Sandwiches are a staple of our diet. When John first started a gluten free diet we searched through grocery store after grocery store hunting the elusive frozen rice bread that our internet searches indicated should be there. We finally found some and, upon trying it, promptly spit it out. It was horrible! John kept eating it though, because what else is one to do when you don’t know how to cook and your girlfriend is away at grad school.
By the time we married the following year, we had a bread machine and Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix. Thus started the four year saga of baking gluten-free bread that was either dense, wet, full of air holes, or incredibly misshapen. At last count we’ve been through three different recipes plus innumerable variations of each when I just couldn’t keep my hands off the recipe (which would be at least 95% of the time). But do not be disheartened – Finally, after four years, I have worked out a recipe that consistently turns out really good sandwich bread. The loaves are definitely of a gluten-free stature (i.e., not that tall), but it’s Good Bread.
Really Good Sandwich Bread
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 ½ c. water (105 degrees or a little less than hot)
2 ½ cups "Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix Recipe"
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1tsp. salt
2 eggs (or 6 Tbsp. water and 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed)
1 ½ Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1. Start by combining the yeast and sugar in a small bowl (I use the smallest in my set of three nested mixing bowls). Add the water while gently stirring the yeast and sugar. Let this mixture sit while you mix the rest of the ingredients – bubbles and foam should form if the yeast is happy.
2. Combine the flour mix, xanthan gum and salt in the largest mixing bowl and stir well.
3. In a third bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and vinegar until the eggs are a bit frothy.
4. By this point the yeast mixture should be foamy, so you can pour the two liquid mixtures into the flour mixture. Stir until all ingredients are well mixed and then dump into your bread machine. Cook on the 80 minute setting – the stirring paddle is not necessary.
I made this and it smelled and tasted sooooooooooo “yeasty” that I took 1 bite and had to throw it away. What could I have done wrong? I followed it exactly and used the exact ingredients. I’ve had this happen with a few other breads I’ve tried too. Actually I still haven’t been able to make a bread suitable to use as sandwich bread. They either don’t rise or the taste is really yeasty beyond being edible.
JODIE, YOU HAVE BEEN AN IMMENSE HELP WITH THIS BREAD. FINALLY A GOOD LOAF. I DIDN’T USE YOUR FLOURS AS I ALREADY HAD THESE FLOURS MIXED. I LET IT RISE IN 150 DEGREE OVEN AND JUST UPPED IT TO 375 FOR 1 HR. AND IT CAME OUT LIKE A LOAF OF BREAD. JUST NOT AS HIGH. I WAS SO PROUD OF THAT LOAF. I ALSO BEAT IT FOR 3 MINUTES. I USE THIS TYPE OF BREAD AS MY NEW WAY OF EATING IS NO MEAT, NO DAIRY, AND NO EGGS. AND THEY PREFER YOU DON’T USE WHEAT. IT HAS TAKEN ME OUT OF PAIN AND THAT IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. HAD EVERY THING DOWN PAT CEPT THE BREAD. THANKS TO YOU I HAVE THAT FIGURED OUT NOW ALSO. DO YOU THINK AN EXTRA EGG WOULD MAKE IT QUITE NOT SO DENSE. PRETTY HEAVY. THANKS AGAIN, YOU WERE A BIG HELP.
Diane:
Thanks. Glad to hear how I helped you out! I’ve been working off of this recipe for over a year … and ever since I added the third egg, it became a much fluffier, less dense loaf.
How many eggs are you using. Three was the magic number for me. Also, the mixing with a mixer for four minutes at the end also helps a lot as well.
Finally, I think the Masa Harina flour is a little dense. I tried my recipe last night with Masa Harina flour and it was not even close to as fluffy as the loafs I usually bake.
I would try my flour mixture with the three whole eggs (two at a minimum), or if you want to cut out the yolks, do it with 6 egg whites. My girlfriend did it that way and it was amazing. Let me know how it goes. Yours, Jodi
Hi – Jodi just want to say a very big thank you for sharing your recipe. I just tried it today and the bread rose so high and was absoloutely delicious. I loved it ( and im not the celiac in the family). I beat it with the electric beater for several minutes like u said. Then put it all into bread machine and used regular quick cycle. I didnt have potato starch so used corn starch instead. I think the 3 eggs realy made a diff as well.
Thank you.
I really enjoy reading these posts and improving upon this great recipe. I seem to have a different problem. My bread rises over the edges down the sides of the pan and much of the batter is lost. Even if I only let it rise a half hour this happens. I increased the eggs to 3 and the bread was good, but bigger than ever (and very messy). What type of pan is everyone using for baking this bread? Is there a particular type of yeast that is recommended? I am using one of the little pouches of Hodgson Mill yeast.
Debbie:
In some locations (based on heat or altitude) bread rises quicker than other places. Go on line and just look at the regular bread baking sites for more information on this.
Try only letting it rise until right before the top of the pan – whether that takes five minutes or 20 minutes and then put it in a 375 oven. I use either a glass loaf ban or clay pans from pampered chef. Either one is good. I also use Hodgson Mill active yeast. So it has to be the temp/altitude and your letting it rise too long.
[...] started with a package of my gluten free bread mix, (we had several bags of my gluten and casein free bread recipe, “Finally, Really Good Sandwich Bread”, in the freezer) which we mixed up and [...]
I’m fairly new to this site but have had success with everything I’ve tried. Question, tho, on the sandwich bread. I did it exactly per Mary Frances’ directions the first time and it turned out too dense & wet. The next time, I added 1/2 c more flour (almond flour, actually, for protein & flavor) and baked an additional 20 minutes. It came out much better, edible, tho I have to toast it. It’s still a little dense and wet. What am I doing wrong? I’m using a bread machine, btw. Mixing it by hand, then dumping it in machine and using bake setting.
Oh, and thank you thank you thank you for the pizza crust recipe. It was delicious!
@Tobi: how long does your machine rise and bake on the bake setting? My 80 minute setting is a 2 minute knead, followed by an 18 minute knead, then 12 minute rise, and 48 minute bake. However, since I don’t use the blade my bread is really rising for 32 minutes.
I am new to cooking gluten free bread and have tried the really good sandwich bread recipe several times. I have finally got all the ingredients right sort of. I cannot get masa harina but I have bought some corn tortilla and ground them to a fine crumb and used that. I have mixed all the ingredients in my mixer for several minutes with a dough hook and them put in my bread machine. I do not have a rapid bake setting so I have put my bread machine on for an hour and it has gone through all the mixing of the flour and then I put the dough in the pan and put it in the bread machine for the last 90 minutes with out the paddle. So it rises and cooks fo this time. It rises OK but it is still wet and dense. Is gluten free bread always going to be like that or can I do something else to make it more of a dry consistency.
Hi Lucia, Gluten free bread definitely does not have to be wet and dense. If you can’t find masa harina where you live, then you’ll probably have better results using a recipes for which you can get all of the ingredients and follow the baking directions exactly. The Gluten Free Mommy, Karina’s Kitchen, and Ginger Lemon Girl blogs all have great bread recipes, so I’d suggest that you try one of those next.
I just can’t seem to end up with a good gluten free bread! My son is allergic (so far) to gluten, dairy, corn and egg. I haven’t had good result using various homemade egg substitutes and I can’t use EnerG egg replacer because it contains corn. I’ll take any suggestions you can come up with. I’m getting desperate!!!
My bread machine’s bake setting is just that…bake. No mixing involved. I don’t know how much of that time is rising, it doesn’t indicate to me. Do you think that’s the problem tho, that it’s not baking long enough? I made another loaf last week to try it….and then I got hit with a bug and didn’t eat anything but rice for 3 days *sigh*….so, I have to bake again!
This bread is SO easy, I don’t even use my bread machine at all. I like seeing and controlling all the aspects of the process. The bread is tall, fluffy and my husband says it is better than anything you can buy. I make several modifications to the original recipe. 3 eggs and really beat it for a good 4 minutes. Since the dough is not thick, it is as easy to mix with a mixer as cake batter. I also substitute sorghum for the soy flour. It is sweeter and my husband likes it better. I use tapioca flour instead of the masa harina. I like Hodgson Mill yeast, and it works so quickly, it is usually risen to the top of the pan within 20 minutes and so I bake it immediately after that. Try doing it all yourself and you may be pleasantly surprised. Good luck.
@Pam, check the bread recipes on Karina’s Kitchen blog. Karina has a lot of food allergies including all of the ones above, I believe. Hopefully her recipes will work for you without any substitutions.
@Tobi: I do think that bake setting may be the problem. Since your machine doesn’t have an express setting, I’d try using the regular bread cycle, or baking a loaf in the oven (see instructions that people have left in the comments).
@Debbie: Thanks for commenting with your modifications. I think that I have most of those ingredients on hand, so I’ll give it a shot. The experimenting never ends with gluten free baking =)
JODIE, I JUST HAD TO TAKE A MOMENT TO LET YOU KNOW YOUR RECIPE FOR BREAD IS INCREDIBLE. I MADE IT YESTERDAY AND YOOHOO IT CAME OUT LIKE A GIANT. THE TASTE AND TEXTURE IS PERFECT. NO LONGER DENSE AND WET. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I USE THE EGG REPLACER FOR 3 EGGS AND I USED ONE TSP OF VINEGAR AS I FORGOT AND USED OLD RECIPE. STILL PERFECT. CAN YOU USE THIS FOR A PIZZA DOUGH OR DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER RECIPE FOR PIZZA DOUGH. READY TO TACKLE THAT NOW. WHEN YOU TOAST THAT BREAD IT IS FABULOUS. EVERYONE SHOULD FOLLOW THE RECIPE YOU HAVE AND THEN THEY WON’T HAVE ANY FRUSTATIONS WITH THEIR BREAD. IT IS FOOL PROOF. THANKS AGAIN DIANE
Diane: You made my day! Thanks so much for the compliment. I have been playing around with this recipe, with Mary Frances’s as a base, for over a year and am glad to share it! And glad it came out so well.
As for the pizza dough, I have tried using my recipe but it doesn’t come out as great. However, I did find a good recipe for gf bread on emeril green. He did a gluten free episode which you can find on the web and his technique is excellent so watch the video.
I used his recipe with my flour mix, and his technique and the pizza came out awesome. I cooked mine in the oven first, and then oiled up the grill, put it on super hot and put the partially cooked dough on the grilll. I flipped it after a few minutes once it was crispy on the part that was on the grill. I then put the put less cooked side down on an aluminum pizza pan, put the toppings on the crispy side and cooked it some more on the grill and it was awesome. Let me know how it goes. Jodi
Hi,
Thanks so much for this website! We have recently found out that my two teenage kids, as well as myself, are gluten-intolerant. My daughter and I are also dairy- and egg-intolerant. Quick question about your Finally, Really Good Sandwich Bread recipe: Have you ever tried egg substitute (powder, you add water before adding to recipes) instead of the water & flax seed substitute you suggest? We love flax seeds, but I wondered if the egg substitute might result in a higher rising bread? Thanks for your reply!
Jodi:
I forgot to thank you thank you thank you for your flour mix recipe! I used it for bread, mixed it for a couple minutes as you suggested, cooked it in the oven as Mary Frances suggested, let it rise just to the top as you suggested, and presto! I had a loaf of fluffy bread I don’t have to toast. Yay!!!!! I meant to add some ground flax seed, to up the fiber a bit, but forgot. I will try that next time. Anyway, I cannot thank both of you enough. I was never much of a baker, but the economy has decided for me that I will no longer buy storebought gf baked goods. This site has proved invaluable.
Thanks so much. If it wasn’t for Mary Frances website and her intial recipe, I would never have been able to get it sooooo fluffy. So Kudos to her for sure.
I have some good cookie recipes if anyone is interested.
Jodi
@Jodi,
Yes, please, for the cookie recipes.
The only one I have which doesn’t have what I can’t have, is gluten free snickerdoodles. They turn out fantastic and are terribly addictive.
Diana
@Jodi:
If you want to send me the recipes, I can post them here on the blog so that you don’t have to give our your email address (or wait for me to remember to relay your email address to everybody that wants it, b/c Lord knows that might be a while!)
I would love to try this recipe but I am also allergic to corn and have problems with Xanthan gum (which it seems is manufactured on corn). Can you suggest a substitute for the corn ingredients and the gum (particularly the gum)?
@Elizabeth G.: I haven’t tried the egg replacer, but please let me know how it turns out if you decide to try it.
@Marni – I’ve read that you can use guar gum as a 1:1 substitute for xanthan gum. I haven’t tried it, but am planning to do so when I run out of xanthan gum. As for the other substitutions, check this post on gluten free flour mixes.
I am so excited to subscribe to this website. I subscribed to this blog/website several months back when we were considering a GF/CF diet because of our son. (ADHD combined type and mild PDD-NOS. He is on the spectrum). We are on a GF/CF diet full time now. It’s great and not that hard. Except for the bread. I’m so happy I have a great bread to try. I have used the Bob’s GF Bread Mix, added chia seeds and flax seeds to it. Came out great. Also, the magazine Living Without is phenomenal. (livingwithout.com) Great for people with any kind of food issue. (soy, wheat, eggs, nut,)
I am new to GF eating and baking and I am willing and excited to experiment with different recipes for this way of living. I would like to know if it is possible to make a “Buttermilk” bread for the bread machine using your recipe for Finally, Really Good Sandwich Bread recipe. My 6 year old son loves the traditional Buttermilk bread, and I was hoping to use either buttermilk powder or fresh in the mixture. I need to know if this is possible and how to make the adjustments. Thank you for your help.
Kristin
Yipeeeeeeeeee I am so excited to have found you.. I have lots of reading to do. My fiance is gluten free and really misses bread especially.. I have never made a loaf in my life but my mother has and we do have the breadmaker so wish us luck
thank you!!
I have a seven year old daughter who is allergic to almost everything. Soy, corn, wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, peaches, latex, pears, apples, etc anyone have any tips for me? If so, please email me @ Welch.24@hotmail with the subject listed as allergy thanks. We just got diagnosed in January and are having a really hard time.
Just made the “Really Good Sandwich Bread’. Because i am in NZ i have different flours that i can access…
I used
3 parts brown rice flour
3 parts corn flour
2 parts Organic Buckwheat flour
1 part Cornmeal
I dont have a bread maker so baked them in the Oven at 190 degrees C for 30 mins and…
Wow… this bread turned out stunning : ) I made some into buns too and these rose up a bit better!
Thanks for an awesome website!
Hi there,
I have the oster 5814. It is my firs time using it. I am not sure what to do because there are so many instructions. Do I just plug it in and set it to 80minutes and does that bypass every other setting? Have any tips? Thanks, Tracy
I tried this bread (again) but I keep having the same problem. I am using the conventional over directions which say ‘cover with a damp dishcloth’. When I take off the dishcloth parts of the dough stick to it and then it starts to deflate. If I don’t cover it the dough forms a crust and it doesn’t rise properly. Any suggestions?
OK. Now the bread is out of the oven. It is really crisp on the outside, and gooey in the middle. Would that be because it deflated? This is what I used in the recipe. Because I am allergic to corn I used a flour mix of 3 parts brown rice flour, 3 parts tapioca starch, 2 parts sorgum, and 1 part almond. I also used guar gum in place of the xantham (again because of the corn allergy). I am also allergic to eggs so I substituted a soy & starch egg mix for the two eggs. The bread tastes great but it is gooey. I really want to perfect this loaf because I really miss my bread. Cam you figure what I am doing wrong?
Hi Marni
I bake bread frequently and the successful trick I use is to let the bread rise (uncovered) in the oven on the “Warm” setting. It is around 160 degrees. You can also use the “Proof” setting which is around 125 degrees. When it has risen for the recommended amount of time (after awhile you’ll be adept at being able to tell when it’s risen enough), simply turn the oven to the required baking temperature (usually around 350 degrees) and bake your loaf.
Regarding the “gooiness”…. I find that using almond flour makes things very, very difficult and yields inconsistent (but usually poor) results. BTW, in addition to being GF, I also bake without dairy OR eggs.
Good luck…hope this helps!
I’ve been making GF bread in my bread machine for about 7 months now with very mixed results. I made this recipe on the weekend, i mixed all the sections together and then put into my bread machine on a dough only setting and let it mix and knead. I then let it rest in the machine and it just kept on rising. i then used the bake only setting. It was amazing! the best ever bread! All i ate all weekend was fresh bread. So good. I can’t wait to make it again with hopefully the same results. I did make some small changes to your flour mix, i didn’t have any corn starch in my pantry so i used a mix of potato flour and tapioca starch, and left out the masa harina as i didn’t have any of this. I guess that would also work for corn allergies. Thanks for being an angel!
@Bonnie
Thanks for the info. I’m on the hunt again. I tried the oven proofing method. It seemed to work fine but when I cut into the bread, under the perfect looking top was a big hole (i.e. it fell under the crust). It still tasted good. I would try it without the almond flour but now I have a different problem. I am reacting either to the Sorghum flour or the soy ‘egg’ (I think). After a couple of days of eating my bread with this flour combination I developed swollen joints and felt very lethargic and achey. I hadn’t had any soy for over 3 months (because I couldn’t find any soy milk that didn’t have corn products in it; I finally found some), but the sorghum also is a new flour to me in the past two weeks so I’m not really sure. Sigh. I can’t use the flax ‘egg’ mix because my body doesn’t seem to like flax (creates ++gas and cramping). I can’t have corn so the corn flour and masa harina are out. I’ve tried both quinoa and chickpea flours in place of the masa harina but I don’t like the bitter tastes they give. I react to buckwheat as well. Does anyone with wheat, corn, egg and dairy allergies have any success with this recipe?
I’ve tried it! It is pretty good! Check out my new website, with Gluten free, dairy free, sugar free reviews and recipes. Other allergies/intolerance’s are noted as well!
hi there, i eat gluten free too. what would the adjustments be for baking bread in an oven? sincerely, jodi
Mary Frances, I have made the bread twice in a bread machine by Breadman that has a GF setting. I cannot adjust the time for GF so it is preset for 77 minutes. I followed directions and mixed with a mixer before going into the machine. I have 2 problems: how do you make the top of the bread not look lumpy after is cooked? The sides caved in, how do I prevent this from happening? (I accidently left the paddle in could this be the reason) My 17 year old celiac daughter loves your website!!!!
Hey Mary Frances! I want to thank you so much for putting up this site. It’s so informative. I just started gluten free 2 months ago, and after seeing my results my husband wanted to give it a try. He no longer has IBS symptoms and has more energy. (For me, gluten makes me really bloated, tired, irritated…) We tried one loaf of frozen bread that cost $5 and it was alright as toast with butter, but horrible for sandwiches. I just made this recipe for I think about $1.50 or $2. I let it double in size at room temp (45 mins), baked for 50 mins at 375, and then let sit for 15 at room temp. I love the crust, but the inside gives when chewed and feels more like oatmeal or something. I’m not sure how to explain, but definitely lacking a certain mouth feel. I used a 9×5 pan but next time I want to use one of the shorter pans to get a higher loaf. I’ll have to bake it longer. I used sorghum in place of soy. OH, I also used Ener-G egg replacer instead of 2 eggs. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with the texture, but it usually works great in regular (gluten) cakes and baked goods.
Has anyone tried arrowroot powder in place of corn starch? I have a bunch to use up. I’d like to replace it with tapioca or potato starch but I couldn’t find either at Whole Foods. I bought potato flour thinking it might be the same thing. It’s not…
Dear Mary Frances,
Last year I was diagnosed with celiac disease and after putting it off for a year went on the gluten free diet. Everything was okay except bread. The breads that you buy look terrible and taste worse. I got your recipe for “Really Good Sandwich Bread” from one of the recipe a day web sites and have a vintage bread machine (1988 machine with only Japanese writing and a Japanese manual, I don’t read or speak Japanese and I am a 77 years old male). I tried the recipe and after only one failure am now making very good sandwich bread. Almost as good as bought gluten whole wheat bread.
Thank you very much.
Schuble Cook
@Kelsey, that does sound strange. Can you use flax eggs instead of the egg replacer? It’s still not quite the same, but it doesn’t feel like oatmeal!
I am new at baking bread – now I have to for my husband and 5 year daughter both diagnosed this past month. I have tried 10 different recipes – all are delicious BUT when I take my bread out of the oven – no matter which recipe I have used – they fall to half the size. They look so good in the oven then poof like they didn’t rise at all. What am I doing wrong?? Our kitchen is warm so the bread I don’t think is cooling too quickly. My daughter wants a “normal” size sandwich again! Please help. Thank you. Anne Brooke
Anne Brooke
I too am new to baking bread, I use a vintage Japanese bread machine that bakes a vertical loaf. I make Mary Frances’ Really Good Sandwich Bread and cut the loaf vertical and get almost the same size slice as standard bread. Makes great sandwiches.
This is the real deal. I’ve read about the supposed light fluffy breads and was disappointed. This recipe is wonderful. Can I make the flour mix with the salt and xanthum gum already added? This would be easier since all the dry ingredients are already mixed together.
I am very new to baking breads gluten free or otherwise, so this is really a virgin mission for me…baking my own sandwich bread. My son, now 2, was diagnosed with multiple food allergies (beef, chicken, wheat, carrots, garlic, egg, spinach, to name a few, and is advised to avoid all tree nuts, peanuts and seafood until after age 3). Most processed foods are off limits to him, including many of the allergy friendly brands. So, most things I must prepare myself…I really love bread and am glad to have found this site. Cannot wait to try some things. I have found one or two cookie, cracker and muffin recipes that are consistently good, even without eggs or wheat flour…I use oat flour often, as he is not allergic. I don’t know if my son can even have the sandwich bread due to the yeast, but even if he cannot, if it isn’t a bad allergen for him, at least my husband and I can feel safer than if we were eating commercial bread containing egg and wheat. So, I have a loaf in the oven now. I didn’t include the xanthan gum since from what I have read, it seems to be more likely to be an allergen and also the Bob’s Red Mill stated that his was pkg’d in a facility with several of my son’s allergens. Same goes for BRM masa harina, so I ground up some hominy grits in its place. I added a tsp. of sugar and a tsp. of flax seed meal in place of the xanthan if that will make a difference. The “dough” initially turned out very thin, more like batter. So I added and added the flour mixture until it thickened up to what I imagined bread dough should look like…thinner than pizza dough but thicker than cake batter…I’m not expecting good results, though it sure smells good. It’s an exciting venture at any rate, this being my first attempt at yeast bread EVER and all.
…I just removed part of the bread from the oven…I had too much dough for my 9×5 pan once I had added all of the additional flour, so I put a small amount in a smaller baking dish…pulled it out early and had a taste. Not bad. Needs a little more salt or sugar, not sure which. And it is missing that “yeasty” taste that I am used to. But, it has the air bubbles and everything. Just like regular bread…still, I won’t get my hopes up for the actual loaf. Most wheat and egg free things I have made by the loaf have been really dense and wet in the center.
The actual loaf turned out kind of bland, but looked like real bread. I will chalk that up to my addition of so much additional flour. It was fine consistency wise when it first came out, but dried out and became hard quickly. Again, my addition of so much extra flour. So, what should the dough look like once all the wet ingredients are added in? How thick or thin? Note I do have to use the flax substitute instead of real eggs.
Also, I have read that masa harina is dried hominy…I am wondering if I could just use a can of hominy and reduce the wet ingredients? Anyone else tried this?
If the Pope calls me and asks for a suggestion for someone to raise to sainthood, I’m giving him your name, Mary Frances. You are a genius! My 4 year old granddaughter has a gluten intolerance and I tried multiple bread recipes, trying to find one for “squishy” bread. Your recipe with the soy flour in the mix was adequate but, when I switched the soy flour to sorghum flour (as you also suggested) I got GREAT results. My daughter has now also tried the cornbread and Apple Spice Pancakes with the flour mix and all are terrifice. Tonight, we had your biscuits–actually fluffy. She can now fix spaghetti with quinoa pasta, salad, and these biscuits and not have to tell people the meal is gluten-free. Thank you SOOOO much.