Making the easiest bread of all, Quick Breads.

 Gluten free quick breads are one of the easiest breads to bake. Not having to deal with yeast and trying to make something that is naturally very glutinous with ingredients that are not, makes this my favorite thing to bake. Quick breads are so versatile. You can use them for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

We need to look beyond yeast breads and start thinking of using a different kind of bread for sandwiches, French toast, bread pudding, croutons, and breading for meats or vegetables. Savory quick breads can fit in very nicely. How many times have you used leftover biscuits for a sandwich because you didn't want them to get stale on you. Have you thought about using those same stale biscuits for croutons or bread crumbs? The cool thing about gluten free baking is that nothing is off limits! Use your own love of cooking and have fun with the possibilities!

Many things fall under the heading of "Quick Breads".

Quick Bread Loaves : Like Banana Nut Bread or Garlic Cheese Bread for example

Muffins: both sweet and savory

Biscuits

Pancakes and Waffles

Crepes

Let's get out the pans and bowls and start making some scrumptious breads!

Tip #1

Quick Breads  

Make sure you have all your ingredients at room temperature unless the recipe states otherwise. Blend all your dry ingredients together first. Blend your wet ingredients together in another bowl. Then add the wet to the dry stirring as little as possible. Make sure to grease your pans and use parchment paper in the bottom of the loaf pan if you want to be sure that it will come out clean!

Gluten free quick breads are on the heavy size and have a hard time baking all way through in a regular sized loaf pan. Usually the bread will be done around the outside edges and gooey in the middle. Try using smaller loaf pans and reducing the amount of time for baking. Always check about 5 minutes before the time is up. If you open the oven door earlier than that, your quick bread will fall and sink in the middle. I can't tell you how many times I have done that. Check for doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean in the middle, your breads ready to come out. Always cool on wire racks.

Tip #2

Muffins

Muffins are very similar to quick breads. In fact, you can take ANY Quick Bread recipe and scoop it into muffin cups and bake it that way.

Again, do not over mix your batter! Your muffins will end up tough. Gently, gently! Once you have your dry ingredients mixed together and your wet ones in another bowl, make a well ( or a depression) in your dry ingredients so you pour wet ones into it. Then take your spoon and stir just till combined.

Now, the important thing. Walk away! Let your batter rest for two minutes to allow the dry to absorb the liquids. This is vital with gluten free flours. Your muffins will love you for it.  Take your cookie scoops and scoop out your muffin batter. I cannot tell you how easy this makes it. No more gloppy mess everywhere because your spoon or 1/4 cup measure has left little messes all over. Use Cookie Scoops!

I recommend that you have three six cup muffin baking pans. Many times a recipe has said it makes 12 muffins and I end up with 16 or 18. Having the extra pan saves me from throwing out the rest of the batter ( I hate to do that).

When your muffins are baked and out of the oven, instead of turning them out on a rack, you can gently lift them and turn them on their sides right in the muffin tin. this keeps the bottoms from becoming soggy and you don't have to get anything else dirty. I do this all the time.

Tip #3

Biscuits

Make sure your butter, margarine or shortening is well chilled and cut into little cubes so you can cut it in more quickly and evenly. This is where a food processor really shines. You can dump in your dry ingredients and shortening and pulse a few times. Using vegetable shortening produces better biscuits than all butter. Dump the cut in flour mix into a bowl and work in the liquid ingredients. Super quick and easy.

Gently pat your biscuits out and cut with a cutter, do not use a rolling pin. You'll just squish them down and that's not good. Place them on parchment paper lined baking sheet just touching each other. This helps them to rise up and not out and allows the steam from the biscuits themselves to escape better than pushing them tightly against each other. Gently indent the center of each one with your thumb so they cook up flatter and not with a domed top. Make sure to bake in a hot oven (at least 400 degrees).  

Tip #4

Pancakes and Waffles

Again, don't over mix your batter ( sound familiar?). Everything that applies to muffins works here too.

Whisk your dry ingredients together. If your recipe calls for eggs, separate them and set aside. Add the whites to the milk and blend together. Add the yolks to the fats (either butter or oil) and blend together. Then blend all the liquids together with a whisk.

Before you add the liquids to the dry, PREHEAT your griddle, skillet, or waffle iron. Make sure it is hot and ready to go. You want to cook immediately after you mix your batter. Once your cooking surface is hot, add the liquids to the dry and WHISK. Do not use a spoon. A whisk will blend faster and better. Only take about 10 seconds, no more. You just need to blend them together.

Ready to pour out. Using a ladle makes it easy to get uniform sized pancakes and waffles and is less messy than a cup. Grease your hot surface and go to it. Smells good! If you want to have blueberry pancakes, now is the time to add them. Do not mix them in with the batter. Just sprinkle them on top of the just poured pancakes. They will cook just fine. Do this for any fruit you want to add to your pancakes.

If your batter seems thick, whisk in a little more milk. A wetter batter works better with gluten free flours.

Flip when golden brown on the bottom. Sometimes gluten free pancakes do not bubble and pop like wheat ones do. Watch the bottoms!

To hold them in the oven, preheat to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a kitchen towel. Stack the cooked pancakes in a single layer then top with another towel. Keep adding pancakes in a single layer along with another towel until you have cooked them all. Then serve right away.

For Waffles follow the same procedures, cooking on a pre heated iron. Allow the steam to slow down before you check to see if they are done. Again, a wetter batter works better. The longer you bake your waffles, the crisper they will become.

To freeze, wrap in a paper towel and place in zip type bags. Freeze flat in the freezer. Then you can move them to wherever you want. Take out and toast in a toaster oven or your regular oven.

Go ahead and make your pancake mix. It's easy, cheap and tastes good!

Tip #5

Crepes

It's a shame that nobody makes crepes anymore. You can do soo much with them. Think blintzes, crepes suzette, covered with cherries and whipped cream, filled with shrimp, vegetables or leftover stew, you can do pretty much anything with them.

Using an electric crepe maker takes the fear out of it. I know. Having to learn how to swirl the crepe pan to get the batter perfectly round and thin is enough to scare anyone off. The new electric crepe makers make it "stupid easy" ( I used to swirl and cook, not always very well). I saw an electric one demonstrated and decided it was "stupid" to keep doing it by hand ( hence "stupid easy").

Make your batter in a blender and let it sit for 1 hour. Again, this allows the flour to absorb the liquid.

Make a lot! Stack however many you think you will use at a time. I usually figure 2 per person. For my family, that means stacks of 10. Wrap the stack in plastic wrap, place in freezer zip type bags and freeze flat. Then you can move them around. Pull them out and thaw on the counter or in the frig. Separate and use for whatever.

These are great to have around for a fancy show-off kind of dinner or dessert. Everybody will be impressed. Don't tell them how easy it was.
Some secrets are worth keeping. 

I hope you will try your hand at all kinds of quick breads. Use them for sandwiches, breakfast, for making ice cream sandwiches, or make wraps out of crepes.

Enjoy cooking! Have fun!