Ever since I had the pleasure/misfortune of catering the Canal House Cooks Every Day book party, I’ve suffered dough PTSD.
There were many sources of stress. First, I was cooking for a rarefied gaggle of high profile New York City food peeps. Second, I had half the time I needed to cook all the things from the book for all 75 in attendance. And finally, one of those things was biscuits.
I had never made biscuits before. I was gluten-free. The party was on the Monday following hurricane Sandy, so I was a refugee in my parent’s apartment uptown and didn’t end up practicing as I should have.
Long story short, I produced four-dozen sunken, hard hockey-puck shaped rounds. Some of which became moistened, only slightly, by my tears.
I’ll never forget how kind and understanding Christopher and Melissa were about my epic fail. “Do they taste good?” Melissa asked, before she took a skeptical bite. They did, thank God. “Well, we’ll just call them biscuit cookies!” she said.
I could cry again right now just thinking about their graciousness. And also, out of embarrassment when I remember the look on Danny Meyer’s face when he bit into a hard biscuit later in the night.
I haven’t baked anything in the savory bread family (besides these) since.
Last year, my friend Ali Stafford wrote this guest post about Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I made it my resolution to try my hand at it, especially since so many of you reported back with epic results.
But, alas, 2016 came and went without so much as one measly boule to come out of my oven.
It took until March of this year for Ali to finally cure me of my bread baking phobia. And she did so with her own genius gluten-free peasant bread recipe that requires no kneading and can be baked directly in a Pyrex bowl.
The non-gluten-free version of this peasant bread “master recipe” is the cornerstone of her new cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs, a nose-to-tail bread book that teaches you dozens of variations on that original recipe (hello, spicy jalapeno, corn and jack bread), and ways to use up every nub.
The book is brimming with creativity, and packed with tips at every turn that will troubleshoot whatever dough panic questions arise. I was also lucky enough to have Ali virtually by my side every step of the way (thank you, Instagram). When my dough looked a little wet, she instructed that sometimes the rise takes longer; I should simply give it more time for the dough to crest over the top of the bowl. I did, and she was right!
I did not take her advice, however, about letting the loaves rest before cutting into them. They smelled so good, I couldn’t wait!
It’s rare that you get a moist, spongey crumb with gluten-free bread and not something dry, stiff and cardboard-like. This recipe was a revelation. It was the first time in memory that I could enjoy bread fresh out of the oven. And the first time I didn’t have to use a toaster to shock my sad slices into something crusty and edible.
My favorite part about this gluten-free bread recipe is that it makes 2 loaves so you can stash one in the freezer for future toasts, or….even better: #bakeitforward!
Skip to the bottom of the post to find out how you can enter to win a copy of Ali’s gorgeous new book. Consider it my way to #sharealoaf with you!
Xoxo
Phoebe
Gluten-Free Peasant Bread
Ingredients
- 4 cups AP gluten-free flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil like grapeseed
- 1 teaspoon white wine or cider vinegar
- Softened unsalted butter for greasing
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. In a medium bowl, pour the water over the honey and stir to dissolve. Add the eggs, oil, and vinegar. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a spatula to form a batter.
- Grease two 1-quart oven-safe bowls with the softened butter—be generous. Divide the dough evenly between the prepared bowls. With wet hands, smooth the surface of the dough. Let the dough rise in a warm or draft-free spot for 30 to 45 minutes, until the top of the dough just crowns the rims of the bowls. Halfway through the rising, set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 425 degrees F.
- Transfer the bowls to the oven (use a baking sheet to make it easier), and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for 17 to 20 minutes more, until golden all around. Remove the bowls from the oven and turn the loaves out onto the cooling racks. Let the loaves cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.
Recipe Notes
Note that this recipe differs from Ali’s master peasant bread recipe in that it doesn’t have two rises, and therefore doesn’t require a bowl cover.
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe - I'd love to see it!
See how this Gluten-Free Peasant Bread stacks up to last year’s Artisan Gluten-Free Bread Recipe.
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I love to toast GF breadcrumbs in really good olive oil and then (heavily) sprinkle them on top of roasted green beans or asparagus! The perfect crunch and salty bits to go with veggies…
yesss on veggies! healthy hedonism to the max!
This book looks like such fun! I really enjoy baking, though I am a new mother so I don’t quite get to it as often as I’d like right now, but more and more I am getting back to it, I’ve always wanted to make my own croutons but have never quite gotten to it. Usually the bread is gone before I can turn it into much…
that was definitely true of this loaf! no crumbs for me… 🙂 congrats on expanding your fam!
Toast is a perfect excuse to crack open a jar of my homemade strawberry jam!
yummmm i can’t wait for summer to make some fresh!
I’m love all bruschetta!
I love all bruschetta! Sorry for the typo!
ME TOO girl!
My go-to and fav toast is avocado toast! I love to add a yolky fried egg on top too. Perfect breakfast or lunch! Sometimes dinner too! Another fav is good old pb toast with bananas. I actually always toast my bread, even for sandwiches. I bet this bread would make some really good garlic bread too! Crumbs..hmm…great to put in my best meatloaf recipe for teriyaki meatloaf!
I’lll have to share this recipe with my aunt, who is gluten free. Homemade gluten free bread is hard to get right!
thanks for sharing Mimi! I hope she loves it!
Toast I simply eat with butter, avocado, peanut butter, cheese or fried eggs. Crumbs I collect and freeze. I use them not only for baked toppings but I also incorporate them in sauces to build body and depth.
fried eggs for the win, always. xoxo
I would make breadcrumbs to use on baked salmon or chicken.
I would use fine bread crumbs to make broccoli polinase, One of my favs my x-husband used to make for me.
I have not tried to make this yet — but like that it seems simple! I have to admit that I prefer just using all-purpose GF flour rather than a teaspoon of this and that and the other thing! I am wondering though if this might be able to be baked as one loaf in a cast iron dutch oven? I really like the way that loaf looks! (I saw the recipe for GF dutch loaf bread on your friend’s site — but I am reluctant to try it as I just want to use plain old store-bought all-purpose flour). Any suggestions?
Alexandra recommends Cup4Cup if you don’t want to make your own blend!
It didn’t work…..it was soup!!!! Terrible recipe – I’ve made bread before 2 cups of water WAY to much. It was soup.
I’m making as we speak and mine is also a bit soup like…..I was wondering what I did wrong…. 🙁
I halved the recipe ( it halves perfectly) and ended up with something that looks less like a “batter” and more like a dough and not like anything that will rise. It’s got 30min left of rise time. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Nope. I tried again and left to rise on the stove range now warm from my previous failure. Got a tiny bit more rose but in the end, I ended up with two inedible bricks. Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
Could be ur flour. If you can use cup4cup. Gf flour is tricky
I made the recipe yesterday sooo easy & quick
I made one large loaf absolutely a keeper. I used Cup 4 Cup flour as I didn’t notice a recipe for homemade flour.
great!!
I also got soup after combining all the ingredients! I’ll put them in the oven, but I’m doubting they’ll come together. Any suggestions?
This gluten free bread will be perfect for when my gluten free friends come for dinner. I’d start with making them a panini.
yay!
I love toast with smashed avocado, scrambled eggs and a bit of cheese! perfect for a quick breakfast!!
I use baking as a form of therapy, due to the fact that I’m a caregiver for someone who has Alz. Baking helps with the not so great days. This recipe looks amazing, can’t wait to try this!
Ended up like soup! I used my go to gf flour mix with sorghum, potato and tapioca. I will still put it in oven but doubt that it will anything edible.
I make regular peasant bread and tried this for a friend and my granddaughter. Great!!!! I use the crumbs for stuffing a bird after toadying with olive oil. Great recipe. Thanks
woohoo!!!
I made the bread though kept it as one loaf, flavor was good for gf bread will make again for sure. It did fall after resting for 20 mins
hopefully still delish!
I made this 3 days ago and was sad to finish eating it today, so good! I don’t have a 1-qt Pyrex bowl, the closest I have is 1.5-qt, so I prepared 75% of the recipe in the one bowl and baked it about 40 minutes until the interior got to 200 F. Next time I’ll let it get to 205F as the inside was too moist, but it was basically a success. I used BRM 1-1 GF flour mix and tried to approximate 1.5 eggs; everything else was easy to scale to 75% of the original.
I tried this subbing out egg for a flax egg (1 T ground flax, 2 T boiling water per ‘egg’), and it was awesome!! My dairy free, nut free, gluten free, egg free, soy free son thanks you for giving him back bread
so great to know!
I made this bread last night and followed the recipe using GF flour cup for cup. This bread never did rise, I baked it as directed and it came out so hard that I bent a kitchen knife trying to cut into it. Waste of ingredients and time.
Fabulous!!! I used Bob’s redmill GF all purpose flour, 1 pack of Fleischmann’s active dry yeast, and greased the bowl with the red container of earth balance spread as we cannot do dairy. I added some caraway seeds to one loaf and it was incredible!! I allowed my dough to rise in a toaster oven with the light on for 45 min. It worked perfectly!! It was the first time my daughter had fresh bread out of the oven that she can eat. She kept saying she was in heaven. Thank you for this wonderful and easy recipe!!
So glad you loved it!!
Hi, Like Hayke, my daughter can’t have dairy, which is in the AP flour that Phoebe used. Also, we use Bob’s RM AP flour, which doesn’t have xanthan gum (which my daughter also can’t have). It looks like Hayke did ok with the BRM AP flour (fava bean, sorghum, etc., I assume?), while Jo (who wrote above with no reply) had a bad experience using it. It would be great if Hayke could explain whether she used xanthan gum directly or indirectly, and I’d love to hear any ideas Phoebe has for using an AP flour w/o xanthan gum (apparently the lack of milk is ok). Hayke said she used 1 packet of yeast, but that’s already in the recipe (same as 2.5 tsp), so that’s not the trick. I’d love to find a GF “white” bread that doesn’t require xanthan gum or milk. Thanks!
Psyllium husk can be a replacement for xanthan gum.
The batter feels far too thin, so I added more Red mill gluten free flour, am wondering will happen ..
Hi Ali. I’d love to make this bread right now, but I want to ask you first if you have a “go to” brand of GF flour. I used Bob’s Red Mill cup4cup and it didn’t work. The Co. did email to tell me that the cup4cup flour doesn’t work well for bread. Any suggestions? Thanks, Carol M.
Nothing better for a slice of good bread toasted then a pat of rich, creamy, French butter. Toast Made Simple.
I am trying to bake some GF bread for a friend. I have tried cup4cup and ended up with a gritty mess. I am going to try your recipe but what is AP flour? Thanks!
All Purpose. Cup for Cup is all purpose. Bob’s Red Mill also makes an AP baking flour.
Made this bread today, halved the recipe (King Arthur Measure for Measure flour, Saf-instant yeast). I let it rise a little too far but baked it anyways and was glad I did! The slightly sticky fluffiness was like homemade wheat bread growing up. Beats store bought gf “bread” with a stick. My wife has Celiac and she hasn’t enjoyed a sandwich that much (if at all) in 16 years. She wants to renew our vows now that I’m an actual bread winner. Thanks Phoebe.
this made me giggle harv! so happy to help with your marriage!! xo
I’ve made this recipe twice now and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. It tastes delicious but it’s very crumbly and doesn’t rise at all. I’m using instant yeast so I’m not sure what the problem is. Any suggestions?