Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to making good gluten-free bread? ›

What type of yeast should be used to bake Gluten Free Bread? Active dry yeast and instant yeast both work well and are often interchangeable. Be on the lookout for any Rapid Rise yeast that is best for one rise. For most of us that's the way gluten free bread is baked, a single rise in the tin.

One of the main challenges in making gluten-free bread is achieving the same texture and rise as traditional wheat bread. Gluten provides the structure and elasticity that allows bread dough to rise and hold its shape, so gluten-free doughs can be sticky and difficult to work with.

Apple cider vinegar or another acid lightens up the dough. You can add up to 4 Tbsp of acid for 500 g gluten-free flour. Don't worry, you won't be able to taste it afterwards. To lighten up a yeast dough even more, you can add a packet of baking powder or cream of tartar baking powder to 500 g flour.

One of the challenges is that when gluten-free dough is thickened with additives like starches and gums, it becomes sticky. Some bakers dust sticky dough with flour, but that's problematic with gluten-free formulations.

If you want to buy just one gluten-free flour, we highly recommend the Pillsbury all-purpose gluten-free flour. Not only is it our favorite gluten-free flour, and easy to use in gluten-free recipes, but it's also one of the few gluten-free flours currently on the market that is recommended for baking with yeast.

Best for Bread: Judee's All-Purpose Gluten-Free Bread Flour

The blend of tapioca, potato and corn starch, plus rice and corn flour, has a neutral flavor. The dough also has sugar and salt added, so most recipes require only adding yeast, oil and water.

Luckily, gluten-free bread is much tastier and cheaper if you make it at home. You can bake gluten-free bread in an oven, but if you regularly bake gluten-free bread, I highly recommend investing in a bread maker.

Your bread will not rise if your yeast or baking powder has expired. A dense loaf could also be the result of not measuring your ingredients accurately. Weight measurements are best (I have to update my recipes). Otherwise scoop the flour into your measuring cup and level without shaking or packing the flour down.

“Properly balancing the starches, proteins and hydrocolloids is essential.” Aaron Reed, senior food technologist, Cargill, echoed that bread is the hardest product to replicate when developing a gluten-free product.

What is the trick to baking with gluten free flour? ›

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

Keep in mind that some processed gluten-free foods contain high amounts of unhealthy ingredients such as sodium, sugar and fat. Consuming these foods can lead to weight gain, blood sugar swings, high blood pressure and other problems. So, a gluten-free label doesn't necessarily make a food healthy.

Promoting Better Rise

Cream of tartar acts as a natural leavening agent when combined with baking soda.

Apple Cider Vinegar – Superpower your Gluten-Free Kitchen! Apple cider vinegar is often used in baking, but why? It is a great leavening agent, but it also has powerful flavour enhancing properties. I find it adds the perfect amount of depth of flavour, and helps activate baking soda creating a lovely airy texture.

If your gluten free bread turned out dense, you didn't have enough liquid in the dough. It is critical to measure your dry ingredients accurately. Measure for weight when you can. If you don't have a digital scale, I recommend using either the spoon or the leveling method to measure your flour.

2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of gluten-free flour is necessary to ensure proper leavening. Baking soda and buttermilk can be used to leaven instead of baking powder, but 1-1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar should be added for each 1/2 teaspoon baking soda used.

The gluten in traditional flour is what gives dough its stickiness. Without it, gluten-free products can be dry and crumbly. There is a way to compensate for this however — use xanthan gum. Some bakers also use gelatin or agar.

Dry Sweetener

Honestly, the taste of gluten-free flour is what turns most people off this way of eating, but luckily there are various sweeteners that can greatly improve the situation. We usually use coconut sugar, but you don't have to, any kind of sweetener will work just fine.