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Gfoas Bakes Bread?

C-Girl

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C-Girl Contributor
C-Girl
Posted

Has anyone else tried making bread from Nicole Hunn's bakes bread book? I can't get a single recipe to work. They all come out like bricks... I weigh everything carefully and follow the instructions to the letter but no luck! I wonder if it's the Fleischmans yeast failing me...

So far I've tried to make at least a dozen loaves and got two that were sort of edible. It's driving me nuts and getting damned expensive!

Help me!

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icelandgirl Proficient
icelandgirl
Posted

Has anyone else tried making bread from Nicole Hunn's bakes bread book? I can't get a single recipe to work. They all come out like bricks... I weigh everything carefully and follow the instructions to the letter but no luck! I wonder if it's the Fleischmans yeast failing me...

So far I've tried to make at least a dozen loaves and got two that were sort of edible. It's driving me nuts and getting damned expensive!

Help me!

Hi coffngirl...what flour are you using? I haven't tried anything from bakes bread because it called for such expensive stuff...that expandex and some kind of protein isolate. But I baked the French bread from her previous cookbook using Better Batter without issues. I also found a good gluten free french bread on allrecipes.com that I liked even better.
mamaw Community Regular
mamaw
Posted

I've  made  several recipes  from   but  the  book  , some  are  easier  than others.... I  have  never had a  problem  with  Nicole  Hunn's  or better  batter...

I  do  think  for  the  new  bread  makers  learning,  gluten-free  bread  its self  is  a  bit  harder  to master......I know  yeast  does not like  me  &  it  took awhile  for  yeast  & me  to  become  friends.....

C-Girl Contributor
C-Girl
Posted
  • Author

Hi coffngirl...what flour are you using? I haven't tried anything from bakes bread because it called for such expensive stuff...that expandex and some kind of protein isolate. But I baked the French bread from her previous cookbook using Better Batter without issues. I also found a good gluten free french bread on allrecipes.com that I liked even better.

I splurged, figuring that as expensive as Udi's is, I'd be better off in the end if I could figure out how to make it myself. So I got the various flours from Nuts.com, the expandex and whey protein isolate - the works. I followed it all to the letter and just make bricks. Yesterday I made a recipe from Open Original Shared Link and it came out AWESOME. Maybe it's because I got Red Star yeast instead of Fleischmans.

This loaf was adult sized! It wasn't even tiny like Udi's.

 

The batter in this one was like most gluten-free batters - sort of like cake batter, not dough. Nicole's are much stickier and less liquid, which I would imagine makes it harder for the yeast to rise in. I had good luck w/ the english muffin bread recipe rising once, but the second rise is always substandard. I might try it skipping the second rise and just baking it. But I'm afraid to waste about $4 per effort on her recipes anymore.

icelandgirl Proficient
icelandgirl
Posted

I splurged, figuring that as expensive as Udi's is, I'd be better off in the end if I could figure out how to make it myself. So I got the various flours from Nuts.com, the expandex and whey protein isolate - the works. I followed it all to the letter and just make bricks. Yesterday I made a recipe from Open Original Shared Link and it came out AWESOME. Maybe it's because I got Red Star yeast instead of Fleischmans.

This loaf was adult sized! It wasn't even tiny like Udi's.

 

The batter in this one was like most gluten-free batters - sort of like cake batter, not dough. Nicole's are much stickier and less liquid, which I would imagine makes it harder for the yeast to rise in. I had good luck w/ the english muffin bread recipe rising once, but the second rise is always substandard. I might try it skipping the second rise and just baking it. But I'm afraid to waste about $4 per effort on her recipes anymore.

Isn't that frustrating?  I'm glad I didn't buy all that stuff now.  :)   I only have an all purpose flour now from Better Batter.  I wonder if it works better to do all of the individuals.  I'm going to check out that site you suggested.  What my family misses most is real bread.  Not tiny bread...we call it that too!

 

Are you feeling better?  I saw that you had received a diagnosis regarding your D and some medication...hoping for all good things!

luvs2eat Collaborator
luvs2eat
Posted

I've read many reviews about this new cookbook. Many were great but lots were really bad citing the same complaints you have... following the directions to the letter and baking bricks!

 

I love her first book and swear by Better Batter flour but I'm not remotely interested in buying all that new and expensive stuff. There's no shoestring going on there!!

 

Some of the worst reviews of the book were from people who say they've been baking gluten free for years and consider themselves very well experienced.

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