Do you think any of these about gluten-free bread:
- It doesn’t taste nice
- It crumbles
- The slices are too small
- It tastes too sweet
- It doesn’t agree with my stomach even if it is gluten-free
If you are struggling with gluten-free bread and still like to eat some, why not make your own! It is really not that difficult to make and I will give you five more reasons why you might give it a go!
1. You get the bread you want to eat
You can make the bread any size and shape you want. If you want wholesome wholegrain or fluffy baguette with a nice crust, with a bit of practice and the right recipes and understanding of the process that will become a reality. You can make rolls, boules, batards, loaves, whatever you fancy, really!
I am sure that when you invest a bit of time and effort to learn the basics, you will eventually have the freedom to bake anything you want! On my gluten-free online bread making course ‘Simple and Tasty Gluten-Free Bread’ I teach the principles so that one gets a shortcut into understanding the principles one needs to know to feel more confident in venturing out into the world of gluten-free bread. One also already gets to bake some tasty bread and improve their gluten-free life straightaway.
2. You get bread with flavour
Shop bought breads are created to appeal to as many people as possible, gluten-free bread being a niche market as it is. This is likely the reason why GF bread tastes quite neutral – sometimes I feel they have no flavour at all! When making your own, you can make the bread taste the way you want and not how most people might want it.
You can customise your bread to have more flare: You can add bits like olives, sun-dried tomato, carrot, chives, nuts – whatever you want – in! If there is a fond memory of cutting open a bread roll and adding a lashing of butter on with a comforting flavour of the grain, a version of that can also be created with gluten-free grains.
3. You get better quality bread
Baking your own gluten-free bread at home isn’t necessarily cheaper than buying it from the shops. However the things mentioned above already make it worth making your own anyway. You can typically invest a bit more in the quality of ingredients and choose what you want to put in your bread, so you can have improved nutritional content, and you know exactly what you are eating. As the bread in the shops is typically a balancing act of cost and shelf life, making one’s own makes it possible to use ingredients like more wholegrains, seeds and nuts, which otherwise are used more sparingly in the breads found in the shops. There are also things you can do to mitigate the cost of the bread you are making but that is a post for another day!
In some cases with other intolerances on top of gluten-free, making your own bread can be the only option to have bread. I can’t eat gluten-free oats, and need to avoid rice and corn which are abundant in commercial GF products. After trying it, I realised I didn’t want to totally go without GF bread so I took the time to learn how I can substitute different flours to make what I want to eat. I am really enjoying having ownership of my diet. Some nice homemade gluten-free crusty bread with a hot bowl of soup is pure happiness for me
4. You gain a new hobby and friends
The desire to eat better gluten-free bread is global. When I started to bake my own bread and took courses and learned about GF bread making I have made friends all around the world with people who also want to enjoy better gluten-free bread.
Talking to other people about the foods they like to eat, things they want to bake and challenges they face is really what sparks inspiration and turns problems into to solutions. My bread course came from the need to help fellow bakers to understand why things are done a certain way and why their bakes sometimes fall flat. We also realised that ingredients can differ and behave differently in different parts of the world so it is not just the climate that affects one’s bread success!
As my former career was in chemical engineering, I enjoy a good challenge. Hence, baking my gluten-free things has given me a nice hobby, something trickier to sort out that I enjoy and I get to help others to have an easier time with it, as well. So in addition to a hobby, I have made it my business, too!
5. Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread
Having the smell of freshly baked gluten-free bread wafting through the house might feel like a thing you can’t experience anymore when you need to go gluten-free. Luckily you can still have that!
I feel an excited buzz each time I start to smell the bread baking in the oven. My daughter says that our house smells just like her granny and grandad’s house. I grew up in a house where most of the baked goods are home made and luckily even if I am gluten-free, I can give the same experience to my daughter! I can also have her involved in the baking process.
I hope you have gained hope and inspiration to give yourself the gift of exploring gluten-free baking. I truly think that we gain more freedom in our gluten-free lives when we explore making things from scratch. Baking can also be a very grounding thing to do even in the midst of a busy life. Go and have a look at my baking course to see if this would be the time for you to get started!
Also follow my blog for more updates on gluten-free things! If there is anything you need my help with, let me know in the comments.
Gluten-Free Life Tweaks 