Monday, April 29, 2013

Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix by Bob’s Red Mill

I am about to write a product review of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix,
but before I do I have to fess up. The FTC says I am supposed to tell you when I write about products that I receive for free, and the truth is – I don’t remember if I the folks at Bob’s sent me this mix, or if I purchased it. I have (from time to time) received product from Bob’s Red Mill, and I have also purchased quite a bit. So there you have it.

During the writing of Learning to Bake Allergen-Free I tried many off-the-shelf baking mixes, and created recipes from some of my favorites for the book. This happens to be one mix I hadn’t got around to trying prior to publication.

This mix is part of Bob’s gluten-free line, which means it is made in a dedicated wheat-free and dairy-free facility. While it doesn’t contain any of the other top-8 food allergens, the facility does process tree nuts and soy. The mix uses a garbanzo bean flour base (along with other flours and starches), and guar gum. I know that some of you need flour blends without rice or xanthan gum, and this contains neither.

Another thing I am asked a lot about bread mixes is – can you make it in a bread machine? The answer is yes. While I used the by-hand instructions, this mix can also has instructions for a bread machine.

I did need to adapt the add-in ingredients. I used hemp milk for the milk. Instead of ¾ cup eggs plus egg whites I used ½ cup flax seed gel and
¼ cup applesauce. Instead of butter I used grapeseed oil.

I found that I needed considerably less time in the oven than suggested. The directions called for 60-65 minutes baking time. I set my timer for 50 minutes (15 minutes less than the suggested time) and found that I left it in a little too long; my thermometer was already up to 212 degrees – optimal would be 205-210. Forty-five minutes would have been perfect.

The result was a slightly deformed bread (it sunk in along the sides a bit), but nicely browned and quite tasty:


I know some of you turn up your noses at garbanzo bean flours. To my taste buds there is no discernable bean taste to the bread – it has a nice mild taste with a very traditional bread-like consistency. It also held up well over the next few days without getting the mushy tops that some gluten-free bread does. All in all I was very happy with this bread mix, and add it to my list of off-the-shelf options. It makes a great sunflower butter and jam sandwich:

4 comments:

Kathryn @ Mamacado said...

I've never tried this but will have to in the future to "mix" up my son's bread a bit since we always use King Arthur GF mix.

Sarah P. said...

Is it possible to make your own gluten free flour mix without legumes and corn? My daughter is allergic to legumes (in addition to lots of other things) and her doctor thinks her EoE symptoms could be caused from gluten and corn. I have recently removed them from her diet and have noticed her digestion has improved greatly as well as her overall mood. I have yet to try making gluten free bread products yet. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Colette said...

Hi Sarah, yes! There are both off-the-shelf mixes without gluten, legumes, and corn, or you can mix your own. Also note that there are some differences in baking bread when you use gluten-free grains. In Learning to Bake Allergen-Free I dedicate a whole chapter to this topic -- and include options for both off-the-shelf and mix-your-own flour blends.

jw said...

Hi, just fyi, the ingredients for this mix has changed since this review... it now contains sorghum, potato starch, cornstarch, pea protein, tapioca flour, sugar, xanthan gum, sea salt and guar gum, plus yeast, ascorbic acid and sorbitan monostearate. I haven't tried it yet -- I found your post while searching for alternative ways to make it without the eggs, so thank you for the ideas!