Hi, I'm Dr. Jean Layton. In diverse jobs from chef to doctor, I've used my analytical skills to address the ongoing goal, "There has to be a better way." When not seeing patients, I'm in the social media world, teaching people to thrive gluten-free.
It has been a time of it, creating my gluten-free sourdough bread.
First I had to begin by trying to replicate the conditions that allow free floating yeast in the air to colonize and grow.
Oh wait, first I had to create a flour for the yeast to grown in.
No, first I had to analyze the properties of Wheat to see what worked best as for those nice little wild yeast beasties, then I could create a flour mix that would allow them to multiply and feed to create the tangy lactic acid buildup we know and love as .
To begin all this process, I did what I do when confronted with any new problem. Research! I checked out the Gluten-Free bread recipe books:
Then I checked out the various conventional wheat bread baking books:
And I began to notice that the gluten -free breads were a perfect sandwich bread.
That lots of them used a bread machine.
None had that crunchy dense crust I remember so fondly from gluten full breads.
So now I went to the blogging world. Typically, blogs are about 3 years ahead of books in solving a problem.
Into Google I plunged:
I looked here for an overview of lots of recipes since they seem to be gathering from multiple blogs, at All Recipes since so many people search for their recipes there.
But this one had eggs and I was trying to avoid allergens as much as possible.
Kept searching- Found this recipe for a “rye” bread but it called for a pan size I don’t have. Looked here and here.
What I found was that quite a few are focused on making bread machine bread.
Some people just want simple sandwich bread. I understand, I truly do, but that isn’t what I was looking for at all.
I wanted a
sour
crusty
tender threaded
open holed
bread.
One that will hold it’s own as a bread bowl for soup if I wanted. Not a soft tender crust at all.
So my journey of research continued into the world of bread message boards.
I love this one but can literally spend days there reading about the nuances of temperature changes, hydration, salt content and protein content of wheat flour.
Wait, protein content.
That makes sense. The yeast need the sugars to grow and give off gas but without the protein strands, there is no lift, no holes, no bubbles to crust.
Now to the fun part, the chemistry of the situation:
Wheat flour is 11% protein,
Hard Wheat flour (typically used for bread) is 14% protein,
Their fat content is never more than 5 %. Carbohydrate count varies with the growing season.
In order for my gluten-free to behave like gluten full , I had to get a balance of the available flours to mimic these parameters.
A bit of analysis now came into play while I learned the stats on gluten free flours.
Stats and analysis allow me to just play. So I created a chart, for an easy understanding of what a substitution would do to my flour mixture.
One that I am happy to share, so you can all make substitutions based on the science and taste preference you would prefer.
Enjoy!
Comparison of Gluten Free flours in one easy chart – printable
Per 1/4
| Flour | Color | Quality | Fiber | Fat | Protein | Carbohydrates |
| Millet | Yellow | Soft Crumb | 0g | 1g | 3g | 22 g |
| Sweet Rice Flour | White | Structure/sticky | 1g | 0.6g | 2g | 24g |
| Sorghum Flour | pale brown with tiny flecks of dark brown | tender, structure | 3g | 1.1g | 4g | 25g |
| Potato Starch | White | Glide, slippery | 0g | 0g | 0g | 40g |
| Corn Flour | Yellow | Strength | 3.9g | 1.1g | 2g | 22.5g |
| Amaranth Flour | Brown | Strength | 3g | 2g | 4g | 20g |
| Quinoa Flour | Pale brown | Strength/pronounced flavor | 0g | 1.7g | 4g | 21g |
| Brown Rice Flour | Pale brown | crunch unless finely ground, mild flavor | 1.8g | 1.1g | 2.9g | 30.2g |
| Tapioca Flour | White | Soft, crisp | 0g | 0g | 0g | 26g |
| Teff flour | Dark or ivory | Tender | 6g | 1.1g | 5g | 32g |
| Roasted Buckwheat Flour | Dark | Tender/pronounced flavor | 3g | 0.9g | 3.8g | 21.2g |
| GarFava flour | Yellow beige | Beany | 6g | 1.7g | 6g | 18g |
| White Bean Flour | White/ivory | Mild flavor, tender crumb | 8g | 0g | 7g | 20g |
| White Rice Flour | White | Mild flavor, crunch unless finely ground | 0.9g | 0.6g | 2.4g | 31.7g |
Next post I’ll tell you more about what my flour mix contains and how to begin your own starter. But for now, I am off to gather my things for the BlogHer conference in NYC. I just found out that I will be interviewed by Balancing Act TV!!!
UPDATE! I am up for Top Blogger on Balancing act TV! Whoo Hoo! But I have a favor to ask, can you please click over to http://www.thebalancingact.com/vdoVoting/
Look at all the amazing women who are also up for this!
I would appreciate your vote, daily. I am the one with the terra cotta twinset and onyx beads.
Thanks!
This is long over but I had a great time.
This is my families first Christmas since our allergy testing. My children are really sad about missing all their old favorite Christmas treats. Pfeffernusse are one of the all time favorite Christmas cookies. I really want to try your pfeffernusse recipe but I am having a hard time figuring out flour replacements in the basic cookie mix. We can’t use tapioca, quinoa or amaranth due to allergies. Do you think millet flour would be a good replacement for the tapioca?
Hi Kat,
I would use potato starch or cornstarch instead of the tapioca. Otherwise the cookies should work fine. Will you touch back to let me know how they come out?
If you have another cookie your children are really missing, feel free to send me a link or the original recipe. I can help convert it.
I love all the relevant information. The bauguette look awesome. Do you have a recipe so mine can look like yours in the photos?? Thanks so much.
Hi Billy, Here you go, http://www.gfdoctorrecipes.com/gluten-free-sourdough-bread-starter-recipe-if-you-dare/