When I took this Gluten Free Sourdough Boule out of the oven, I could barely speak for how beautiful it looked and how fragrant it smelled. And that was even before I tasted it. When it cooled, I took my first bite. I was beyond stunned. I closed my eyes and for a moment, gluten free didn't matter. For all I knew, I was in a small french bakery in Paris, sipping a cup of coffee, enjoying the most wonderful, fresh, sourdough bread I'd ever eaten. The crust - the kind you pull apart - crisp but with some give, tender and chewy at the same time. The insides full of little air pockets, with a taste that was as good as any sourdough bread I'd ever eaten before.
Though I've been baking Breads From Anna breads for a few years, this is the first time I tried making a free-formed artisan type bread from one of her mixes. I'm calling it a boule, cause it likes like the boules I've seen and, besides, I like the way it sounds:).
Yesterday, I prepared this Breads From Anna mix in my Zojirushi bread machine, programmed for the dough cycle. I did this at another location, not at my house. I then brought it home but left it overnight in my garaged car. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't terribly cold either - probably in the low 50's. When I woke up this morning, I remembered that I'd left the bread machine in the car, full of bread dough. I brought the machine into the house and let it sit on my kitchen counter for about 2 hours. I then poured the dough onto a greased clay baker called a cloche, patted it with damp hands to give it some sort of roundish shape, and covered it. I let it sit on the counter for another hour, then baked it, covered, in the cloche, at 350 degrees, for one hour. I then took off the lid of the cloche, spritzed the oven with water, and baked it for another 10 minutes. When I took it out of the oven and put it on the cooling rack, it was crisp and beautifully browned.
When I sliced the boule and removed the first slice from the cutting board, I knew that I had achieved gluten free nirvana. We devoured almost the entire loaf in one afternoon. I forced myself to save a little chunk for tomorrow's breakfast. Homage to the gluten free gods for bringing this bread to my kitchen. I am happy. Very happy.
sourdough! GF sourdough!? I have got to get my hands on this mix. Tell me, how sour is it (says the woman who loved extra sour...)
ReplyDeleteGee Gaile - it's been SO long since I had wheat filled sourdough, but for my tastebuds, it was plenty sour enough. And the texture was just phenomenal. Keep me posted if you make it!
ReplyDeleteDid you ferment it at all before mixing? I don't see a sourdough recipe on the site, so I must be missing something??
ReplyDeletethat looks SO YUMMY!!!
ReplyDeleteGaile - I'm not that knowledgeable about how to make sourdough bread, but this bread tastes just like I remember sourdough bread tasting pre-gluten free. I believe sourdough bread starts with a starter that you feed for a period of time. I had a quasi-starter in that the bread ingredients were assembled and then left for about 18 hours to do their magic before baking. Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteLupus Girl - yes, it is yummy!
~Ellen