My friend, Christine, is Hostess Extraordinaire of the popular Canadian podcast Insomnia Radio (you can find it on Spotify!). When she’s not recording in her home-studio, she can often be found working on developing her own gluten-free recipes. While not at Celiac-level of reaction to gluten, it definitely causes her a lot of pain and discomfort, so Chris prefers to reduce/eliminate as much as she can from her diet. Unfortunately, while food industry manufacturers are finally cottoning on to the whole “gluten-free”-is-not-just-a-fad thing, offerings can still vary wildly in quality and availability, and are often very high-priced. So she, and others like her, often choose to go without.

But Chris loves bread. And pastries, and all those yummy things that those of us who are non-gluten-sensitive never think twice about. (Did you know there is gluten in hotdogs?!? I wrote a post late last year — see it here — about gluten sensitivity and how to avoid being inadvertently “glutened”.)

This gluten-free white bread recipe was developed by Chris, based off a recipe she received from one of her other gf friends who had tweaked a recipe she had from *her* friend, and so on. It’s as close to the properties of regular wheat bread as I think you can get, though your mileage may vary. If you’ve been searching for a new gf bread recipe, give this one a try and if you feel like commenting please let me know how how it went for you.

Gluten-Free White Bread

GF Flour blend : ratio 6 cups white rice flour/3 cups tapioca flour/ 1½ cups potato starch. *Chris notes: “I have changed that up over the years so as long as you use the 6 cups of white rice flour you should be good (I’ve used arrowroot and corn flour before).”*

• 3 cups GF flour blend
• 3 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 tbsp/24g sugar
• 2 tbsp GF yeast
• 1¾ cup/415mL lukewarm water
• 1½ tsp/9g salt
• 1 tsp/5mL apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp/30g butter or alternative, plus some more for on top
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white

1. Proof yeast, sugar, and water for 10 min in separate non-metallic bowl.
2. Mix all ingredients in mixer using paddle beater or whip with wooden spoon to activate xanthan gum (3-5 min).
3. Scrape dough (it will not look like traditional bread dough) into greased bread pan that’s been dusted with cornmeal (or some of the flour mixture).
4. Drizzle a bit more butter on top, then cover loosely with plastic wrap (not a tea towel, it will stick). Let rise in a warm spot for about 45 min. Dough will rise up over the pan.
5. Bake at 400°F for 35-40 min or until golden brown and crusty. Remove from oven and immediately turn bread out onto wire rack to cool.