One thing I’ve missed since going gluten free is a nice loaf of bread, ideally a baguette. They sell these nice, long baguettes in the store near me, chewy crust and fluffy center, and I get so nostalgic for those unhealthy gluten stuff… I recently discovered this recipe for gluten free French bread, made some changes to make it healthier and cheaper, and tried making it egg free as well. I was very pleased with the results.
My gluten eating sister, Violet, said that the bread tasted very good, and you could tell that it wasn’t gluten bread, but it was still very yummy. So that definitely gets points, that a gluten eater was happy with this gluten free bread.
The egg free variety worked, but I’ll admit that I don’t think the texture is as perfect as the egg variety- slightly wetter/gummier on the inside instead of fluffier.
I’ve made this recipe a few times, and it works just as well with honey or sugar.

Homemade Gluten Free French Bread Recipe

Ingredients
2 tablespoons dry yeast
2 teaspoons honey, rapadura, jaggery, or sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 tablespoons olive oil (other oil would work as well, just the taste would be a bit different)
3 cups gourmet gluten free flour blend (see here for the recipe)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten, or 2 tablespoons ground flax seed with 5 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon mild vinegar, like apple cider vinegar, kombucha vinegar, rice vinegar, or white vinegar

Directions
1.Combine the yeast, sugar, xantham gum, oil, and warm water in a bowl, and whisk completely to dissolve the sugar and xanthan gum.

2. Let sit for 5 -6 minutes or until it is foamy and doubled in size. 

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

4. Wet your hands and form into two loaves or one long baguette.

5. Let rise for 30 mins.

6.  Put a pan filled with boiling water in the bottom of the oven.

7. Heat the oven to 400 degrees, and place baking tray with dough into the oven.

8. Cook for 30 mins or so or until the bread is a light golden brown and the bread makes a hollow sound when tapped.

9. Let cool 5-10 minutes before eating.

Egg free French bread

Eggy French bread slice

 Variations:
I like to double this recipe, as one batch doesn’t seem to make enough to feed my family that loves this.  The last time I made this recipe, I didn’t have enough white rice flour for the flour mix, so instead of putting in 9 cups of white rice flour, I used 8 cups of white rice and 1 cup of brown rice flour, and instead of 4 eggs, used 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds, and 2 tablespoons water, and it was unbelievable, the best type yet. Feel free to play around with this recipe, in other words. Its unbelievable!
P.S. If anyone wants to try- I’m sure you can play around with this recipe and make french bread with wheat flour in place of the all purpose flour mix. If you try it out- please let me know!


Are you gluten free? If so, what is your favorite bread recipe? Does this look like a recipe you’d be trying out?

Linking up to Fresh Bites Friday, Fight Back Friday