In the good old days, when wheat was still a thing at my house, I used to have what I called the basic bread recipe, and used it for everything from French bread to buns to fry bread to bagels and pizza crust, it was the same dough but a different technique. Enter the gluten free days, when I need a very specific recipe for everything, and then it has to be modified and tweaked until it uses what I can eat and have on hand, a tedious process indeed! But I think I've finally found my new basic bread recipe, one I have used for loaf bread, buns, pizza crust, and even fry bread! It is a batter, not a dough, so the technique is strange at first but it gives very edible results when I had all but despaired of 'real bread' again!
Basic Bread Recipe: Gluten Free:
1/2 cup each millet and oat flour (brown rice flour works too instead of millet)
1 cup each tapioca and corn starch (white rice flour isn't a great substitute, potato starch might work?)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp instant yeast
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp xanthin gum
1/4 cup sugar (I like brown for bread, white for pizza crust, add brown to liquid ingredients)
Combine in a bowl and whisk together, set aside.
Beat three egg whites into stiff peaks and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (regular beater) or a bread machine, add:
3/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup oil (and brown sugar, if using)
Add the dry ingredients and the egg whites and beat until smooth, it will be a thick batter. Scrape sides as needed.
For loaf bread:
Spray with cooking spray and flour a loaf pan, spread batter evenly into pan, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm oven to rise for 1 hour, bake at 350F for 48 minutes (may vary for your oven). Turn out of pan and cool, wrapped in a towel on a wire wrack. Cool completely before slicing. Freeze anything you won't use immediately.
For buns:
Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and divide batter into 12 globs, using wet fingers, shape each glob into a hamburger or hot dog bun shape, for hamburger buns, it should look like a peanut butter cookie. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 20-40 minutes in a warm, moist place. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350, until cooked through. Cool completely, slice and freeze or serve.
For pizza crust:
For thin crust, spread on two big cookie sheets (sprayed with cooking spray), spreading as thin as you can, sort of like frosting a cake. Cover with a towel, let it rest 15 minutes, bake in a 425 oven for a few minutes until bubbly and solid, top and broil until cheese is golden otherwise cool completely and freeze, to use, just top it frozen and bake at 385 until hot and gooey.
For thick crust, just use smaller pans (it puffs up a lot!) and let it rise a little longer. I use my cast iron skillets. Bake before topping though!
For fry bread or elephant ears:
Spread dough out on two large cookie sheets (sprayed!) as for pizza crust, cut each into 9 squares, smoothing edges and making a little space between squares with a rubber scraper. Allow to rise 20 minutes, covered. Meanwhile, heat an inch or two of oil in a skillet until hot. Using a wet pancake turner (mine was silicone) push in the sides of a square until it is about half the size, and awkwardly scoop it up using the turner and your wet hand, drop it into the oil, 'stretching' it out as you do so (the first one will be messy!). Immediately poke several holes in the mess using a sharp pointy oil and heat resistant object (I used a meat thermometer, but try a kabob skewer or a chopstick or a meat fork?), to allow the hot oil to seep through and cook the entire the blob through without burning the edges (like the hole in a donut but tiny). Turn frequently and removed when golden brown, drain on a wire rack and eat hot, either with sugar or with your favorite taco toppings. I used an 8 inch skillet and did one at a time, they didn't take long to fry but are putzy!
