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This is a soft and fluffy gluten free sandwich bread that tastes great and can be sliced incredibly thin.
I have never sliced a loaf of homemade bread this thinly. I average about 2-3 slices for every inch of this bread. An 8 1/2″ loaf pan usually results in about 20 slices.
Sliced thick and thin, we’ve been eating this bread with breakfast (it cooked beautifully for this Fruity French Toast), lunch, dinner or even as dessert a few times. With homemade peach jam, it is a treat that the whole family enjoys.
Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
I’ve played with this recipe for a while now and it produces a very dependable loaf of bread. Two things to note here: first, measure the ingredients carefully.
Scoop the flours into the measuring cups with a spoon and then level off the flour with the back of a knife. Also, when pouring the dough into the pan for the final rise, make sure to press down enough to remove any air bubbles.
Trapped air bubbles = a hole in the center of the bread. The air pocket won’t cause it to bake differently and it won’t affect the taste, but it will make for an odd sandwich.
This method is proven and I am beyond thrilled with the results. I’m including a lot more pictures than usual with this post because I have had numerous questions about this bread.
This is a bread recipe that anyone should be able to bake. The pictures will hopefully help provide visuals that a novice can follow.
Gluten Free Bread Recipes
Honey and Oat Gluten Free Bread is a favorite in my house for morning toast and for sandwiches as well.
For a couple of quick bread options, this Sour Cream Banana Bread and these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins get made on repeat.
Gluten Free Sandwich Bread Recipe
Once you’ve added all the ingredients, beat the mixture at high speed for 3 minutes.
This adds air to the thick batter, which helps take the place of the missing gluten as far as structure is concerned. It will create a much fluffier loaf of bread, similar to store-bought varieties.
At the end of 3 minutes, the batter will look like thick, heavy buttercream icing: smooth and silky. It should not look at all like a typical yeast dough.
The dough will be very sticky, and feel a bit gritty if you rub some between your fingers. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and leave the batter right in the bowl to rise for the first time.
Cover the bowl with a light towel or loose plastic wrap and let the thick batter rise for 90 minutes. This batter might not completely double in size, but it will puff up considerably.
Lightly grease an 8 1/2” x 4 1/2” loaf pan with butter. Gently stir the batter down. Scrape it into the prepared pan. The dough should still be wet and not at all knead-able. It reminds me of a very thick brownie batter at this stage.
Using dampened fingers, or a wet spatula or bowl scraper; smooth the top, eliminating as many wrinkles, bubbles or creases as possible. The smoother your loaf is before this final rise, the smoother it will be once it’s baked.
After the dough rises and bakes, the top of the loaf will look very much the same as it looks when you finish smoothing it out. It is worth a minute or two of effort to make it as smooth as possible now.
Loosely cover the pan with a towel (or a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap) and let the dough rise until it barely crowns over the rim of the pan.
This will take 45 – 60 minutes, or possibly as much as 90 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
This dough is fairly delicate. Try not to touch it again at all. Any finger touch or bump will be visible after the bread is baked.
Kitchen Tip: I use this mixer, this scraper, and this loaf pan to make this recipe.
Tender High Rising Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups brown rice flour
- ⅔ cup potato starch this is NOT the same as potato flour
- ⅓ cup tapioca starch
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1¼ teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 cup warm milk
- ¼ cup butter softened to room temperature
- 3 large eggs
Instructions
- Combine all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer. I’ve made this using both the KitchenAid and a hand mixer. Both methods work well, admittedly the stand mixer is much easier.
- While using an electric mixer (hand mixer, or stand), slowly pour in the warm milk. The mixture will be mostly crumbs at first, but once all the milk is added, it will begin to come together. Add 4 tablespoons of softened butter and beat until thoroughly blended.
- Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat the mixture after each egg is added, until it is thoroughly integrated before adding the next one. Once you’ve added all the eggs, beat the mixture at high speed for 3 minutes. This adds air to the thick batter, which helps take the place of the missing gluten as far as structure is concerned. It will create a much fluffier loaf of bread, similar to store bought varieties.
- At the end of 3 minutes, the batter will look like thick, heavy buttercream icing: smooth and silky. It should not look at all like a typical yeast dough. The dough will be very sticky, and feel a bit gritty if you rub some between your fingers. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and leave the batter right in the bowl to rise for the first time.
- Cover the bowl with a light towel or loose plastic wrap and let the thick batter rise for 90 minutes. This batter might not completely double in size, but it will puff up considerably.
- Lightly grease a 8 1/2” x 4 1/2” loaf pan with butter. Gently stir the batter down. Scrape it into the prepared pan. The dough should still be wet and not at all knead-able. It reminds me of a very thick brownie batter at this stage. Using dampened fingers, or a wet spatula or bowl scraper; smooth the top, eliminating as many wrinkles, bubbles or creases as possible. The smoother your loaf is before this final rise, the smoother it will be once it’s baked. After the dough rises and bakes, the top of the loaf will look very much the same as it looks when you finish smoothing it out. It is worth a minute or two of effort to make it as smooth as possible now.
- Loosely cover the pan with a towel (or a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap) and let the dough rise until it barely crowns over the rim of the pan. This will take 45 – 60 minutes, or possibly as much as 90 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- This dough is fairly delicate. Try not to touch it again at all. Any finger touch or bump will be visible after the bread is baked.
- Bake the bread for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and using hotpads for both hands, immediately turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Brush with a very small amount of melted butter to help keep the crust soft, and add flavor. Slice when completely cool. Enjoy!
You make me almost want to go gluten free with all these delicious recipes you've been posting!! This bread looks amazing!!!
I gotta try this and soon! Thanks for making it easy for me to get a good loaf of gluten free bread 🙂
I am simply amazed that you can make a bread like this without traditional flour. My sister is experimenting with a gluten free diet, so I'm sending it to her.
Your bread looks wonderful – great texture! This has to be one of the best gluten free loaves I've seen! I just started reading Wheat Belly and see this in my future.
This looks so good. I have a friend that was just complaining saying that there was just no gluten free bread that tastes good. I think she is really going to like this recipe!!
Wow! Those are some very impressive slices. I usually have to stick with really thick ones when I make a loaf of bread. Beautiful job!
Your bread looks perfect.
It looks wonderful!
Homemade bread always the best!
Just made this and wanted to thank you for the recipe. From the blobs of dough that now live on the bottom of my oven- I can tell I let it rise a bit too long but no matter- it tastes better than any gf bread ive ever had!
I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the bread! I love hearing back when people try my recipes. Have a great night, Amy!
Is it possible to use an all purpose GF flour as a substitute for the brown rice and starchs?
I haven't tried it myself. If you do try it, please come back and let me know which pre-made GF flour blend you used and how it worked for you! Thanks. Have a great weekend!
I just started making homemade bread and one thing I am curious about what is the best way to store it.
It depends on how long you want to store it. I keep uncut loaves tightly wrapped in foil and then in a gallon ziploc bag in the freezer. If we are eating them immediately, I have an airtight box to store the sliced loaves in as we are eating them. The bread should last a few days at room temperature.
I tried your recipe for your GF bread this morning and subbed in the rice milk for the milk and Earths Best Butter for butter- (we're a gluten and casein free fam)- turned out fabulous!
Shared it on my blog, and linked your site for your original recipe!
Great recipe- THANK YOU!
We're going GF and casein free also… I did a search for Earth's Best Butter but didn't come up with anything. Where can you find that?
I've made this a couple of times now exactly as written and liked it a lot. But every time it is very fragile Am I doing something wrong or is this just expected do i need to mix more less ?? I sooo don't have a clue what I am doing Oh and today I added a tablespoon of honey and it was excellent added just a touch of sweetness and a little moister and also held up a little better. Plus I read somewhere adding honey will make it stay fresh longer. Also froze half a loaf last time I made it and when defrosted didn't have any difference in texture. AWESOME RECIPE!! Love your pancakes too
Hi Katy,
I am SO glad that you like this bread (and the pancakes!). I've been working on a honey variation as well and I am really loving it. I really missed the honey flavor that is traditionally in whole wheat breads! I will be posting it soon.
As for being delicate, are you referring to the way that the sliced bread handles? Or the dough itself? We tend to go through the bread pretty quickly, but I will take note of it next time and see how it feels.
Thanks for returning to comment. I love hearing back from people when they make the recipes!
I too am having a fragile problem with this bread. I think I didn't press the dough down into the pan enough, and ended up with a deep crease down the middle. My fault. That said, the crumb is very fragile right from the start. I made my first loaf yesterday, sliced it for Communion this morning and had to use several slices in order to get enough cubes for our service. Very, very crumbly. My bread looked just like the finished sliced picture, so the visual is right, but don't know what I did wrong. The flavor is excellent, so will keep trying to figure this out. Any suggestions might help.
I've never tried slicing it into cubes, so I don't have experience with or advice for that. (Though I will try next time I make it, just to see how it works for me!) The bread does have a more delicate crumb than traditional wheat breads, but I've never had it fall apart on me like you are describing. Sorry you are dealing with that!
Hey Mary Im talking about how the sliced bread handles .. I'm slicing it normal sandwich width and it breaks very easily but its not dry just fragile. But even with that so much better than anything I bought in the stores! Been raving to my GF friends abt it.
I made a loaf a couple days ago and I didn't notice my slices breaking on days one or two, but by day three, the slices do break in half more easily if they aren't handled carefully. The bread definitely isn't dry, but it is a bit delicate. I'll let you know how the latest bread works out as far as being this delicate.
OMG! Best bread ever!! I will never buy GF bread again. Next time I'm going to put it on a cookie sheet and make hot dog buns.
This bread looks so great and I definitely want to try it! Is the xanthan gum compulsory? I couldn't find it in my place, is there any other alternatives to sub it? Thanks!
Do you think it would be okay to substitute corn starch or arrowroot starch in place of the potato starch in this bread? I am new to gluten free baking and really want to try out this recipe. It looks so yummy! Also, I am allergic to xanthan gum. Would the bread totally crumble without it?
I've been playing with gluten free baking without xantham lately and I think this loaf might work, but it will not have exactly the same structure. I'd recommend cutting the slices thicker. However, I haven't tried it myself yet. If you do try it, I'd love to hear how it turns out.
As for substituting the starches, it should work. You could also try simply increasing the tapioca starch and leaving out the potato. However, I prefer the combination of multiple flours and starches myself. Good luck!
Okay, I actually used potato starch but replaced the 1/3 tapioca with corn starch. I left out the xanthan gum. Everything else I left the same. I left my bread to rise for the second time and let it go too long, it overflowed the bread pan. I put it in the oven and the loaf fell in on itself. Do you think that happened because I let the dough rise too long? Or is it possible I overbeat the dough and got too much air in it? I would like to try this again because it smelled delicious when it was baking…
If the dough rises too much, it will overflow the pan. I've had that happen before.
Kristen,
Rather than just omitting the xantham gum, replace it with guar gum, a common substitute for those who are allergic to xantham gum.
The lack of the gum is probably why it collapsed. These gums do the work gluten does in regular bread by making a matrix that holds up the other ingredients: Gluten and the gums all kind of act like the beams of a house that support the walls and roof, without the beams the walls and roof would collapse in on themselves.
I'm fairly new to gf baking but above is what I understand about the chemistry of gf baking. I also believe that this is the part of recipes that causes gf bread to be so much more fragile – I've had the same problem even with store bought gf breads: they all break apart easier than gluten breads. The atoms in gluten just supply a stronger bond with flours than whatever else is out there. But I am exploring options and hope to figure something out, if possible, and post it on my fledgling/occassional blog (SpherMod). (I'm taking a look at the scientific and historical aspects of food.)
I have been looking for a decent bread recipe though (the store wants $6+ for a small loaf of gf sandwich bread!) and am excited to try this one out and will link to it for sure! I'm also glad to read in the comments that soy milk works well because I can't consume milk either.
Ok, I made yesterday and it was PHENOMENAL! I posted it on my blog, with links back to your's Mary, and also listed my adjustments and results at the bottom. Please check it out. My blog is here: http://sphermod.blogspot.com
Thank you for this great recipe!!!
I am new to gluten free, and new to GF baking. After several failed attempts at bread I found your site. Your directions were perfect and I turned out an absolutely beautiful loaf of bread in less than 2 hours. I used a food processor and quick rise yeast. Yes, it rose perfectly, no, it didn't collapse when cooling, and yes, it tasted great. The only change I made to the recipe was I substituted 1 cup of sorghum flour for 1 cup of rice flour. Probably because I made a desperate run to Whole Foods before I found you site LOL and had about 8 types of flour. Again, THANK YOU for your wonderful recipe.
Good day/evening to you Mary:)
love the look and sound of your yummy Tender High Rising Gluten Free Sandwich Bread, i was wondering could this be made in a bread maker, how would you go about doing that? and also can the Xanthan Gum be substituted with some ground flax seed?
I haven't tried subbing the xantham gum with flax seed. If you do try it, I'd like to hear how it works for you. I have no idea how it would work in a bread machine either. Again, I'd like to hear about it if you try that.
made this today….my second rise barely rose….I let it rise for 90 minutes then just went ahead and put it in the oven. It cooked well and the flavor and texture were amazing. Going to try it again to figure out why it wouldn't rise much.
I had the same problem, and I think it is because of the temperature of your home. The warmer the better for rising. My house was at 67-68 degrees, and it didn't rise much either. I'm going to try turning up the heat for my next loaf. 🙂
I always rise my loafs in the microwave (acts kind of like a proof box). If you want, put some water in a mug and micro for a min or so, just to get it nice and warm in there 1st!
I will make this in the morning after going shopping because I wonder where can I find tapioca starch? Can I make that from scratch or is it mostly found in the health food store? Thanks!
My best, Lynn
I purchase tapioca starch from a local health food store. It can also be purchased online. I have no idea how you would make it from scratch.
You can make tapioca flour by grinding tapioca pearls in a grain grinder. Just make sure to check with the manufacturer of your grinder to see if your grinder will grind the pearls first! Some do and some don't.
Patti
P.S. Can't wait to try this bread