Gluten-Free Adventures: Brown Rice Sandwich Loaf

Gluten-Free Brown Rice Sandwich Loaf, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This sandwich bread loaf is from a recipe I got out of The Wheat-Free Cook by Jacqueline Mallorca. I wanted to try it because well, it's yeast-free and doesn't need a rise. It's basically a quick bread. It's worth a shot, right? The first time I tried it, I also tried omitting the xanthan gum. If you follow the gluten-free baking school, there are some that swear by xantham gum, some that use it just because it's what everyone does, and some that insist it's not necessary. So I've taken to trying to omit it, then adding substitutes back to try to improve it. The first few photos show my xanthan-free version.

It looked great at first. Right out of the oven, it smelled delicious, looked airy and light, and seemed to hold together well. I was able to slice it for TinySprite's breakfast toast a few days before I realized it was starting to get a bit crumbly. Towards the end of the week, it just didn't hold together at all. If you can manage to eat the whole loaf in a few days, then I think the xanthan-free version should suffice. However, I need something more substantial. After all, I'm smearing peanut butter and jam on it. So for the most recent loaf (which I made two days ago), I added some ripe bananas which I thought might bind it together better (see my banana bread experience).

It seemed to work! This loaf is much moister and malleable. Less crumbly. At least 2 days in, so far. And since the banana smell was calling out for it, I sprinkled some cinnamon too. So it ended up being kind of a sweet bread. But that's not so bad for breakfast toast after all, is it? ^_^

Gluten-Free Brown Rice Flour Bread (from The Wheat-Free Cook, by Jacqueline Mallorca)

1 and 1/4 cup brown rice flour (can mix with white rice flour, some almond flour, etc.)
3/4 cup tapioca starch
2T flax meal
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup yogurt
1T canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup water
*1 tsp xanthan gum (the recipe calls for this, but I've tried omitting it and replacing with a mashed ripe banana)

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry. Mix well until fluffy. Pour into well-greased loaf pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 400F.