Comments on: Gluten Free Bread & Bread Machines

By: ELIZABETH

ELIZABETH — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:59:24 +0000

Hello Mary Frances,
My fiance’ is going to try to become gluten free before our wedding and I am trying to help him. I want to make the baked goods that you provide recipes for, but do not own a bread machine. I would like to know which brand and model you use. I see the 2 that are offered by Amazon on the sidebar, but I would still like your input as to which you currently use, and if you recommend another brand which you would think is best for someone with no breadmachine experience.

Thank you,
Elizabeth

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:08:02 +0000

We have a Toastmaster Breadbox circa 1999. In response to your thoughts on your “lost” paddle, I’ve had a similar experience. Several years ago, I had to give up wheat. I tried all of the wheat-free health-food-store breads we could find and was left utterly disappointed. I found that I tolerate spelt fine–though I recognize some folks do not and am not advocating it for others. I too, kept tweaking the spelt bread recipe that I had found that seemed to work the best, but we did eat many a mistake loaf as you describe. Finally, I moved toward pre-activating my yeast with a mixture of very warm water and real maple syrup, then using the “insta bread” setting on our machine. It seems in the years I’ve been working with spelt in and out of the bread machine, it just won’t tolerate much handling. Your reflection of the now removed paddle resonated clearly with my own experience and I just had to share.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:18:57 +0000

Mary Frances,

Can you recommend a good bread machine? I am going to try some GF bread.

By: Mary Frances

Mary Frances — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:03:50 +0000

Kay, I still put my pre-mixed dough on the 85 minute cycle. My reasoning for this is that the bread still needs to rise, and nothing is going to be hurt if the bread machine thinks its mixing the dough even though it’s not.

I didn’t realize that Bette Hagman recommended taking the paddle out. That’s very interesting.

By: Kay

Kay — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:00:31 +0000

That’s an interesting idea; not using the paddle at all. I’ll definitely try it. What I’ve been doing (because I’m lazy) is letting the machine do the mixing and taking out the paddle after the mixing cycle and thru all that incredibly gooey dough. I bake on the 85 minute cycle and have been getting unbelievable, perfect bread (at Albuquerque 5,800′ above sea level) using the Betty Hagman recipes. It took my 5 years of reading those recipes before I caught the ‘take out the paddle, use the short cycle’ info.
The only problem is dealing with the sticky, yucky dough. I guess it doesn’t harm anything to let the machine pretend to be mixing.
How long do you bake if you pre-mix? Do you only use the bake’ setting?

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:15:56 +0000

Mary Frances-
I just got a brand new bread machine! At last! So, I will give it a go and let you know what I think very, very, soon!

By: Scot

Scot — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:51:19 +0000

Another solution (although creme brulee is a fabulous solution) is to use egg whites in a carton. They are usually kept near the egg substitutes. Most major grocers have them, and esp. this time of year are almost a must have convenience. The price isnt too bad either.