Gluten-Free Honey Oat Sandwich Bread

So almost immediately after learning I had celiacs disease, I decided to tackle bread.

It was ambitious, but I needed to know that on a cold rainy day, or after a tough day at the office (for Travis) or a sad sick day (for children), I could provide myself and my family with that ultimate comfort food: warm homemade bread. The kind that makes your house smell like the completely celestial afterlife. The kind that is thick and soft, flavorful, doesn't "taste healthy" (you know what I mean) and is downright delicious.

And Yammie's Gluten Freedom Bread NAILED IT. I made {this} bread and it was killer. It didn't taste gluten free, it tasted like it would make bad things happen to my bowels.

Which, believe it or not, is a bizarre compliment.

But I can't let good things keep, I gotta mess them up a little. So I tweaked the recipe. I'd like to explain every change I made in the recipe, so you can understand why I did it and decide which changes you want to keep yourself.

First, Yammie uses A LOT of oat flour, and oat flour is delicious and tastes similar to wheat flour, so it behaves well in this recipe. BUT, oat flour is way more expensive than rice flour- and I wanted more rice flour in my recipe to cut down on costs (and to make the bread a little less dense). I used brown rice flour instead of about half of the oat flour.

Second, I wanted to make several loaves at once so my family can sit down and gorge themselves on one loaf immediately, stick one in the cupboard for sandwiches and toast tomorrow, and stick one in the freezer.

So I made one and a half of the original recipe. Why not double or triple the recipe, if I wanted double or triple the loaves? Read on!

I also wanted to cook the bread in a smaller loaf pan. I've found, with gluten free bread, the smaller the pan- the better the turn out. The bread can rise more easily, cook more evenly, and stay a better texture. (Remember how infuriated you were when you first purchased a tiny 8$ loaf of GF bread? It's small for a reason. Gluten free baking likes tiny pans.)

I like to use these pretty-tiny Pyrex loaf pans. They're only 8.3 inches by 4.5 inches. And the pans are clear, so you can see when the entire loaf is actually cooked to perfection. This recipe makes three small loaves of bread (or two regular) loaves.

And lastly, I changed the recipe to weight measurements instead of volume measurements, because with gluten free recipes, the weights of flour differ so vastly that it's otherwise hard to make sure your recipe will turn out exactly the same every time.

So here you go.

Three loaves of white, delicious, house warming, honey oat bread. You can be eating this in two hours, so stop whatever else you are doing and start baking.

(The Best) Gluten-Free Honey Oat Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups warm water

1 tbls yeast

"Heaping" 1/2 cup honey (basically, a 1/2 cup + 1 tbls) 

300 g oat flour

260 g brown rice flour

150 g white rice flour

112 g corn starch / tapioca starch

3 tsp xanthum gum 

1.5 tsp salt

6 eggs

6 tbls oil (or 1/4 cup + 2 tbls) 

Instruction:

Combine the yeast, warm water, and honey and let sit while you sift the flours together. 

When the yeast is foamy, combine all the ingredients together and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and creamy (like cake batter). 

Then separate the batter into three small loaf pans (or 2 regular loaf pans. I think my loaves hold together better when they're smaller, so I use the smaller ones that are about 8.5x4.5"). 

Smooth the tops and let rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. 

Sprinkle with oats and bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes. Let cool completely before removing from the pan or it will collapse.