[instagram-feed num=10 cols=10 imagepadding=0 disablemobile=true showheader=false showbutton=false showfollow=false]

Glow Steady

Vegan Recipes, Beauty & Lifestyle

Food, Am I Coeliac? -

Is Jamie Oliver’s Recipe Good? The Best GF Bread Ep. 3

gluten free bread sliced on a tray

Time for another episode of my gluten free bread series. This month, I decided to do something a little bit different. Previously, I’ve only tested gluten free bread recipes that have been vegan and gluten free. As I’ve complained about many times before, a lot of GF bread contains egg. This month, I decided to try Jamie Olivers GF brown bread recipe, which contains egg, with an egg replacer.  

Expectations  

I’m not sure what to think about this one. At first, it felt a little dry. The recipe is slightly odd; it calls for the yeast to be mixed with the flour and the milk is warmed and mixed with the wet ingredients before the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Anyone who has ever made bread will know that 9/10 times, the warm liquid (usually water), sugar, and yeast are mixed first to activate the yeast. Now, I did use quick yeast in this recipe, although the recipe didn’t specify that.  

Interestingly, this loaf is supposed to be cooked on a baking tray rather than a loaf tin. And it doesn’t require kneading.  

Essentially, everything I know about the basics of making bread isn’t present in this recipe. And I have no idea what to expect.  

The yeast 

My yeast made me nervous, I was baking this loaf in mid-September and the BB date was the end of September. I know it’s still in date, but yeast can be so temperamental that I’m not sure if this is a bad omen. And because of the way this recipe is structured, there’s no way to tell if it’s going to activate properly before it’s too late to do anything about it. 

Jamie Oliver’s GF Brown Bread Recipe 

As always, I’m not sharing the creator’s full recipe in this post, just the ingredients list. You can find the full bread recipe here.  

  • 325 ml semi-skimmed milk 
  • 2 large free-range eggs 
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar 
  • 450 g gluten-free brown bread flour, plus extra for dusting 
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt 
  • 2 tablespoons golden caster sugar 
  • 1½ x 7g sachet dried yeast 
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil 

Swaps I made:  

  • Milk for non-dairy alternative (I used hazelnut) 
  • Egg for egg replacer – the powdered type you mix with water, not a chia/ flax egg.  

I only made half of the recipe, so I was expecting a very small loaf. Judging by the photo on his site, I’m not expecting the fluffiest loaf (it’s GF bread, I don’t think I’m ever expecting the fluffiest loaf) but it looks like it could have potential.  

Did it rise?  

Okay, sort of, maybe, but not properly. I’m reluctant to comment on this as I was worried about my yeast to begin with. But my dough did rise, but not fully. And I left it for about 90 minutes to see if I could get it to rise a little more – without success.  

The final product? 

It looked good! But it’s pretty hard and stodgy in the centre. However, there’s something about this recipe that’s making me think this could work out. I think I’m going to make this one again with some fresh yeast, and possibly a bicarbonate of soda and apple cider vinegar egg replacement rather than the powder and repeat this recipe. Or at least the basic elements because I’m obviously making changes still.  

Overall rating 

Let’s recap for a second here, I gave the quinoa bread from episode 2 a 6 because it tasted really good but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting from a bread recipe. The regular bread from episode 1 got a 6.5-7 because it cooked well, looked like a good loaf but wasn’t where it needed to be texture wise.  

This loaf has me confused. Texture wise, we have a 2/10 based on the loaf in front of me. But I really do think this bread is better than that and this recipe has serious potential. It’s a fuss free recipe, the crust is amazing. The inside lets it down on this occasion. I’m going to give this loaf a 4, but I’m withholding a rating on the actual recipe until I’ve had a chance to make it again.  

Have you tried any good gluten free bread recipes recently? Or have any you’d like to be featured in this series?  

Until next time, 

Sophie 

29

Comments

  2. I am vegetarian and GF.
    It is hard to find a great recipe. The bread looks good though! The secret is in the moisture. I am still learning after 2 years diagnosis. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  3. I’ve only baked 1 loaf of bread before, so I don’t know much about the process, but this loaf doesn’t look that bad. Hopefully it’ll be better next you make it & you’ll be for sure if the yeast was a problem.

    Reply

  4. I’ve never tried to make bread, let alone gluten free bread. This is a very interesting recipe, I’d never have guessed you had to cook it on a baking tray rather than a loaf tin! Hopefully it will be more successful next time you try it!

    Eve x

    Reply

  5. I agree with you – while the recipe really threw me off, there’s something about it that intrigues me and makes me think it could work… I can’t wait to hear the update with the changes that you listed. I have a good feeling about it…

    Reply

  6. I’m never really impressed my Jamie Oliver recipes, I don’t know what it is but I always find them underwhelming.

    Reply

  8. The ingredients mixing order is truly odd, isn’t it? I am surprised it raised at all on the first place, but since your break looks quite good to me, I can only think there must be some logic behind this. You made me feel rather intrigued! Totally spying the original recipee. Maybe we will prepare fresh bread this weekend!

    Reply

  14. I’ve only made my own bread when I did food technology at school! For some reason I just don’t like Jamie Oliver so doubt I’ll try any of his recipes! xD

    Reply

  18. Oooh! I love reading these bread recipes hehe. It is great that you have tried different variations and found the recipes that work best for you. I never messed with yeast before. Though, I need to give breadmaking a try!! The final results still looks good! Though it is a bummer that the texture wasn’t all that great. Hopefully you will find better results in future experiments!

    Nancy ✨ exquisitely.me

    Reply

  19. Well, considering it seemed to throw out all of the bread-making rules, the fact that it looks like bread seems to be a winner! At least it wasn’t a complete write-off. I’m intrigued to hear if your switches work and it comes out better next time!

    Reply

  20. It does look good and it’s nice you can think of ways to improve the recipe when you try again – i really hope you like the next version of it you make even more!

    Hope that you are having a wonderful weekend! 🙂

    Reply

  21. I still haven’t had a go at making my own bread so I really need to get doing that. I don’t think this bread looks too bad, its a shame there was a lot that let it down. Hopefully you will find it will go a bit better the next time you have a go at it and change around some of the ingredients! xx

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.