It may be mid February, but it’s not too late for New Year’s Resolutions, right?! I’m starting to feel like 2010 is the year that I return to baking. Before I was gluten-free, I made cookies, the occasional cake, but my real specialty was homemade pizza dough and bread. My fingers knew how to make them by instinct – when to add more water or more flour, and I loved kneading the dough – the feeling of soft dough coming together beneath my hands was divine.
When I gave up gluten, I stopped baking – or at least baking from scratch, for a few years. All those little bags of flours were intimidating, and the few recipes I did try sure didn’t taste like the pizzas and breads that I missed. So I just forgot about having bread in my life for a long time. In the last couple years, new flours, products, cookbooks and blogs have brought wonderful baked goods back to my life. I’m re-learning how to bake and work the sticky gluten-free doughs with my mixer (there’s not much kneading going on).
Shauna and Danny, otherwise known as Glutenfree Girl and the Chef, have brought many wonders to our kitchen, but this time they have really outdone themselves. Dear readers, this is REAL bread. Maybe the most real of any bread I’ve eaten in the last 8 years. And I made it myself. From scratch. Shauna and Danny did all the research playing with different gluten-free flours to create a recipe with a wonderful texture, bursting with flavor – and that crisp chewy crust that I’ve missed in my gluten-free life. And it’s nearly as good the second day – which is not always the case with gluten-free bread. Wow.
Look at those gorgeous loaves, browned to perfection. Tap them on the underside with your fingers, and the hollow thrum sounds just like a good loaf of bread should. But the taste….Oh, it’s bread alright. It made both Mark and I groan as we took our first bites, warm from the oven and skimmed with butter.
All I have to say is – Make this bread!
Click here for Glutenfree Girl’s Olive Boule Recipe
What’s your favorite gluten-free baked treat? Share in the comments…
The Whole Kitchen 
Jenn –
The bread looks amazing. The olives are what get me. I’m sure they give the bread that perfect salty bite. You just might be whipping up something in the baking department with cinnamon in the next couple of days.
Thanks, Em! You know my mind is workin’ on the Iron Chef Challenge – can’t wait!
iron chef!! woot!
yeah, Jenn, are you baking?? i can’t wait!
this bread does look awesome – i saw it on shauna’s site too and was drooling; but i drool over all bread 🙂
I won’t kid you Heather, the competition is a little daunting for this newb. Em & I mulled over a few options tonight, but I think it’s going to be a game-day decision. The hubs is still trying to decide if he’s going to join the battle.
oh, man. you’ll be fine! it’s more fun than competition anyway. my hubs still doesn’t know what he’s making either but there’s plenty of time!!
Oh wow! I just pulled my first loaf out of the oven and it is probably the nicest bread I’ve tasted since going gluten free. Mmmm…I’ve got the other half of the dough in the fridge so I can throw it in the oven for some fresh bread mid-week.
Yay, Erin! I’m so glad the bread worked for you, too!! It’s such a wonderful recipe, I’m so thankful Shauna shared it with us now, instead of holding it for the cookbook!
Pingback: Chewy Oatmeal Cookies…Gluten-Free « The Whole Kitchen