First and foremost, I need to give a big shout-out to Neysa over at The Back Burner {Key Ingredient} who not only ever-so graciously asked to do a Featured Foodie interview on me but wrote THE kindest introduction. I am not even sure if she really is talking about me {the girl in the intro sounds way cooler} but I was just floored by it! Please support both of these wonderful sites and check it out. You don’t even have to read my blabbering, just make it a point to visit Key Ingredient and browse around.
Richa. Queen of all things Indian. And everything else. This girl is pure wonderful. Her abilities in the kitchen blows me away–her talent and love for making food makes it appear effortless and easy. The girl is not gluten free but has dove right into {and dare I say perfected} the art of gluten free bread making! See what I mean? Amazing. She has become a friend I truly love hearing from on a daily basis and you should make it a point to visit Hobby and More and become a friend of her’s as well.
Look who is taking over Cara’s space today! Thank you Super Amazing Woman, for this Friday Guest host Series.
Hmm , so I dont actually remember when I discovered the fork. It was sometime during MOFO October. That was one crazy month, with trying to post every day and then 20 days of the month, my parents were visiting. Try telling my Dad that I have to get online for a few minutes and post something on the blog. I got back to finding all the cool Mofo blogs sometime in November and wow, did I miss all the Halloween fun, right here at Ms Beans!
I am usually a very contained person.. but for some reason, Cara’s hyper fun energy rubs off on me once in a while.. lets see.. rubs off = blasts itself through all my neurons… and then you can see me jumping up and down. Ask hubbs how rarely that used to happen BC(before Cara)..:) Another thing that rubbed off, was her never say never attitude to recreating and creating things so you dont have to miss out on anything you love! That got me into trying my hand at glutenfree yeast breads.
I didn’t know if I should make an Indian dish for the guest post or a bread.. It was a tough choice.. but here we are with a bread. I have been experimenting with gf yeast breads and experimenting with different baking/cooking methods too keep them soft and as close to a with gluten bread as possible. You can find all experiments and cooking methods ‘that worked’ on my gf yeast Breads collection here.
I bake a lot of regular with gluten Breads too. See the Vegan Yeast Breads Collection here.
What I have found works best for gf breads is Steaming or keeping steam somewhere in the picture during baking. I am sure there are some amazing baked gf breads out there. But for me, the baked versions felt dryer and more crumbly than the steamed versions. Steaming also helps cut down on the starch and eliminates the need for gum.
This Focaccia is baked. If you like a chewier Focaccia, steam this one for the 20 minutes and then bake for the next 12-15. See GF Sandwich bread or GF Naan to see the texture of a steamed gf bread.
For variations, Top the focaccia with Caramelized onions, Roasted garlic, olives or make your fave pizza.
(dough before first rise)
Ingredients: Makes a 9 by 5 inch by 1.5 inch high loaf.
- 7 Tablespoons gf Oats, ground fine( a bit less than 1/2 cup)
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 4.5 Tablespoons potato starch
- 1.5 Tablespoons tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tablespoons non dairy Yogurt(I used SoDelicious plain coconut milk yogurt)
- 2 Tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (I used red star)
- 1 teaspoon raw sugar
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic(roasted or raw, I added roasted)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil or rosemary
- 1-2 teaspoons evoo
- 1/4 teaspoon herbs of choice
- Thin zucchini slices
- granulated salt( sea salt or kosher)
- In a bowl. add warm water, yeast and sugar, Mix well and let sit until frothy(10 minutes)
- In another bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients well.
- Add the dry ingredients, yogurt and oil into the yeast mixture and mix for 2 minutes until a slightly stiff battery dough is formed. See picture.
- Cover the bowl and let sit in a warm place for 1.5 hours or until doubled.
- Mix the batter with a spoon and if too wet, add a teaspoon or so Oats flour. The mixture after the first rise, will be like a sticky dough.(The dough should not be a flowy cake batter or a stiff bread dough. Anything in between and it should bake fine.)
- Drop this dough into a parchment lined pan. Oil your hands and pat it down to the required thickness.
- Cover and let rise for 35-40 minutes in a warm place.
- Make some dimples on the dough lightly(you can skip the dimples since the dough is sticky and will collapse completely under too much pressure. just make a few dents with an oiled finger if possible)
- Drizzle EVOO on the dimples or just generally on the top.
- Sprinkle dried herbs of choice, black pepper and salt. Place some zucchini slices(optional)
- Spray water on top. Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Make 1 or 2 holes in the foil, to let excess steam escape.
- (If using bread pan like me, double it up to reduce browning of the crust). Or use ceramic/stoneware for less browning.
- Bake at 390 degrees F for 20 minutes.
- Remove foil, remove doubled pan if using and rotate the bread.
- Bake for another 12-15 minutes until required crust color is achieved.
- Take bread out carefully and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Best served warm. Re warm in the oven or in toaster.
If I may entice you with some Indian food.. Curries and Dry veggie subzi(veggies saute) to dunk the bread into, can be found on the Picture Collection on my Facebook Page here.
Some gf breads.
Help! Please! This bread looks amazing! Only trouble is I’m having trouble finding brown rice flour!
🙁 have you by any chance tried it with a different flour? If not, what would you suggest? I have chickpea, amaranth, coconut and teff when it comes to the heavy floors! I’m just worried as apart from teff which I haven’t actually tried yet, the others are very strong tasting! Thanks so much!
Heavy flours that was meant to be!
Oh how I love me some Richa and Cara- two great, no wait fantastical girls all in one post!
Richa is totally the Indian Queen of all things in my book too 🙂 And she has the biggest heart for all things furry, or not so furry in this life.
Great post Ladies!
Thank you for the sweet words Heather! hugs! I have to make your bread pudding soon. with the next bread! maybe some chocolate swirls bread this week!:)
Wooooo Richa’s here! You’ve done it again with your gluten-free magic, lady!
This looks so awesome – makes me realize how much I really miss bread (no matter how much I deny it).
Thank you Isobelle! you dont have to miss bread now.;) . hopefully u made the naan again and are planning to steam up more breads!
Mmmmm!! I’m thinking if you added some roasted red peppers, fresh basil, a few bits of black olives, maybe some thinly sliced Roma plum tomatoes and red onion. Then topped it with some creamy vegan cheese…..Lord my mouth is watering!!
Yes my mouth is watering too now.. I got comments about trying this as a pizza base and thats what i did yesterday to see if that delicate dough works.. and it does! i had a bunch of greens veggies and a whole lotta roasted garlic on mine!
Fantastic recipe, Richa, and I am glad you led me to Cara’s space! 🙂
Hi Harini! Thanks for coming over 🙂 xo
Thank you Harini! I am sure your daughter will find lots of fun gf things to try on Cara’s space!
Richa, this looks amazing! I just noticed it on pinterest, some missed the post yesterday!
Thank God for Pinterest, right???! 🙂
Thanks Danielle! Lots of social media to get you to the post..:)
Congrats, Cara, on being Featured Foodie. I enjoyed the interview! Great job on the guest post, Richa! I really enjoy your blog and get lost in all of the delicious possibilities! That’s such a cool revelation that steaming helps with gluten free breads. Good to know!
Thank you so much for reading it Cadry! And isn’t Richa’s post awesome? How beautiful does that bread look?? xo
Thanks Cadry! Loved that feature on Cara and the picture on it! Yup, steaming will give you that chewy texture!
The bread looks beautiful and as “flaky” as GF bread can look! My husband and I love naan, and I’ve missed it since going gluten-free, so I’m heading over to your blog to get the recipe.
Thanks Andrea! I served my Naan to an unexpected visitor the other day without telling him its gf.. he dint know until he finished it.:) Let me know when you try it!
Wonderful! I’m always looking for gluten free bread to make for sandwiches or just for snacking on. Thanks for the recipe!!
Thanks Keisha!.. The dough is quite versatile.. Make what you want with it! hope it works out for you!
Great post (from both of you)! And thank you Cara for introducing me to Richa – I’m loving her site! I have yet to attempt a yeast GF recipe, but I’m sure it’ll happen one of these days… 🙂
Glad to have introduced you, Willow! Richa is your go-to girl for sure 🙂
Thank you Willow! I am super happy that you are liking the blog!
And thank you Cara for connecting me to your readers!
She can’t have been talking about you… haha. am loving this feature – long may it continue… at least until I’ve had a pop :D.
I agree! It must have been someone who looks like me but definitely NOT I 🙂 And please. You will explode the guest post feature. I might have to get a bigger server to ensure that my site doesn’t crash 🙂
My goodness, Richa! Great job! I believe I have finished my foray into bread based gf recipes. I’m just not patient enough! You have the patience of a saint! That, or you’re some sort of gf scientific genius!
Thanks Brooke.. No genius really.. We just use a lot of different ways of cooking in different indian cuisines.. and when I baked the first 2 breads, the texture was close to a steamed chickpea flour Dhokla snack, but they were very dry.(i made crackers out of the crumbs coz no one would eat them). so i tried steaming the bread:) and voila! it worked wonders!
Richa is a saint, savior, goddess, you name it!
Yum, these photos look amazing, just amazing! So inspiring guys – thanks!
Thank you Shira!
Richa rocks!!! A little alliteration for a Friday morning! OOoh steaming beautiful bread love it and with zucchini! I too, am a very contained person, Richa. Sometimes they let me out of containment 😉
har har Gigi.. yeah i dont know which containment they let you out of.. it completely changes the definition of what containment i am in.. 🙂
🙂 Yes I think my containment is more literal, as in it needs a key.
I had a feeling that when you mentioned your containment you were not talking about your personality 🙂 I hope they are allowing you be around the other “contained” persons again..with what happened last time and all…
These all look fantastic, Richa!! What a great post. I fell in love with naan about 6 months before I found out the glutens were not for me 🙁 I also love indian food! I believe I will have too wander over for a looksee at your blog!! Thanks for a great Friday morning read. I needed that.
Thank you! You should try the gf Naan.. A bunch of other bloggers have tried it and vouched for it 🙂 you can change up the herbs and spices to taste and call it any flat bread:)
Girl, you are the bread savior for us gf folk 🙂
oh, richa, how i love thee. you are amazing for making so many gluten-free options for your gf friends when you still eat gluten!!
this bread looks so FREAKIN good, you better bet i will be making it this weekend. and then dayv will swoon.
Thank you Caitlin.. I love your exclamations! Since we do eat gluten, we esp hubbs, will not eat the bread if it is too different, tastes weird and such. He dipped this in some garlicky evoo and finished half of it right then!
Try the gf Naan, its less ingredients, works with any starch, and tried and tested by a couple more people already!
I have all of your breads on my to-make list, Richa!