Argh!!!!!

[Caitlin71809]

I have wasted way too much carefully mixed allergy friendly flour on my bread machine! I cannot get a loaf of bread to rise and stay risen. I brought liquids to room temp, whisked dry ingredients and evenly added the mix, made a well for the yeast, put sugar in first and then the yeast. I even proofed the yeast to make sure it was active. What is going wrong???

I'm so very discouraged.

Caitlin

 

[taxlady]

What kind of flour is your allergy friendly flour?

 

[joesfolk]

Is it possible it has risen too long?

 

[LPBeier]

I am just guessing that you are trying to make gluten free bread. Besides using wheat free flour, you must use xantham gum which helps to hold the texture together much like wheat gluten.

I have worked as a special diets cook for years and cook gluten/lactose/soy free for my husband. I would love to see your recipe as I may be able to help you with it. If you are just substituting a GF flour mix in a regular recipe it will not work. But I can steer you in the right direction.

 

[Caitlin71809]

I am using a combo of tapioca starch, millet flour, potato starch, white rice flour, and brown rice flour. I do indeed add xanthan gum to the mix. Maybe I'm not mixing the flour well enough?

I'm also using EnerG egg replacer because we also have an egg allergy. Maybe a different egg replacer? Or maybe the wrong setting on the maker? I've been using Large Light.

Once I tried to substitute this flour in a regular pie crust recipe. It was comical how bad it was!

Thanks for helping,
Caitlin

 

[LPBeier]

EnerG is a great brand (except for their prepared rice bread). I love their Gluten Free pretzels the best of all brands and their egg replacer is what I use all the time.

Is this mix of flour one you have figured out on your own, or is it a recipe? If it is a flour blend then are you using a bread recipe that goes with this?

Please know I am not questioning what you are doing. Working with these ingredients is very touch and go and even having worked with them for years and following recipes exactly I have had problems. The flours and other items needed are quite finicky and it may be as simple as the measurements being slightly off, the order you have mixed things in your bread machine or outdated yeast.

If you could list here or in a PM to me exactly what you used and the order you placed them in the machine, I should be able to give you a hand figuring out the problem, or I can give you some recipes that work well for me.

Hope this helps.

 

[Caitlin71809]

EnerG is a great brand (except for their prepared rice bread). I love their Gluten Free pretzels the best of all brands and their egg replacer is what I use all the time.

Is this mix of flour one you have figured out on your own, or is it a recipe? If it is a flour blend then are you using a bread recipe that goes with this?

Please know I am not questioning what you are doing. Working with these ingredients is very touch and go and even having worked with them for years and following recipes exactly I have had problems. The flours and other items needed are quite finicky and it may be as simple as the measurements being slightly off, the order you have mixed things in your bread machine or outdated yeast.

If you could list here or in a PM to me exactly what you used and the order you placed them in the machine, I should be able to give you a hand figuring out the problem, or I can give you some recipes that work well for me.

Hope this helps.

I would certainly welcome your help. The book I'm using is Free For All Cooking by Jules Shepard. Here's the recipe for the flour:
1 1/2 cups tapioca starch
1 cup potato starch
1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
4 teaspoons xanthan gum

Here's the bread recipe:
3 cups of flour mix
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2teaspoons baking powder
1teaspoon sea salt (I used kosher)
2 tbs honey
1 1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
2 eggs worth of egg substitute
1 tbs of rapid rise yeast
1 tsp sugar


I brought all liquid ingredients to room temp and mixed them together before adding them to the mixer. I whisked together the dry ingredients and them added those. I made a well in the dry ingredients, poured in the sugar, and then the yeast, which I had already checked to see if it was active by proofing it. The bread came out as a squashed cube of super dense bread that was a little salty.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and to help!

Caitlin

 

[LPBeier]

Caitlin, I apologize for not getting back to you before this. The last week has been hectic and I don't remember getting an email telling me you had posted (must of just missed it).

You said you proofed the yeast. Do you mean you proofed some yeast from the same container to test it, or you proofed the actual yeast you used? The way I have been making GF bread for years is to mix the wet ingredients into the mixer bowl or bread machine bowl, add the premixed dry ingredients on top, made no well (you don't want the wet coming through) and sprinkling the yeast over top and mixing (by whatever method - bread machine or stand mixer).

Your base flour mix sounds very good and the added ingredients should go well. I have never used yoghurt before, however my husband is also lactose intolerant so I don't use any dairy.

If you are using course kosher salt I think that may be one reason that it is tasting salty and can also hamper the rising process. I use kosher for a lot of things, but not baking.

Feel free to PM me if these tips don't help you. When I have some time I will send you some other tips and recipes that may give you better results.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Your name is beautiful and celtic, Dylan Thomas would be proud.

 

[CWS4322]

Perhaps a call to the customer service department of the manufacturer of your bread machine would help?