French Bread. Not only French Bread, but Gluten-Free French bread. For me, this has been like the search for the Holy Grail. After searching for a recipe for it, trying a few, and failing miserably, I didn’t think I’d ever have French bread again. Much less, garlic toast.
Then along came that wonderful Gluten-Free Gourmet, a Celiac’s hero, Bette Hagman. This woman has many wonderful recipes using different flour mixes, and they produce wonderful results!
This Gluten-free French Bread was a little heavier than store bought French Bread, but we didn’t mind. I may not have let it rise long enough, I’m not sure. The flavour was really good, and it even toasted up beautifully under the broiler to make garlic toast. Delicious!
Gluten-free French Bread
Yields one large loaf (halve everything for a small loaf). For a Rosemary French bread, add 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary per cup of flour to the dry ingredients Source: The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread by Bette Hagman
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups French Bread/Pizza Mix (see Note)
- 6 tablespoons dry milk powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon rapid rise yeast
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 1/3 cup warm water
Instructions
Notes
The French Bread/Pizza Mix is as follows (for 6 cups) 3 1/2 cups white rice flour 2 1/2 cups tapioca starch 2 Tbsp Xanthan gum 2 (7-gram) packets unflavoured gelatin 2 Tbsp egg replacer 1/4 cup sugar
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Katy says
I made that bread recipe once and ended up eating a whole loaf while it was still warm! I wouldn’t recommend doing that, but it sure tasted good after being without tasty bread for months. That garlic toast looks delicious.
Jeanine says
Katy, I can see that being done VERY easily! I made a small loaf (didn't want to "waste" the ingredients if it was another flop), so at least there wasn't that much to devour. 🙂 It sure is tasty though!
Did you find a way to get the top smoother? Seems no matter what, it looks like the mountains & craters of some planet. lol
Susan says
Wow that looks great..job well done..Mom
betty r says
But Jeanine I like the look of those ‘craters and mountains’..the bread looks wonderful!
Katy says
I agree about the peaks! Embrace them since it’s hard to control that crazy dough. I actually haven’t made bread for years because my grandma (now age 85) took the challenge of gf baking and bakes me wondrous things. She usually uses english muffin pans to ensure some edibility and even baking (no slumping or doughy spots). She’s the best.
Thanks for checking out my stuff!
Jeanine says
Just embrace the craters, huh?? lol Oh well…I guess I will…this time. 😉
Katy, that is great that your grandma has taken on the challenge of GF baking. Mine thinks it’s nuts, and wonders HOW I live without bread. lol But, I’m not lacking anything, she just doesn’t get that part. Does your Grandma also have Celiacs?
I actually bake bread for an older lady in town. She is capable of baking, but says mine tastes much better than hers. Makes me feel good, and she gets bread. We both win. 🙂
Karen says
This looks great, I’ve been trying
to use my french bread loaf pan. What type of pan did you use??
CDM says
Oh my goodness…that looks amazing!!
Jeanine says
Oh no…Karen, I was hoping no one would ask! lol I looked at the French loaf pan, but didn't know if I wanted another specialty pan. So…getting creative, I used a piece of round metal duct (like for your furnace). My husband cut it in half length wise, and I line it with parchment paper. Seemed to work well! 🙂 (and cost a few pennies, compared to $20+).
CDM – Thanks for embracing the mountains & crevices with me. 🙂
Anonymous says
Does anyone know if there is a substitute for the gelatin or if it is even necessary to the recipe?
Magic and Mayhem says
The gelatin provides protein (wheat flour has more protein than these flours and a good chewy texture requires adding more). Agar agar will NOT work as a substitute because that’s a sub for gelatin in making things gelatinous (like jello), not for the protein aspect. I am thinking that a protein powder might work (like soy or hemp protein powder for shakes). I have some hemp protein powder and may try that in the recipe since one of my kids is a vegetarian and I can’t bake a bread that not all of my kids can enjoy. 🙂
Jeanine says
Anon, agar agar can be used to replace gelatin. At least, that’s what a quick Google search tells me. I’m not familiar with it though.
I think, considering it is only 2 packets for 6 cups of flour, and the recipe only calls for 3 1/2 cups for the loaf, that it would not harm to leave it out. May be a little less chewy then, but should still be very good!
The Cooking Photographer says
Jeanine,
I wonder if you realize how important your blog is. Throughout the years I’ve had many many questions asked about gluten free baking. I’m going to send them your way from now on.
Kudos you get amazing karma points!
Laura
Jeanine says
Laura, thank you so much for your kind words. They really have made my day (or weekend, rather; maybe even week). 🙂 Thanks!
Sophie says
My gf french bread was super heavy too! Making gf bread is by far the toughest thing to do — yours came out so lovely, I really like the top.
Paula says
We've just found your site and liked this recipe. For those of us who deal with the double diagnosis of celiac & type 1 diabetes it would be easier to have all the ingredients listed in a single recipe. The addition of the Mix (which you don't use all of) sure made the calculation of carbohydrates tricky. Yummy bread but lots of math needed to eat it! Thank you!
Anonymous says
This looks GREAT, but I dont have any egg replacer have never used it. Can I use some thing else in its place?
Thank you,
Forress
Karen says
I have the same question. Can an extra whole egg be used instead? Also, I must avoid dairy, too, so will dry coconut milk powder work for the dry milk?
Karen says
I have the same question. Can an extra whole egg be used instead of the egg replacer? Also, I must avoid dairy, too, so will dry coconut milk powder work for the dry milk?
Diane says
I'm newly diagnosed with CD and am missing bread something fierce… but the breads I've tried is sweet and I'm not much for sweet bread. This french bread looks wonderful but I see sugar is in the recipe as well. Is it sweet or does it taste like "normal" french bread? Any and all suggestions and comments are appreciated.
Jeanine says
i would think you could leave the egg replacer out if you don't have any on hand. I only bought it because it was marked down, and I really wanted to make the Oreo cookies, which called for it. 🙂
This bread isn't really sweet. The small amount of sugar used in breads is used to activate your yeast. The yeast feeds off of the sugar. Hope this helps!
slow cooker pot roast says
That French Bread looks so good,gonna try this tomorrow !
Katia says
Jeanine, where can I find dough enhancer and does it make a difference with vinegar rather dough enhancer ?
Preppy Pink Crocodile says
Have you tried making this in a bread machine?
Jeanine says
No, I haven’t. Sadly, I don’t have a bread machine to play with. 🙁
Noreen says
Can you tell me if there is any dairy free alternative to the milk powder as I am gluten and dairy intolerant really miss bread but can usually substitute dairy ingredients but don’t know if there is an alternative to this and really miss French bread and this looks amazing.
shalindhi says
Hi Jeanine,
LOVE your website! I’ve lived with CD for about 14 years — firs book I bought was Bette Hagman’s bread book. I found the french bread recipe to be too dense and heavy. I really miss the airy,chewy ‘holely’ french bread! So just wondering if your recipe bakes up lighter than Bette’s?
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi shalindhi, this actually IS Bette Hagman’s recipe, I just shared it here WAY back when I started blogging. 🙂 Now, I like this millet sandwich bread for garlic bread/toast, it holds up well, isn’t heavy, and toasts beautifully – http://www.thebakingbeauties.com/2014/01/gluten-free-millet-sandwich-bread.html
shalindhi says
Hi Jeanine,
Okay, thanks — actually just made sure that I had what I needed for your millet bread recipe — definitely the bread I was going to try this weekend, as it appears to be so versatile! I also like the cooling down on each side to keep the shape — too many breads I’ve made that I salute as they sink!
Dawn says
What is dough enhancer? What is the name of the egg replacement?
Thank you!
Jeanine says
Hi Dawn! The Egg Replacement is just that, here’s a link to the type that I’ve used: http://amzn.to/1IeDR4N
Dough enhancers help to improve the taste & texture of the dough. Sorry – the apple cider vinegar is used as a dough enhancer in this recipe.
Jackie says
Dear Jeanine
Thanks so much for your recipe. My bread just came out of the oven. It´s so delicious! It has got the craters and mountains! Since I have been eating gluten-free, I have terribly missed that taste. I live in Mauritius (a tiny island in the Indian ocean, near Madagascar) . Here it is not easy to get gluten free bread and we do not have all these special flours and, if found, they are very expensive. But rice and tapioca flour are easy to find and they are not expensive. I did not put the egg replacer as we do not have it here. I used agar-agar. I have tried some gluten free recipes before but yours is best. However I find the bread a bit too sweet. Can I put in less sugar?
Thank you
Lorena says
I would love to send you a photograph of the beautiful bread I got. Thank you! We are hallucinating with this recipe
Daphne Diebert (nee Derksen) says
Oh my goodness. GF Portzelky. It’s almost New Years so must try this traditional family favorite to pass on to my kids. Thank you so much, Jeanine.
Marcia says
Tried this last weekend. Only had my normal gf flour so used that to try and did half the ingredients. It didn’t rise but I cooked it anyway. (Caravan gas cooker very unreliable) came out flattish but oh my the taste was so good and I was able to slice it down the middle to get toast able slices.
This weekend did the complete recipe except for egg replacer and I used some ground flax seed for that. Still no noticeable rise but I’ve never ever got any bread to rise. I’m such a failure 😞 lol. Thankyou for your recipe 😘