Berry's Weblog

We use a Zojirushi BBCC-X20 bread machine, which makes a two pound
loaf, so all measurements are for that size. The machine itself
should be set to a custom program as follows:

Preheat: 10m
Knead: 20m
Rise 1: off
Rise 2: off
Rise 3: 1h5m
Bake: 1h10m
Keep Warm: off

Since there's a ten minute preheat, we use whole grain flours straight
from the freezer, where they're kept to avoid bugs and weevils and
other nasties that can crop up in older flour. Also, the eggs can
come straight from the fridge without warming up.

Most flours come from Trader Joe's or Bob's Red Mill. Whole Foods' GF
mixes tend to have potato starch in them, which Alene is allergic to.

On to the recipe. Dry ingredients:

Sorghum Flour 2 cups
Sweet Rice Flour 1 cup
Cornstarch 1 cup
3tsp Xanthan Gum
2/3 cup almond meal
1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp egg white powder
1/4 cup golden brown sugar
2 tsp powdered gelatin

Mix together well. We dump it all into a plastic bag and mix it
around, but whisking in a bowl or sifting it all together should work
too.

If you're comparing this to Bette's recipe, there are some
differences. we use the sweet rice flour instead of tapioca flour
because it makes the bread less gummy. We use almond meal instead of
dry milk powder because Catherine is lactose intolerant. Why almond
meal? If you'ce ever done medieval cooking, you'll remember almond
milk. What can I say, it works. We use egg white powder instead of
egg replacer because egg replacer contains potato starch. We find
using brown sugar gives a better taste. The gelatin is optional,
depending on whether we can find it or not; but don't leave out BOTH
the gelatin AND egg white powder. And we use kosher salt because
that's what we have in the kitchen. Michael Ruhlman counts it
the most important tool in his kitchen.

With the dry ingredients taken care of, on to the wet. In a bowl mix:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 extra large eggs (or four large)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups water

You can use melted butter instead of olive oil, or a lighter vegetable
oil. We use whole eggs; Bette had a cholesterol problem and cut down
the yolks. The vinegar is for "dough enhancer". It works just as well and we always have it around.

Now comes assembly and cooking. By all means follow your bread
machine's instructions here; this works for our Zojirushi.

Assemble the machine, pour the wet ingredients in, and add the dry
ingredients on top. You want to cover the wet stuff up with the flour
so the yeast can stay dry during the preheat; this is very important.
Make a well in the dry flour mixture and add one envelope of regular
dry yeast. Now press start.

Only two things left: when it starts kneading after about 10 minutes,
use a plastic spatula to scrape the sides of the baking container to
ensure complete mixing. Then wait a couple hours and turn out your
tasty loaf!