Easy Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

• servings: 1 serving
• active time: 25 minutes
• total time: 2 hours 40 minutes

Ingredients

20 g (4 tbsp) whole psyllium husk (If using psyllium husk powder, use only 17g.)

280 g (1 cup + 2½ tbsp) lukewarm water - 295 g for high altitude (110-115 degrees)

230 g (2 cups) tapioca starch

135 g (1 cup) millet flour, plus extra for flouring the surface

60 g (⅓ cup + 2 tbsp) sorghum flour

50 g (¼ cup) caster/superfine or granulated sugar

8 g (2½ tsp) instant yeast (If using active dry yeast, use 10g.)

8 g (2 tsp) baking powder - 6 g for high altitude

7 g (2¾ tsp) xanthan gum

12 g (2 tsp) salt

120 g (½ cup) whole milk, lukewarm - can be almond milk (110-115 degrees, warmed before adding oil or eggs)

2 US large/UK medium eggs, room temperature

25 g (2 tbsp) sunflower oil, or other neutral-tasting oil of choice

1 US large/UK medium egg white, whisked, for brushing the bread

Directions

Making the dough:

I recommend making the dough using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, as it'll be very soft and sticky.

Make the psyllium gel: In a bowl, mix together the psyllium husk and lukewarm water. After about 30-45 seconds, a gel will form.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer (if using), whisk together the tapioca starch, millet flour, sorghum flour, sugar, instant yeast, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.Tip: If using active dry yeast instead, you need to activate it first. Mix it together with the lukewarm milk and a tablespoon of the sugar. Set aside for 5-10 minutes, or until the mixture starts frothing. Then, add it to the dry ingredients along with the rest of the wet ingredients.

Add the milk, eggs and oil to the psyllium gel, and mix well to combine with immersion hand whisk.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the psyllium gel-egg mixture. Mix with spatula until all dry flour is incorporated.

Knead the dough until smooth and all the ingredients are evenly incorporated, then knead for a further 4-5 minutes (if using a stand mixer) or 6-8 minutes (if kneading it by hand). Use a rubber spatula to occasionally scrape along the sides and bottom of the bowl to prevent any dry patches of unmixed flour.Tip: This extra kneading time will make the dough EXTRA smooth, which is the key to beautiful gluten free sandwich bread.

The final dough will be VERY soft and sticky – that’s okay, you’ll be working on a generously floured surface (and with floured hands) so it shouldn’t be a problem. Resist the temptation to add more flour to the dough, as that can make the final bread too dense and dry.Tip: If you find the dough too sticky to easily handle (even on a floured surface and with floured hands), you can chill it in the fridge for about 1 hour before proceeding to the next step. This will make the dough slightly less sticky and therefore easier to handle.

Shaping the sandwich bread:

When it comes to shaping this gluten free sandwich bread, it’s important that you work on a quite generously floured surface and with floured hands.

Turn out the dough onto a generously floured surface with millet flour and dust the top of the dough with flour as well. (Use small fine mesh strainer with handle to shake flour over counter and bread) Give it a gentle knead (with floured hands) and shape it into a smooth ball using bench scraper. (I don’t knead with my hands but use the bench scraper.)

Use the palms of your hands/bench scraper to gently press the dough into a log shape that fits snugly into the loaf pan. (You basically need to carefully squish it into an oval/log shape, see blog post for photos.)

Carefully transfer the shaped bread into a 9x5-inch (23x13cm) loaf pan. You need to grease or butter the loaf pan.

Use a bread lame or a sharp knife to score the bread with 3 diagonal slashes. (See blog post for photos.)Tip: Scoring the bread before proofing ensures that it rises evenly without any tearing or cracking, and it’ll give you a smooth top crust. Score maybe 1/4” at most. Score straight down but at diagonal angles from corner.

Proofing:

Start preheating oven to 410 for high altitude as soon as it is in the pan with top rack moved to bottom notch and pizza steel on rack.

Lightly cover the loaf pan with a sprayed sheet of plastic wrap/cling film (to prevent the bread from drying out) and proof in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes only 45 minutes approx at 72 degrees for high altitude. Tip: If your kitchen is on the cold side, put a cup of boiling hot water into your (turned-off) oven – that will create the perfect warm, slightly humid proofing environment.

Baking the sandwich bread:

** see above: After your bread has been proofing for about 45 minutes, start preheating your oven. Place a baking steel, baking stone or heavy-duty baking sheet on the bottom (lowest) oven rack and preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC).

Once the sandwich bread has doubled in size, brush it gently with the whisked egg white.

Place the loaf pan directly onto the preheated baking steel (or baking stone or heavy-duty baking sheet) and spray water into oven but nor on bread 4-6 times. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for about 25 minutes, then cover with foil and bake another 30-35 min approximately for high altitude. (1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes) or until the bread is deep golden brown on top, the bottom and side crust is crisp, and the bread weighs about 1300-1315 g in pan (this shows that it’s lost enough moisture during baking).If the top of your loaf starts browning too much, you can cover it with a sheet of aluminium foil (shiny side up) and continue baking until done.

Faberware pan is 382 g empty. Bread should lose about 12% moisture. So take pan with bread dough weight -pan weight x 12% = weight of bread dough when done but add weight of pan (382) back to get weight to be done including the pan.

Optional extra step: If your bread doesn't have a very crisp crust on the bottom and sides when you remove it out of the loaf pan (or if you like an extra crisp crust on your bread), you can place the sandwich bread onto a baking sheet (without the loaf pan) and return it to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes. This will crisp up the crust even further.

Immediately out of the oven, transfer the sandwich bread onto a wire rack to cool (dont leave it in the pan). Cool it completely to room temperature (or at least until lukewarm) before you slice into it.

Storage:

This gluten free sandwich bread keeps very well in a closed container in a cool, dry place (or at room temperature) for 3-4 days. It'll stay beautifully soft for days, and you don't even need to reheat it before serving – although it toasts beautifully as well, either in a toaster or on the stovetop with a bit of butter.

Notes

6/5/25 proofing 45 min plus doing egg wash after the 45 min, it had good rise in oven but sunk some after taking it out. Why? The scoring was too deep so try 1/8”. The bottom crumb was still tighter than I’d like but the bread was very light and open otherwise. Cooking for 35 min after covering with foil, the bottom was a bit dark.