistake was reading the comments under the great post, First Loaf in my Gluten Free Bread Machine at Karina’s Kitchen. I thought making bread in a bread machine would be easier rather than harder. I am sure it can be, but I decided after reading all those complicated “do’s” and “don’ts” about making gluten free bread in a bread machine that I wanted to bake a loaf of gluten free bread in the oven first. So I had a plan but I needed a recipe. There were some beautiful gluten-free loaves out there. My problem was that sandwich bread really should be tailored to your specific tastes and dietary preferences. I wanted a loaf that did not have cornstarch or bean flour in it. I also wanted my gluten free bread recipe to feature at least three whole grain flours. This is what I came up with- and I truly understand why everyone’s gluten free bread posts have the words ‘finally’, ‘cry’, and ‘at last’ in them! This recipe is a staple so I can’t guarantee that it won’t change with time, so if you try the bread please leave suggestions, tips, and alterations for me to learn from as well. This is the best gluten-free bread I have had and that is why I am posting the recipe. The best part of this bread is the flavor and texture. The big con of this recipe may be the expense of the ingredients (i.e. certified gluten free oat flour, etc). I am sure there are less expensive gluten free flours you could use out there. It is still less expensive than buying a loaf though!!!
GLUTEN FREE MILLET OATMEAL BREAD RECIPE
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup certified gluten free oat flour (you can pulverize oats in a food processor to make oat flour) *If you are sensitive to oat flour, try quinoa flour
3/4 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup arrowroot starch* you can substitute cornstarch if you need to
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 flax seed meal (you can’t taste it and it adds fiber)
1 Tablespoon xanthan gum
3 eggs
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 packet active dry yeast+ 1 tsp granulated sugar for proofing yeast
1 Tablespoon molasses
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons butter or butter substitute, melted
1/4 cup plus 1 cup heated water (I heated my water to 120 degrees to proof the yeast)
DIRECTIONS:
Make sure all your dry ingredients (and eggs!) are at room temperature. Grease the bottom of a 10 inch loaf pan.* Heat the oven to 200 degrees and then turn off. In the bowl of your stand mixer (I used my paddle not my dough hook for this recipe), sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, mix eggs, molasses, vinegar, and melted butter together. Heat your water for proofing the yeast. I recommend 120 degrees. In a small prep bowl, stir together your active dry yeast and one teaspoon of sugar. Add 1/4 cup of the heated water to the yeast mixture. Let the yeast sit for 10 minutes. It should be foamy and active! If not, start over with another packet of yeast. Once your yeast is ready, add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Then add the yeast mixture. Then slowly add your water (should still be warm) to achieve the right consistency in your batter. Since different brands, flours, measuring techniques act different I do not recommend just blindly dumping in the rest of the water but adding gradually instead. The dough should be like very stiff cake batter. I beat my dough on high for about 15 minutes in my stand mixer. If you accidentally add too much water simply add a little rice flour until you achieve the dough consistency you are after. Put the dough in your prepared pan and place in oven to rise for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. You can put plastic wrap or a towel over the pan. My house is much too cold right now so I put mine in the oven so that the dough can rise. Once the dough has risen to the top of the pan, bake the bread for 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until internal temperature reaches 190 degrees. As you can tell, I am big on thermometers.
Makes a delicious loaf of bread that is eaten in no time. My bread is always consumed within 2 days so I don’t know how long it lasts. I would not refrigerate this bread ( it might get soggy), but I would slice and freeze it for later use.
Notable Helpful Links to this post:
Gluti Girls- Go here to see how she made this gluten free bread in a bread machine.
Gluten Free Gobsmacked- Kate made this bread here using quinoa flour and agave nectar and has suggestions about pan size substitutions.
This recipe is dedicated to Jennefer who asked for a gluten free oatmeal sandwich bread. I hope this recipe leads you closer to that perfect slice of gluten-free bread!
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Posted on February 15th, 2008 by Natalie
Filed under: Bread Recipes
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This looks beautiful!! Great job. I have been enjoying bread again myself…like rediscovery.
I also strongly believe in the whole grains, thank goodness there are so many out there now that are gluten free!
Nat! I have my own blooooog now. Come visit it?
This looks just wonderful. The details on the yeast were very helpful. My thermometer recently stopped working and I have been researching Amazon, etc. to find a new one. If you don’t mind my asking, what kind of thermometer do you use? Thanks so much.
The idea of making good gluten-free/egg-free/dairy-free bread still overwhelms me, so I do understand.
Thanks so very much, Natalie! I can’t wait to make this bread and tomorrow morning I will be baking away.
I only have a nine inch bread pan so I will stop and pick up a 10 inch today while I am out - that and millet flour. That’s one I haven’t used yet. Thank you again.
It looks so very yummy.
Jennefer
Natalie,
I found this website while doing some surfing. Thought it may be of help with your bread machine.
http://www.cookingbread.com/gluten_free.html
Enjoy!
Natalie - am I still hosting this coming week’s menu swap?
Karen
Natalie gave me half of her salami and provolone sandwich yesterday at lunch =) The bread is SO good; much better than any gluten-free store bought brands I have had so far. Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations on your first loaf. I’m curious: do you not want corn starch because it’s made from corn or b/c it has no nutritional value whatsoever?
You have me giggling about the bread machine. I had mine unpacked and in use within a couple hours! But I am a nut that way. I have tried a couple recipes in mine, but mostly I have used mixes with great success. I am really wanting to find a good recipe with more whole grain flours. I have not been able to find millet flour anywhere locally yet. I might just have to order it. I think having the oat flour in the recipe probably gives the bread a great flavor. If I get time in the next couple days I will try your recipe in my machine but I will have to use something other than millet flour. What do you think would be a good substitute for it until I can find some?
SM- I love smelling the yeast in my kitchen. The world of whole grain flours is something I don’t think I would have discovered if I wasn’t gluten-free. I am enjoying trying new flours and grains.
Meg- I am a fan already!
Julie- I am not sure which thermometer I use! It doesn’t have a brand written anywhere on it. It is a very inexpensive one from Bed Bath and Beyond.
Sally- Did you cut out bread or are you using a store-bought bread?
Tammy- Thanks for the helpful comment. I am going to check it out.
Caroline- Aw, thanks! I knew you would forget your lunch.
Mary Frances- I am trying to limit corn.
Melanie- I am unreasonably afraid of the bread machine. I will use it soon. I just wanted to have a good recipe to play with. I am not sure what would be a good sub for millet. The reason I like millet is because it has such a great flavor. I would try a flour you like the taste of. My Whole Foods just started carrying millet flour in the last year.
Oh, I made it today and it was soooo yummy. I made a few changes because no stores anywhere near me carry millet flour. I increased the oat flour to 3/4 cup and used 1/2 quinoa flour to replace the millet. It was delicious. So much so that my entire family gobbled up most of the loaf while it was still hot. I’ve been trying to find a gf bread that dh will adopt and I’ve finally found it. This bread it perfect - sweet but not too much so, great texture and amazing flavor.
Thank you very much Natalie. Now how about the perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. That one has alluded me, too. Lol!
You had a bread machine in college that did not work i think…
Natalie we need to get a broken bread machine recovery group together or hey, you could pour a glass of wine and just follow a simple bread machine recipe to start….we’re all waiting to help sweep up the bread crumbs!!! mom
[...] This is the best gluten free bread I’ve ever had. Ever. Natalie, you are a bread genius. In the gluten free cooking world, we have gourmets, goddesses, girls and then there are queens. Natalie, you are the bread queen! This bread does not taste like it’s gluten free. I could not stop munching on it! I broke all my carb rules for the whole week! But it was way worth it! [...]
I’m still on a quest to find a loaf that works for us and this gives me something new to experiment with - nice to see one that doesn’t have powdered milk in it since we are casein-free too. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I thought I would give you an update on the loaf I made. I made it Tuesday night and today (two days later) I took some to my mom’s for lunch. She had a friend and me over. We sliced it and served it cold with lunch and it was still just as soft, moist and wonderful as the first day I had made it. This is a wonderful bread and will be my mainstay from now on. I wonder what rolls would be like? Thanks Natalie!
I baked this bread in a 9×5 pan. It rose above the pan before I baked it and then some overflowed onto the floor of the oven. I’ll try it again and keep better watch on the rising. Everyone who tried it today at our family gathering really liked it. I did not bring any home!
[...] Chicken and rice soup, Natalie’s bread [...]
[...] Natalie from Gluten Free Mommy. She’s got a million recipes I’ve had my tummy eye on and now is the time to get them done. I think I will start with her much raved about sandwich [...]
I’m hoping to try this recipe this week. It looks awesome! How much would omitting the flaxseed meal effect it? Should I replace it with something? I just don’t have any, or any money to buy some. ;p
<3 Beth
Beth- Maybe add another 1/4 cup of flour instead? I am not sure. The batter should be the consistency of stiff cake batter, so watch that. If you have to add more water make sure it is warm. Good luck!
I added a 1/4 cup of garbanzo bean flour in place; my mother is sending me some flax seeds and some millet (perks of having a mom that owns a bake shop!) that I will grind in my food processor for the next time I make this bread, because I definitely will be making it again! It was amazing even with my few little changes. Thanks for a great recipe! Even my wheat-eating boyfriend liked it.
Natalie -
I found a 10 x 5 pan today while shopping in Seattle.
I found it at Sur La Table. (They are online too.)
It is made by Chicago Metallic. (Yea! Chicago!)
I think the reason why you couldn’t find it readily on google was that it is a Chicago Metallic “Commercial” use/size pan.
I’m ready to go now with my own MONSTER bread pan! Sweet! Bring on the goodness. Baking bread will be a perfect way to recover and reground myself after being away from home.
=)
[...] Your Millet & Oatmeal bread is now one of my all time favorites. Not only does it prove the fact that GF baking is NOT [...]
I’m new to this gluten free thing (also corn free and soy free.) One of my first kitchen projects was to make homemade mayonnaise. It was a necessary staple in my previous gluten-laden life. Well, that little jar has remained untouched in my fridge for two months. The bread I make is okay toasted for breakfast, but sandwiches have lost all appeal. Your oatmeal bread looks divine - like real bread! Can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
Natalie….YUM and YUM! I baked your bread recipe yesterday and the loaf is g-o-n-e! My 9 and 12 year olds were all over it. If my son says something GF is good, then it has to be amazing! I used a Pampered Chef loaf pan and it baked beautifully. I set it to rise next to my not-so-hot wood stove and it only took about an hour to get above the pan. It was *so* hard to decide what to have on the first real piece of bread I’ve had in a year, but the humble pb&j won! Today, it was grilled Telaggio and Ham! I will be baking this every week. Thanks for your recipe!
Hi Natalie,
In my quest, to learn to bake gf, I’ve been redirected off/on your blog all day long. What a pleasure it has been to learn so much.
My question.. You have more experience with the different aspects of each ingredient, what would you substitute for tapioca flour here, if you couldn’t eat tapioca??
I was excited to see Elizabeth Barbone’s substitution for Corn Starch, but its also a mix of arrowroot and tapioca.
If you have any suggestions, I’d be thrilled. I’m excited that I can eat almost everything in this recipe and look forward to trying it.
~Heidi @ CarolinaDreamz
[...] Tuesday– Caldo Verde (Portuguese potato kale soup) and Natalie’s millet oatmeal bread [...]
Natalie,
your bread is great. Mmmm. Thanks for all the details on temp, making sure the yeast is prepped right, etc. It rose wonderfully. My one issue is that I don’t quite like millet as much as I want to. There’s some little bite to the taste that stands out too much for me. Any suggestions for subs? I so wish I liked it since it is good for you.
cris
Cris- What about sorghum flour?
Okay, today I toasted a piece, buttered it and munched on it on the way to the bus stop and have decided this bread and I are friends after all. The millet didn’t seem to be an issue for me today and that warm piece of buttered toast was a very bright spot in a not too bad of a day.
I might try with sorghum just to compare. Tonight we made grilled cheese with the bread. Nice to have grilled cheese again!
Cris- I haven’t toasted this bread yet, maybe because I have had to toast bread for so long. Toast sounds really good after my workout today! I need some carbs! Anyway, I loved millet flour immediately, but there are some that took me awhile to love- teff is one of them!
Hi Natalie,
This bread looks delicious! I’m hoping to make it today/this weekend, but I’m wondering if you know how much yeast is in a package? My Whole Foods store gives me a great deal on yeast in sealed bulk packages, so that’s usually what I go with.
Michelle
2 1/4 tsp!
Thanks! Wow that was fast, I’m looking forward to eating the bread!
Wow! This looks so good! I’ve milled our own whole wheat and made our own bread for 5-6 years. Recently I had a positive IgA and IgG. My TgG was drawn but I don’t know the results yet. My children all show signs of possible celiac. So, I’m going to have to start getting creative with baking.
One of my questions (I’m still in the “lots of questions” phase), will I have to get rid of my grain mill, my Zo bread maker (I was never able to get a good loaf out of it–I don’t know why), my plastic bowl for the Bosch mixer, and my little toaster oven?
I think I would like to have a grain mill for milling the brown rice and maybe millet. For years I’ve shared with people the advantages to home milling, one of them being that you don’t lose the vital oils and enzymes that help you digest it (these have to be taken out to give the flour a shelf life). It seems weird to go to buying flour at the store now.
Also, I’m debating whether or not I will need a bread machine. Have you broken out your bread machine yet? It seems like there’s more room for error when using the bread machine because you’re not just trying to perfect a recipe, you’re also trying to figure out the right settings for your particular machine.
Let me know what you conclude!
Thanks so much from this newbie.
Betty
Betty,
I think you should get rid of everything and start over. It will be fun to pick out those new items and then you won’t have to worry about cross-contamination. I have not used my bread machine yet because I find it easier to develop recipes without one. Some people love their bread machine and swear by it, but i think for the most part (esp. in the beginning) it is easier to make gluten-free bread by hand. If you do get a bread machine make sure to read Karina’s post (link above) and the comments on her post. And I think it could be really fun to mill your own flours but there may more to mill than you are used to!
This recipe looks great and I intend to try it.
I do however disagree that Betty should throw out her grain mill. I think mine is my most valuable possession. I grind brown rice ($.90 pound for fine grind instead of $3.00 a pound and it’s fresh) I store enough in the fridge for a week. I add 1 cup of quinoa to every four cups of brown rice. It adds nutrition and doesn’t change the recipes. I also grind mccann’s irish steel cut oats (2 cups a week) again, cheaper and fresher.
Betty I own a bread machine and have never used it either, but a kitchenaid mixer is almost a must.
Sheri- You are so right! I grind several flours as well. I think a flour mill is a great idea for going gluten-free. I just replaced a lot of my stuff when I went gluten-free.
Hi Everyone,
I’ve made gluten free bread before a while back. I tried a mix for pizza dough I used to bring pizza to a party for a friend and was surprised how good it was, especially after having to spoon the dough! Lol, I’m so used to kneading dough. So I wanted to find a recipe for gluten free bread. We don’t stay completely away from gluten, my problem is with fibromyalgia and I find that wheat tends to make the fibro worse. So we’ve been baking a very fluffy white bread with white spelt flour and I don’t eat much of it. I just tried a recipe by substituting other flours for 3/4 of the spelt flour. The flours I used: whole spelt, quinoa, brown rice, oat, millet, amaranth, tapioca and some whole rolled oats. I also added sesame seeds, walnuts and sunflower seeds. The recipe calls for an egg white. I’m wondering if using just the white will make your loaf lighter. I use the yolk for brushing on the top of the bread. I used yeast, no xanthan gum (where do you get that, anyway?) The other things I used where soy milk, honey and margarine, the healthy kind. It was basically the recipe we used before but with substitution of the other flours for the majority of the spelt.
The loaf rose slowly and didn’t rise at all once I put it in the oven. So although it’s definitely edible, it’s too dense compared to what I wanted. I realized I didn’t use the right amount of yeast as I was using a double recipe and forgot to double the yeast too. Would xanthan gum help?
I’m going to try this again. I have to do some more research on the xanthan. Any ideas or tips would be helpful.
Laura- Bread is so tricky that it is hard for me to help sometimes! Did you use the 10 inch pan? Obviously having made gluten free pizza dough before you know that bread dough looks MUCH different than regular bread- too much flour and not enough water could contribute to a dense bread. This bread is denser than some gluten free breads, however, it should rise fine and make sandwich bread. It should have risen more than you are describing. Using warm carbonated water might help. As you suggested, using lighter flours will help the lightness but might not add as much nutrition. The xanthan gum really isn’t optional in this recipe and will help- I would definitely double the yeast too. Good luck on your bread baking!!! Thanks for letting us all benefit from your bread baking
You have my humble thanks. This is the first decent tasting bread I have eaten since I received my diagnosis. My newly 7 year old daughter baked this bread yesterday in our bread machine. I was beyond happy that her very first foray into baking on her own turned out such a wonderful loaf. thank you
Hi, and thanks so much for your blog. I googled looking for gluten free bread recipes and ended up on your great blog. Glad I did as I have bookmarked and will return.
We eat gluten free because of my wife Jackie’s intolerance. I have esophogitis and some breads seems to upset me.
Jackie is convinced it is the wheat in the bread that upsets me and wants me to go gluten free to test her theory.
With every tummy upset I have, she is getting closer to her wish. Thanks again for the great blog.
Regards, Ross.
HEIDI, I’m sorry this response is a bit belated, but I just discovered this blog (YAY–I’m already excited)! According to one of the better books in my food allergy cooking library (In addition to being a multiple food allergic cook, I’m a bookworm), ARROWROOT can be used interchangeably with TAPIOCA starch. Have you tried that?
Now I have a QUESTION of my own: I’m one of the unfortunate few allergic not only to wheat (not gluten), but also to eggs (not to mention corn, soy & paprika–go figure). Anyone know if this recipe could be made with egg replacer or otherwise adapted to be EGGLESS?
Thanks!
–
Chipmunk
Chipmunk-
People have made this recipe egg-less successfully using an egg replacer.
thank you sooo much for this recipe! i’ve been gluten-free for just under a year and this was the first loaf of yeast bread i had ever made. thank you for making bread un-scary for me!