Do I Have To Proof My Yeast When I’m Making Bread Using a Gluten Free Bread Mix?

Hi Mary:

I just read your post making my own Homemade Gluten Free Bread. I’m a little confused. You say that we can put the 2.5 c of flour mix in a qt size bag. Then you say we add the xanthum gum, sugar and yeast to the flour. So, my question is how does the bread do by adding these dry ingredients in total to the flour and mixing with wet ingredients at one time versus mixing the sugar, yeast and water together first and then adding it to the flour as directed in your Gluten Free Sandwich Bread?

Unless you are including the sugar and yeast in separate packaging with the 2.5 c. of flour for the freezer. I’m just a little confused as to why I need to mix the warm water, yeast and sugar together first originally but don’t have to do that if I freeze the bread mix.

Sorry to be confused but thanks for your help!!

E

Hi E,

That’s a great question. Mixing all of the ingredients separately is the “proper” way to do it, and it’s the way that it should be done, especially when you’re learning how to make bread. However, if you know that you have good yeast and you’re confident in your ability to add the right temperature of water, then you can skip some of the mixing steps if you need to for convenience sake. That’s what a bread machine does, right?

That being said, unless I’m using a mix, I generally follow the instructions as I’ve written them in the original recipe. Why? Because I have accidentally killed my yeast before and at least if I’m following the “proper” procedure all that is lost is the yeast,sugar, and water – not the entire loaf of bread.

I hope that clears it up, but if not, ask away!

Mary Frances

9 thoughts on “Do I Have To Proof My Yeast When I’m Making Bread Using a Gluten Free Bread Mix?”

  1. Hi Mary Frances,

    Your website is great. So far I have had the best luck making bread with your site than any other books or websites out there. You are doing a great thing – thank you!

    I do have some questions about your sandwich bread. My bread rises wonderfully in the bowl and then I put it in the oven at 375 for 50 – 60 minutes per the recipe. The bread rises as it cooks, however, after I take it out of the oven, the middle crashes in and looks nothing like your nice tall bread. I’m not sure what I am doing wrong. I am using a glass loaf pan and let it rise as noted until one inch from the top of the pan – are you meaning an inch above the top of the pan? My other loaf I left rise above the pan but it still collapsed.

    Any thoughts would be great appreciated! Regards, Kay J

  2. Hi Kay,
    Do you have a digital candy/frying thermometer that you could use to check the internal temperature of the bread? It needs to get to 210 degrees F to be “done” and have enough internal strength to hold itself up.

  3. Hi, I am new to gluten free and bread baking. Something is going terribly wrong. I finally got my yeast perfect, but the dough looks more like a very loose batter. it doesn’t rise until it is being baked and it had a weird cosistency. it also stayed wet on the side. i hate to keep wasting ingrediedients but i want bread now!!!!!! I couldn’t find the gum so i substituted with flaxseed slurry. please help. I need bread in my life. oh i also had to chang out brown rice flour to red rice flour if that makes a difference. i just need bread please.

    1. Hi Brittany,

      Are you using the bread recipe that I linked to in this post? I know that some gluten free bloggers are using flaxseed slurry as a replacement for gums, but the linked recipe is not formulated for that. It really does need the xanthan gum. Without the xanthan gum the dough will be to loose (since the xanthan gum thickens the batter) and will not have enough elasticity to hold the air pockets as the bread rises.

      I’ve never used red rice flour, so no comments on that. I think the xanthan gum substitution is probably the worst culprit here =)

  4. sorry that second post was to tell you that i used red rice flour instead of brown. tonight we had takeout and it came with a roll that i want to shove in my mouth as fast as i could. so i threw it on the floor and then in the trash so i wouldnt eat it. I need bread.

  5. which recipe would be suitable for the flaxseed, I could find a natural gum that looked like rocks. Also do you sift?

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