As I’ve previously mentioned I haven’t had much luck making gluten-free breads. I found a new method in a cookbook entitled The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook. Their flour blend however includes dry milk powder which doesn’t work for those of us allergic to dairy. It’s also heavy on the carbohydrate flours – white rice, potato starch and tapioca. And their English muffin recipe includes eggs and cornmeal (for dusting the muffins). So I gave it a go and here’s what actually worked. I left their flour mixture the same, same ratios without the milk powder.
It took me awhile to try this because it is quite a long recipe and somewhat complicated but I finally decided if I took it step by step it wouldn’t be bad and it wasn’t. In fact, it was quite simple, just took a while to complete all the steps but the tasty muffins are definitely worth it. The frozen ones I was buying were tough on the outside, almost impossible to slice while these are easily split with a fork. Says it makes 10 but I got 11 and several of them are quite small so I think next time I make them, I’ll increase the individual muffins and perhaps only get 9 instead.
Prepare 2 medium size baking sheets by dusting with ground millet (or if you can use it, cornmeal which is the traditional coating for English muffins). It takes approximately 1/2 cup so process the whole millet in a food processor to a medium grind (coarse is too little and fine makes flour which doesn’t work either, we want it the consistency of cornmeal. Sesame or poppy seeds would also work.
In a large bowl combine:
4 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
2/3 cup aquafaba
Let sit for several minutes to form flax gel. While that happens, in a smaller bowl combine:
1 1/2 cups white rice flower
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch (NOT potato flour)
1/4 cup tapioca flour or starch
3 tablespoons powdered psyllium husk
2 tablespoons date sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 1 packet which is 2 1/4 teaspoons)
Stir to mix in the yeast before adding:
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Whisk into the flax gel:
2 cups warm water (approximately 110 degrees)
2 tablespoons oil or melted vegan margarine
In increments, with a hand mixer or heavy spoon (stand mixer would be better with a paddle if you have one), mix the flour mixture into the wet mix. When it gets too thick for the hand mixer, use your hands (with gloves) and keep mixing until the dough comes together. It’s about the consistency of cookie dough.
With wet hands form about 1/3 cup of dough into balls (I’ll probably do 1/2 cup of dough next time) and set them on the dusted baking sheets widely spaced, about 5 per sheet (so they have room to rise). I heated my oven by setting it at 170 degrees for approximately 2-3 minutes before turning it off. Cover the muffin balls with a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.*
Remove them from the oven and make sure the rack is on a lower-middle setting. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the dough and using a greased spatula, flatten the balls to approximately 3/4 inch disks. Dust the tops with the millet (or cornmeal).
Spray a 12″ skillet with non-stick cooking spray. Heat over medium heat before placing 4-5 muffins in the pan. Brown over medium heat and brown on each side (about a minute per side). Repeat with the remaining muffins. If the muffins begin to puff up, gently press them down, doming isn’t what we want and means you’re probably cooking them too long. Transfer to a clean baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake until firm, about 30-35 minutes, rotating baking sheet half way through cooking. Cool on a cooling rack for at least 15-20 minutes before splitting with a fork and toasting. Store unsplit muffins in a zip-lock bag for up to 3 days. I put 2 per sandwich bag, sucked out the air and then put the sandwich bags into a gallon freezer bag and put the extras in the freezer.
*In a previous life, when I lived in a house with steam heat radiators, I used to place my bread dough to rise on a towel on top of a radiator. It worked quite well as long as the heat didn’t get too hot while they were on there!
cookingwithoutallergens 