Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Wonderful Bread Mix Review

I’ve tried Bob’s Red Mill products many times, in fact, they’re a staple of our gluten-free home. One of the first things I miss about having gluten in my life is bread, and thusly, have been on the hunt for gluten-free bread mixes.

I really appreciate that this mix includes everything you need except for your wet ingredients, which are eggs and water. A few other mixes I’ve seen in-stores do not include the yeast, and if you’re considering using a bread mix that probably means you’re not an avid baker and therefore wouldn’t be interested in purchasing a one-time-use product. So, the fact that it’s included in this mixture is a plus.

Watch me test the recipe!

I also appreciate that the instructions are pretty minimal. Throw everything into your mixer, after letting your yeast activate for 10-ish minutes and then mix it to hell. That’s it. The most difficult thing about this mix is the wait time. But that’s just baking in general, it’s a lot of hurry up and wait.

You’ll need to let your batter rise for about an hour, and then it’ll have almost a 90 minute bake time as well. Finally, you should let your loaf cool completely before cutting into it — which takes about another hour. I do not recommend making this when you’re jonesing some bread.

A word of advice, when you’re letting the mix rise I suggest using the water method to create a “very warm” place if you don’t have a sunny window. Put your loaf pan into another vessel and fill that with warm water (I just turn my apartment sink on as hot as it will go) and create a warm bath for your loaf. That seems to work better than trying to use your oven at a low temperature.

All in all, it’s a solid mix and when I’m not baking from scratch, I’ll definitely keep this around. If you’re interested you can purchase it here.

Bake on! - Hallease

Gluten-free Buttermilk Biscuits From Scratch!

Ever since my husband found out he was gluten-intolerant back in 2015 I’ve been on a mission to perfect a Southern ClassicTM – The Buttermilk biscuit.  For years, its flakey goodness has been shrouded in mystery.  Will I ever get my dough to puff up? I need it to stick to the sides of my mouth like those coveted at Popeye’s.  This biscuit isn’t perfect, but it comes pretty darn close.

Rest assured, as I keep finding and experimenting with new recipes – another iteration will appear here. The Gluten-Free Buttermilk Biscuit is my white whale.

Watch us create this recipe on YouTube

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour

1 ½ tsp Bob’s Red Mill Xanthan Gum (or other Xanthan Gum)

1 tbsp gluten-free baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 cup buttermilk

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1 large egg

*keep your flour handy to sprinkle across a surface for folding the dough

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat your oven to 450. In a large bowl combine all of your dry ingredients. Chop up your butter into cubes and work into the dry batter.  You want to keep your butter chilled during this process; you can use two forks to work the butter into the dry mix until it has a “cornmeal” consistency. 

Whisk your egg and buttermilk together in a separate container before combining it into your dry mixture. I would recommend using a spatula over a whisk to mix everything together.  This dough will be very sticky and wet, but once it’s completely combined roll it out onto your GF floured surface. 

The key to a good GF Buttermilk biscuit is not over-manipulating the dough.  Instead of kneading the dough you just need to fold it over on itself about 3 times. I also do not recommend using a rolling pin.  Flatten the dough down to about an inch thickness and using a biscuit cutter (or a the top of a glass if you’re lazy like me) cut out all of your biscuits.  Be careful not to twist as this can also over-manipulate the dough and mess with your rise.

Place all of your biscuits onto a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick spray.  Fold your dough back over once and finish creating as many biscuits as possible but note these will probably not rise as much since you’ve folded the dough again. Nevertheless, waste not the dough.

Finally, bake your biscuits just above the center of the oven racks for about 15 – 20 minutes.  My oven runs a little warm so 15 minutes seems to work well for me. Grab your jam and God speed!   

If you’re looking for variations of this recipe, check out Mama Knows Gluten-Free’s recipe!

• Much love! - Hallease