Gluten free bread

 I'm learning the technique for "Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg amd Zoe Framcois. The standard recipe makes four 1 lb loaves but can be doubled or halved. It works well to leave it in the fridge for several days, up to 10 days for bread that doesn't have eggs and 5 days for bread with eggs.

• 6 1/2 C (2 lb, 3 oz or 990 grams) all purpose gluten free flour (they have a recipe with white rice, sorghum, and tapioca flour, potato starch, xanthum gum, but bob's red mill 1-to-1 is very similar).
• 1 T yeast
• 1 T Kosher salt (can increase or decrease by 1/2 T if desired) 
• 2 T sugar (optional, for browning)
  
• 3 3/4 C (1 lb 14 oz or 850 g) lukewarm water (100 degrees or less)
• cornmeal or parchment paper

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (pack flour tightly or weigh it). Add water and mix with spoon or stand mixer with paddle attachment. No kneading. If you're in a hurry you can pull off 1 lb loaf, shape on a piece of parchment paper and put in cold oven. Bake at 400 for 75 minutes. It will be denser and flavor won't be as complex. Can only be done with fresh dough, not refrigerated.

2. If you have time, it's best to cover with lid that's not completely airtight or loosely with plastic wrap (not a towel, dough is too sticky) and rest for 2 hours at room temperature. 

3. Do not punch down or stretch dough. It can go in the fridge for later (it can be easier to work with cold) or pull of a 1 lb loaf and gently shape on pizza peel with lots of cornmeal to prevent sticking or parchment paper. It also may work to set it directly on a heavy gauge baking sheet that's been greased or with parchment paper or silicon mat. Use wet fingers to smooth the surface. Allow to rest for 60 minutes, 30 minutes if it's not refrigerated and 90 minutes if it's a larger loaf or if you want to see if longer rest time helps to avoid a loaf that's too dense. 

4. Preheat a baking stone or something cast iron like a skillet in the middle of the oven at 450 degrees. It takes 20-30 minutes at least. Place an empty metal (not glass) pan on any shelf that doesn't interfere with the bread. Water will be added to it for steam. 

5. Dust the top of the loaf with flour. Slash a 1/2 inch deep cross, scallop, tic tac toc, etc. into the top using a wet serrated bread knife. May need to wipe off after each slash. 

6. Slide loaf onto preheated stone/cast iron. Pour 1 cup of hot water from the tap into metal pan and close oven to trap the steam (if your oven has trouble trapping steam there are alternative methods, like cover it and let it use its own moisture to create the steam, but remove cover for last third of baking time. Can use aluminum foil, a clay baker, metal bowl, cast iron pot...). If you use parchment paper, pull it out after 20 minutes for a crisper bottom crust. Bake for 45 minutes total or until crust is richly browned and firm to the touch. Ideally it will also crackle when taken out of the oven, as it's being exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely (about 2 hours) on a wire cooling rack. It will likely seem underdone if you eat it warm, it needs lots of time to set. 

7. Remaining dough goes in the fridge or in 1 lb portions in the freezer for up to 4 weeks, then defrosted overnight in the refrigerator. Reuse the same bucket for a more complex "sourdough" type effect. You can even mix a new batch of dough in with up to 2 cups of older dough.   

Variations: 

• Paul tried "Seeded Flaxen loaf" recipe which also includes 1/2 c ground flaxseed, 1/4 c sesame seeds and 1/3 c honey (so I left out the sugar for this). 
  
• Eggs: Can use 4 eggs in place of some of the water. Just put eggs in first, then add the water to add up to the same amount. 
• Seeds: can be added on top. Instead of dusting with flour, brush with water and sprinkle seeds on top just before putting in the oven. Up to around 1/4 C of seeds can also be added to the dough, like in seeded flaxen loaf above, but can use other seeds like whole flaxseed, sunflower, poppy, etc. 
• Herbs: 1 t. dried thyme and 1/2 t rosemary added to the water, for example. 
• There are many variations of shapes described in the book. For sandwich bread, grease a 8.5 x 4.5 in loaf pan. Drop a 2 lb piece of dough into the pan and smooth the top with wet fingers. Cover loosely and allow to rest for 90 minutes. Baking stone isn't required and if you omit it, preheat only for 5 minutes, temp will be 425 for this. Metal tray is still pre-heated. Just before putting loaf in oven, brush with water and slash a 1/2 in-deep cut down the center. Add at least 1 c hot water to pan and bake 55-60 minutes until richly browned and firm. Can wait up to 10 minutes to remove bread to a cooling rack. 
• In a Crock Pot: Dust the piece of parchment paper with rice flour before setting the dough on top. Place dough with parchment paper in crock pot. Turn temp to high and put on cover. Bake 75 minutes (depending on slow cooker, make sure the manufacturer says it's ok to make recipes that don't include water). Keep an eye on it starting about 45 minutes. Top should be firm when it's done, although softer than usual. Bottom will be crisp. At the end, can put in oven (without the parchment paper) for 5 minutes under the broiler if you want it darker and crispier. Allow to cool on rack. 
• There are many recipes in the book which also include a whole grain gluten free flour blend which features teff flour. I'm very interested in trying some of these as well.