MNBeth

Incidentally, what clued me in was an article about PMS where a doctor said that women's chocolate cravings during PMS were really magnesium cravings. Apparently, your body needs more at that time.

No. Way.

I've had insane chocolate cravings during PMS for as long as I can remember, but chocolate makes the PMS worse. I have GOT to try this. Right now. I've been a little out of control w/the chocolate the last couple of days.

This has a link to a popular multigrain gluten-free bread. Personally, when I tried it, it flopped and i didnt even like the flavor, but most people rave about it:

Open Original Shared Link

This is, indeed, a very popular recipe, but because it's so non-specific about the flour, results can vary quite widely. For the "gluten-free flour" called for, people are using an endless variety of flour combinations, some with lots of starches, some with none. Anyway, it didn't really fly around here. Clearly, though, we're some kind of oddball family.

I did learn, partly through my daughter's science fair project, that a little bean flour does wonders for the texture of gluten-free breads. Sadly we didn't care for the flavor. I have heard, though, that Bob's Red Mill garfava flour has a funky flavor because it's stone ground and overheats in the milling process; bean flours from other sources were said to be better. I have no idea whether that's true or not.

Happy baking!

Wow - you are ambitious. I'm impressed with all you've tried already. I've been pretty chicken; my initial attempts at gluten-free yeast breads were disastrous and very discouraging, especially because I had considered myself a very knowledgeable and experienced bread baker. I was not happy to find myself a newbie again!

I had heard that quinoa could be bitter, but have not used it. I do buy a quinoa/corn pasta that we really like.

For the dryness, more oil might well help, or more egg. I also add a teaspoon of plain gelatin per loaf, and that seems to help, too.

Nana,

I'm sure your machine will work for gluten-free bread. It looks very much like a food processor; I've used mine for gluten-free bread many times. I would recommend using the universal blade rather than the dough hook, as gluten-free bread is too different from regular bread to mix properly w/a dough hook.

And w/ a food processor, 15 minutes is definitely too long. 2 minutes should be plenty.

Sadly, I don't think there's any way to make a chewy gluten-free bread. That chew is all about gluten. Sigh. I was completely fascinated by bread before going gluten-free; now I can take it or leave it, even when the family loves it.

You can make it a bit heartier, though, by reducing the starch content and choosing more substantial whole flours. Skip the white rice and go for sorghum, millet, amaranth, quinoa... Most recipes I've seen use bare starches for half the flour or more. So far I've been able to get it down to 2 parts whole flour (sorghum & millet) to one part starch. I love the millet for it's flavor, but too much seems to make the bread too crumbly. I'm hoping to shrink that starch content even further, but am not yet sure how far I can go. You can also bulk up the bread by adding things like almond meal, flax meal, or rice bran.

Hope that helps a little. Let us know how you get on!

Beth

I experimented with lower oven temps and it was disastrous. The bread rose absolutely crazily in the oven and collapsed into bizarre squashed shapes after it came out. I think you need the high temps to arrest the yeast growth earlier in the bake time.

A longer bake may help - that's one thing I'm working on.

...I kinda wonder if dropping the temp by 25F and giving it an extra 5 or so minutes would help. Or turning the oven off, 5 minutes before it's done, and let it have a slower cool down would help ... who knows

Whether washing well is enough depends largely on the item. Most of my pans are stainless steel - easy to thoroughly clean, so I kept them. My scratched up non-stick skillets I replaced, along with my wooden spoons and a few plastic things that were old and had lots of scratches that I was afraid might hold onto gluten.

I also replaced colanders and strainers, and one of my baking/cooling racks that had residue in the cracks that I could not remove.

I am not persuaded that dishwashers are any great safeguard against gluten. They may do well at killing germs, but you can't kill gluten - you have to get it off. Everything I kept that I thought might be contaminated, I scrubbed well and rinsed well by hand.

I also soaked my can opener and a few other things in denture cleaner and then scrubbed them as well as I could. Seems to have worked, but I have no scientific evidence to back me up on the effectiveness of this method. Just seemed logical.

One important thing for me was to clean out all my kitchen drawers and cabinets, many of which were pretty crumb-laden. No use putting a sanitized utensil in a crumby drawer. I'm noticing it's time to do that again, even if I'm pretty sure all the crumbs are gluten-free, now!

Can you give a quick overview of the Candida diet for those of us who aren't familiar with it?

I have a friend who is self-diagnosed gluten-intolerant, but she takes communion and eats the topping off pizza. Doesn't really bother me, except for its potential to mislead our mutual friends about my own and my son's condition. Hasn't really come up yet, though. I've been too sick to socialize!

Finally getting better, though, I think. Hope!

Hello from another Minnesotan! Where are you going to school? You mentioned that your mom makes bread for you - are you living at home, or do you bring it with you? If you are living on campus, do you have a kitchen? Are you able to cook for yourself?

The most economical way to eat is always to cook from scratch if you possibly can. Rice and beans are a super protein, carb combo that is very cheap. Grits or hot rice cereal is going to be cheaper than cold cereal. Eggs are pretty cheap, too. Potatoes are another inexpensive carb option.

But it's hard to get very specific w/o knowing your food prep options and limitations. Can you tell us a little more?

(My son is a sophomore in high school who was recently diagnosed. I'm determined to teach him to cook before he goes off on his own, because I know he's going to have the same issues! )

If you can get ahold of some gluten-free rolled oats (oatmeal), you can throw it into a blender or food processor to make flour. I used to make oat flour that way to use in cookies all the time.

Sorry you didn't get an answer to this sooner. Here's what I just found at sweetleaf.com:

Q: What is the Inulin Fiber (FOS) used in SteviaPlus Fiber?

A: Inulin is a natural extract from chicory or other vegetables. It is a probiotic enhancer. It feeds the friendly bacteria in the intestines and is a natural fiber. Our FOS comes from Belgian endive.

Looks OK!

... I was contemplating just yesterday, beginning a project, a somewhat scientific endeavor of sorts, that would involve testing recipes utilizing just one flour each. Hopefully, I would get a better idea of the flavor and texture each imparts.

Of course the complication is the starches and ratios. That increases the testing exponentially.

I'd love to do something like this, but won't be able to anytime soon. If you do it, definitely run thread about it and keep us informed!

Thanks,

Beth

I would recommend replacing it. Those stones are so extremely porous, I just can't imagine being able to get all the flour out. Anyway, I was way too scared to use mine. Even w/parchment, just handling the stone during food prep made me nervous. But that's just me.

Okay, so let it rise more so it won't rise so much. And go with the higher oven temp. And look for another bean flour. Although, I think it was, after all, the flax that the kids didn't like. They like this loaf better, even if it is horribly squashed. I know the flax adds a certain gumminess, but if the kids hate it, I need another solution. Other recipes have gelatin - maybe I'll try that.

I'm still rather paranoid about this. Earlier loaves that I did let rise still collapsed, so it's clearly a matter of finding that ideal level. Or something.

And, yes, I do generally check my liquid temp before I throw it in, and shoot for 100-110. Not too fussy. I do wonder how slowing things down by using cooler liquids might affect things. Worked great for "real" bread, but clearly I can't infer much from the old rules. In any case, I'm not ready to take that step yet.

And I have no idea whether using baking soda and vitamin C would work. I do know that with wheat breads, soda bread was a very different thing from yeast bread. However, since gluten-free bread is already a very different thing, maybe the soda would work. But I'm not ready to go there, yet, either!

Thanks everybody!

Beth

Perhaps you need a larger bread pan. I have two sizes. I have to use my larger bread pan for my gluten-free bread.

No, I'm sure the pan isn't too small; it's barely half full when I put the dough in. It's just rising way too much in the oven, and when it rises that much, it's guaranteed to collapse.

I think next time I'll try a higher oven temp. This recipe calls for 350, but I've noticed that most other recipes say 375 or 400. Maybe the higher temp would kill the yeast before it had time to make a hot-air balloon out the of the loaf.

Argh. Tried again today. Used one tsp. yeast instead of the recipe's 2 1/2 tsps. Stuck the bread in the oven after only about 15 min. resting/rising time, and it hadn't visibly risen at all.

Once again it rose to freakish heights in the oven, splitting every which where and finally collapsing - this time before I even got it out of the oven. (After checking it at 40 minutes, I left it for another 10 to see if it might set up better.)

I do NOT get this at all!

I'm using Lorka's famous Gluten Free Flax Bread recipe, this time w/o the flax, as I was hoping that it was the flax that gave the bread it's funny flavor. Nope; it's the bean flour, which is a pity because I know the bean flour does great things for the texture of the bread.

Not sure what I'll try next...

Clear skies in Minneapolis. Beautiful show!

Actually, I do still really enjoy eating, though certainly not all the time. More often than not I do eat in a very utilitarian manner, grabbing simple, plain foods just to get on to the next thing. And there is a lot that I miss.

On the other hand, it's almost more exciting, now, when there's something wonderful in front of me that I can actually have! I really relish those special treats - like the blackened tuna with mango salsa I had at the Mall of America a couple weeks ago, and even the ribs we had for Valentine's Day. Those are the times when I know it's not all over for me and good food!

MNBeth....I took the first mill back to the dealer...as I don't live too far from Aurora....took a bag of rice along...they ground it there....they was a bit surprised when it took that long...but didn't say that something was wrong with it.....the flour is pretty fine....maybe that's why it takes that long....??

I guess it could be. But the dealer I talked to does do brown rice regularly, and has been working with these mills for years. I know with my mill - which was not a Nutrimill, but similar - it wouldn't have taken anything like that amount of time. I think it would be worth calling the manufacturer - not the dealer - and seeing what they have to say. For what you pay for a mill, you want one that works like it's supposed to.

I was a bread baker, too, and spent years studying, learning, and trying to improve. Learning to bake gluten-free bread has been like starting all over again. The rules are COMPLETELY different. I would recommend trying again, but follow the directions carefully, even though it sounds so wrong for bread. As has been mentioned, the dough looks completely different; it cannot be kneaded, and does ONLY ONE RISE. Once you're done mixing, it goes straight into the pan and you just don't get to mess with it after that. ;-) (And you have to think of it as something new and not expect it to be like your old love. Sigh.)

Do hang in there - you'll make it! I went through serious withdrawal the first few weeks, but I get along better w/o it, now. Not that I don't miss it. But now that I've been gluten-free a few months, I get sick for a week from crumbs, so I don't even like to think what a whole slice would do to me. I find that I'm happier not eating bread than subbing, especially since I can't have butter right now, either. Real butter would cover a multitude of sins!

Have you talked to Bosch or the dealer about this? I forwarded your comment to a dealer I know, and she does not think it should take anywhere near that long. Your mill should be under warranty, so I would recommend giving the company a call.

....it takes quite a while to grind a 2# bag of rice...over 1/2 hour...but then I try to set it on the fine grind, so that may explain the length of time...I

According to the food labeling laws, (in the US) natural flavoring is gluten-free. If there is wheat in something that is not obvious like wheat flour, it must be labeled. I have eaten things with natural flavoring and been fine. So according to the law, you should be safe.

That covers wheat, but what about barley?

Can you tell us, at least roughly, where you are? ;-)

... I hope to find a source some where near my locality....hopefully it will be less shipping expense....

Thanks for reporting in! I just checked the thread earlier today, as I've been wondering...

I wish I'd reduced the yeast in the bread I made today. I didn't even let it rise as high as the directions said (to the top of the pan) before I put it in the oven, but it rose like the bread that ate New York in the oven. And then, of course, it fell before I could even snap a picture.

What was really funny was that the first slice came out shaped exactly like a little bunny rabbit! I'll see if I can get hubby to post a picture in a bit. All in all, the bread's pretty good, but I could do without the dramatic rise and squash and the resulting bizarre shape.

This kind of thing makes me want to move directly on to my next loaf, but, alas, my family can't live on bread alone, and they insist on having clean clothes now and then, so my next attempt will have to wait.

I don't know, but my own flippety floppety heart is driving me bonkers. I went off my thyroid meds because too high a dose has caused this in the past, and I wondered if my newly gluten-free body still needed it.

Going off it has helped some, but all the pre-thyroid-med fatigue has gradually come back, and the heart thing hasn't stopped completely, anyway. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks with the alt.med.dr. who prescribed the thyroid stuff in the first place, so we'll see what he says. It will be my first appt. w/him since I did the Enterolab test. He's never heard of Enterolab, so it could be interesting.