Gluten-Free French Bread That Tastes Like the Real Thing
We have the French to thank for so many of our favorite foods — crépes, champagne, macaroons, coq au vin, steak frite… the list goes on. But despite Marie Antoinette’s famous quote about cake, is there any better than French bread? Mais non. There is nothing in the world like a crusty loaf of french bread — crunchy on the outside, yet soft and dense on the inside. When you go gluten-free, as I have done, you can be haunted, yes haunted, by the remembrance of breads past. That’s why when I see a recipe for gluten-free bread, and a baguette, no less, that looks like the real thing, I get excited.
Over at Bread & Companatico, Barbara Elisi C. is baking up crusty french bread made with sorghum, a type of grass that does not belong to the wheat family, which she swears has the taste and texture of honest to goodness, real French baguettes. And she should know; a French baker, her mission is to preserve the traditions and craft of bread baking. Barbara’s baguettes certainly look like the real thing to us.
Sorghum has been used for years in Africa and Asia to make flat bread, so it makes sense that it could make a perfect wheat substitute in bread-baking. It’s rich in protein, iron and dietary fiber, and when ground into flour it has a similar hand-feel and mouth-feel to wheat flours. Barbara rolls her baguettes in rice flour before baking to give them that perfect French bakery finish.
If all this discussion about home-baked bread has you on a roll — hi-yo — we’ve rounded up 30 great homemade bread recipes, from Parker House Rolls to corn bread to cheesy pull-apart bread. Several of the recipes are gluten-free and one is vegan. Happy French bread day!
(Photo via Bread & Companatico)
Do you have a gluten-free bread to share? Tag us on Instagram @britandco.