Last week I told you all about my gluten free baking courses with the lovely and very talented Adriana Rabinovich, which were held at the Cookery School at Braxted Park in Essex. I attended for two days…. One day spent happily making pastry (check out last week’s post here) and the other baking gluten free bread.

Gluten free bread is the nemesis of many a gluten free cook….. It is notoriously tricky to get a bread-like texture. The lack of gluten means that the structure can be crumbly and fragile and too little moisture will leave the experience of eating it uncomfortably dry. To compensate, the addition of gluten-replacers such as xanthan gum, guar gum or chia paste are generally necessary, but add too much and the resulting loaf might become a brick fit for the building trade. Even with the careful addition of gums and pastes, the structure can still be spongy and liable to sink, especially if the moisture content is imbalanced.

With Adriana’s years of professional experience in trying to overcome the contradictions of gluten free bread, I was excited to have the opportunity to explore her techniques for countering the difficulties of this essential bake. After all, bread is such a staple and whilst getting it right gluten free can seem an endless aspiration that is never quite reached, the path to enlightenment is pursued relentlessly in the hope of a decent sandwich!

The one-day bread course covered a number of techniques and bakes from pizza, foccacia and baguette (all made with variations on the same dough), to a white loaf, delicious brioche and Mexican tortilla wraps. The instruction was clear and the methods innovative in helping to overcome the challenges…… be it advice on how to shape a wet dough into a gluten free French stick or balancing unusual ingredients to ensure a robust loaf.

Traditional corn tortilla wraps are a familiar feature in our home kitchen and one of the early breads I mastered to ensure Mexican and South American food remained firmly on the menu. Made with Masa Harina flour, they are naturally gluten free and (especially if you have a tortilla press) are quick and easy to make. I was reassured to see Adriana making them in the same way that I do at home!

The absolute revelation for me however, was Adriana’s use of a little gelatine (or agar agar/vegegel as a vegetarian alternative) in some breads to add structure to the bake. I would never have thought of putting gelatine in a bake, but actually it makes perfect sense. It made an amazing difference to how the bread stabilised and to how the crumb formed internally in the loaf, yet it made no difference to the taste and certainly didn’t ‘jellify’ the bread in any way. We used the gelatine in both the white loaf and also the brioche. These two bakes were discernibly bread rather than ‘cake’ in texture and were less prone to going soggy when topped with wetter spreads.

I will be doing plenty of experimenting with the use of gelatine in some of my own breads as well as making those Adriana shared with us……. and will post as I become more confident in the balance and results……

The pizza that I made at home following the course, is with a versatile dough which Adriana uses for a range of bakes. It is quite a wet mix, but can be spread thicker for Focaccia, moulded in baking paper and a baguette tray for a French Baguette or flattened thinly to form a pizza base.

I have my own recipe for pizza dough which I love and I have no intention of ditching it…. it is soft and fluffy and lends itself to a delicious bread base. But it is a dough which is at its best with at least a little height and even ‘deep pan’. Adriana’s dough makes for a great thin or crispy base and is a great alternative for the pizza repertoire. And making it is fun…. It’s a bit like stepping back into pottery classes in school…… to shape the dough involves a very wet hand to gently smooth the dough little by little into a fine disc on baking paper and it feels like you are moulding clay!

The base is baked, topped and then baked again…… which makes it perfect to freeze mid-way, ready to fetch-out at a later date for a quick meal. I’ve topped mine with delicious roasted vegetables and some delicious goats cheese……

I am sharing this fab pizza with the following :

Free From Fridays with Emma at the Free From Farmhouse

Fabulous Foodie Fridays with Lauren at Create Bake Make

Gluten Free Fridays with Vegetarian Mamma

Cook Blog Share with Hijacked by Twins

Credit Crunch Munch with Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours

Crispy-Based Roasted Vegetable Pizza (with Adriana Rabinovich’s Pizza Dough) – makes 3 individual pizzas

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