The Gluten-Free Homemaker

It’s funny how the little things can make a big difference in how difficult a recipe is viewed in my mind.  My wonderful French bread isn’t hard to make at all, and doesn’t take much time compared to making a loaf of bread. But I do have to get out the special pan, divide the dough, and shape it.  On the other hand, my French bread rolls can just be scooped up with an ice cream scoop and plopped on a cookie sheet.  Really, there is very little difference in time, but for some reason the rolls seem so quick and easy.  I can have them made in 35 minutes, and I don’t even have to remember to preheat the oven.  They have become a favorite.

I was down with the flu all last week and am still getting over it, but I was determined to put dinner on the table every night.  I had frozen some leftover ground roast beef which I used for spaghetti one night, but there was still quite a bit left.  My husband suggested beef sandwiches so I put together some French bread rolls and served them with the beef in the middle and broth on the side for dipping.  Unfortunately, the beef just wasn’t the best, which led son #2 to say, “Okay mom, you’re not allowed to get sick any more.”  Son #3 thought they were good, though, as did I, and son #1 isn’t picky.  Food is mostly fuel to him.  With good roast beef on these sandwiches they would have been great, and it was a quick meal.

I’m writing about the rolls again because I’m always experimenting with recipes and trying to increase the amount of whole grain.  This time I decreased the potato starch by 1/2 cup and increased the sorghum and millet by 1/4 cup each.  The rolls turned out just as well as they did before, so that’s the recipe I’m sticking with.  If you don’t have both sorghum and millet, try using just one.  My French bread recipe uses only sorghum so I’m sure that would work fine.  Since I increase the amount of whole grain in this recipe, I’m submitting it for this week’s Slightly Indulgent Mondays at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.

Here is the recipe with the changes.

Gluten-Free French Bread Rolls

Ingredients

3/4 c. sorghum flour  
3/4 c. millet flour
1  c. potato starch
1/2 c. tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tb. sugar
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 Tb. instant yeast 
1 Tb. olive oil
3 large egg whites
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1 c. warm water (105 – 115 degrees) 


Instructions
In the bowl of your mixer, combine the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil and egg whites and mix to incorporate. Add the vinegar and most of the water. Beat for 2 minutes, adding the remaining water if needed to make a soft dough. (I held back 2 Tb.)

Using an ice cream scoop or spoon sprayed with non stick cooking spray, scoop the dough onto a large greased cookie sheet.  Spraying the scoop helps, but I had to re-spray every couple of times.

Put the cookie sheet into a cold oven.  Set the temperature at 400 degrees and bake about 25 minutes, depending on the size of the rolls.  The rolls should be light brown on the outside.  Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

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Labels: bread recipes