Topic: Bread Making Problem

[Vinlander]

For those who would like a gluten-free recipe there is one on the back of Doves Farm 'white gluten-free bread flour'.

It was in Morrison's at £1.85 a kilo so I wasn't prepared to buy it (and I didn't have a pen) but I did notice that despite having some xanthan gum in it they recommended putting in 2 eggs too.

Which sort of supports my opinion that eggs are better than gum, but I'm sure they are right that both is better still...

It would be a good place to start and then you could experiment by using rice flour with 2 eggs and seeing how it compares.

The other weird thing was that they recommended a teaspoon of vinegar too (??) any idea why?

Cheers.

[tomatoada]

Thanks for posting landimad.   Can you use ordinary milk?

[grannyjanny]

No idea why Dove would recommend vinegar as it contains gluten. I would imagine it would be OK for coeliacs as they can have small amounts but gluten intolerance & autism is a different ball game.

[landimad]

Tommy,
I have used buttermilk due to it being in the recipe. I would not know whether you can use ordinary milk as there is not as much butter fat in milk production today as there was years ago. I am on the green top milk now, but I was brought up on Jersey full cream milk from the farm. Didn't harm me but I would say there are other milks like goats to use instead. If we do not try how will we ever know.
Recipes are there to be messed around with until there is a right and wrong one they come up with that is liked or not by the majority.

[Vinlander]

No idea why Dove would recommend vinegar as it contains gluten. I would imagine it would be OK for coeliacs as they can have small amounts but gluten intolerance & autism is a different ball game.

Maybe they mean wine vinegar (no grain, no gluten)? or maybe the vinegar you get in downmarket chippies? - it's labelled 'non-brewed condiment' which I suspect means it is industrial (synthesised) acetic acid watered down and mixed with a dash of caramel.

I suppose it may have been bio-ethanol once but I can't see a big hulking molecule like gluten getting through a distillation process.

Actually I can't see something that big getting through the fining (sedimentation) process either - it is used to make all commercial beers (except weissbeer - which I dislike anyway) - beer which is then soured to become 'real' malt vinegar.

The easiest way to settle this is for someone gluten-intolerant to drink the most non-'real' beer available (cheap lager or overpriced US beer) and then progressively try more and more tasty beers until symptoms appear.

Joking aside - I always assumed the suggestion to add Vit C to boost yeast activity was based on its anti-oxidant properties (healthy, fitness-obsessed yeast cells?) but maybe a slightly lower pH also helps them? Most yeasts almost certainly evolved in rotting fruit - which is a lot sharper than rotting grain...

Cheers.

[aquilegia]

No idea why Dove would recommend vinegar as it contains gluten. I would imagine it would be OK for coeliacs as they can have small amounts but gluten intolerance & autism is a different ball game.

Coeliacs cannot have any gluten at all. Some are made ill even by a breadcrumb. Vinegar doesn't always contain gluten. Malt vinegar does as it's made from barley. But cider vinegar amd wine vinegars are fine.

Some people with gluten intolerance can eat small amounts of gluten, but it's a personal thing so not worth messy with. Someone who's allergic to gluten can't have any.

Not sure what autism's got to do with gluten.

Anyway, back to the original post - I find with wholemeal bread in the bread machine it's worth adding an extra 1/4tsp of dried yeast and using hand hot water (ie - water at about body temperature). I make it with about 3/4 wholemeal and 1/4 white flour. And I never use vitamin c.

[grannyjanny]

My friend's daughter was diagnosed with coeliac disease & was given a book with lists of what was safe. These included Kellogg's breakfast cereals that contained malt extract. It was a while ago perhaps Kellogg's have changed the recipe. There is a group of autistic children who have allergy induced autism whose conditions have improved dramatically when gluten/dairy have been removed from their diets.