Gluten-Free Baguette

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Brown rice flour (I prefer Bob’s Red Mill because it’s so fine)

1/2 cups Millet flour

1/3 cup  Tapioca starch or flour (or Cassava flour)

1/3 cup  Potato starch (not potato flour)

1/3 cup Arrowroot flour

3 1/2 tsp Guar gum (can substitute flax seeds by grinding 3.5 tsp with 3.5 tsp warm water and let soak)                

1 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/4 cup  Coconut Sugar    

1/4 oz /1 packet Dry yeast   (1.5 tsp of instant yeast if you have it loose)       

1 3/4 cup Milk         

1/4 cup Olive oil

1 tsp Apple cider vinegar

3 Eggs (room temperature if possible)

For baguettes you will need a special baguette pan…otherwise, you can use a loaf pan as long as you grease it well, or use a silicone pan.

Directions

In a large mixing bowl (preferably your stand mixer bowl) combine the flour blend, salt, and sugar. Use a whisk to mix thoroughly. Make a small depression in the center of the flour mix and pour the yeast packet into it.

Warm milk to 100F – 110F (or whatever temperature yeast calls for). Pour warm milk gently over the flour and yeast. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. If it does not foam up, something’s wrong–find a different yeast and try again…

Add the oil, vinegar, and eggs and mix well until smooth and free of lumps, preferably using the stand mixer. The mixture will be sticky and the consistency of thick cake batter, not firm like wheat bread dough. It will quickly try to climb the sides because of the gumminess of the millet, so be sure to watch it! You may need to keep putting some of it back in with a spatula (preferably silicone).

While it’s embarrassing to admit this, I only took pictures the first time I made this, and after I tried shaping the loaves on the baguette pan sprayed with oil and having them partially “drip” through the bottom. I now recommend (having great success with this–just didn’t take pics) LINING THE PAN WITH PARCHMENT PAPER–just cut a piece and drape it across all 2 or 3 (this is kind of a “mini” baguette pan) hollows. Spread out the dough as best you can to shape–a silicone spatula works well for this, dip it in water if you need to.

Allow to rise for 30 minutes. As you can see, the dough will rise, but not double in size–it will gain some volume in the oven potentially. Preheat the oven to 375F. Once it’s up to temperature, pop them into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. (Again, these are slightly smaller loaves, so if you have a larger baguette pan that only makes two, you may need to play it by ear).

They will turn out pretty browned and, as you can see, gain some more volume in the oven! These can cool in the pan (again, on the parchment paper!).

If you use a loaf pan, you will want to bake them a bit longer, like 35 minutes, and you’ll need to remove them from the loaf pan after they’ve cooled 15 minutes or so to turn upside down and release more moisture from the bottom.

Either bread is really nice sliced, toasted, and served with butter. Enjoy! I usually store them in ziplock bags, but the baguettes don’t stay around long enough to spoil–they get eaten up pretty quick.