BREAD!!!

So since I've been on this no wheat-no sugar-no dairy-no gastronomic happiness-diet thing, I've been craving bread like nothing else. Only problem is, all the breads that I can find that I can eat are all rice bread. Which..is palatable, I'll give it that, but it is definitely not a loaf of fresh, crispy crust and chewy center bread!

 Rice bread is chewy in an odd way...and it crumbles very easily. Not a bread for sandwiches. And this morning I came to the conclusion it is also not a bread for toasting with honey to be a counterpart to my scrambled eggs. No, I'd need something different for that. But I did discover that rice bread is remarkably good for croutons and bread crumbs! I spread a bit of EVOO on a slice of rice bread, sprinkled some garlic salt on it, and TOASTED that baby til it was dried out. Cut into some croutons size pieces...it was good! Really good! Aha! There is hope for my spinach salads! *cheering and dancing*

But I still wanted more. You know, bread. And so with some searching, and some careful substitutions, I found a recipe that's great! It smelled great cooking, and it tasted great fresh from the bread maker. Mmmmm...Crunchy crust. Chewy inside. Tasty. Yep, I found it! And it's versatile!

Here's the recipe for a medium sized loaf. Leave a comment if you want small or large loaf amounts. I have the recipe for small, medium and large loaves. I made myself a small for a trial run.

Millet Bread
DRY
1 cup millet flour
1 cup potato flour
1 cup tapioca flour
2 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast

WET
2 eggs plus 2 whites
3 Tbsp honey
1/3 cup original rice milk
3/4 tsp vinegar
4 1/4 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups water (more or less)

ACTION:

1. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

2. In another bowl or a stand mixer, whisk the eggs and whites slightly, add wet ingredients. (only a bit of the water, not all!)

3. If using a bread machine, add all ingredients into machine as it specifies, and add water if the dough seems too thick. It should be a similar consistency to cake batter. Set to white bread with medium crust

4. If hand mixing, turn mixer to low and add dry ingredients a bit at a time. Add more water as necessary to achieve desired cake batter like consistency. Turn mixer to high and beat for about 3 1/2 minutes. Spoon into pre-sprayed pans, cover, and let rise in warm place for about half an hour to an hour, depending your yeast. (rapid rise vs regular) Once dough reaches near the top of the pan, bake in a preheated oven of 400 for 50-60 minutes, covering after 10 minutes with aluminum foil.

Roughly 100 calories per slice


Now, I will admit, the original recipe called for cornstarch instead of potato flour (same amount) and also called for sugar and an egg replacer instead of honey and 1 egg. It also called for dry milk powder instead of rice milk. But those got thrown out the window and replaces, and it's a fine thing!

The bread seems very versatile. It was AMAZING with honey on it, fresh from the oven. It's also great with some EVOO on it and garlic salt as a poor-man's garlic bread with pasta and sauce. I want to experiment some time in the future and try adding garlic and parsley to the dough. ^_^

It does have a few variations that HAVE been tried before. 
1.> Almond Millet Bread- add 2 TBSP almond meal to the dry ingredients, and 1 tsp almond flavoring to the wet ingredients
2.> Cinnamon-Raisin Millet Bread-add 1 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients and 1/4 cup raisins after the dough has been mixed and before putting it in the pan
3.> Three-Seed Millet Bread- add 1 TBSP each of any three of these seeds or nuts: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, soy nuts (chopped), sesame seeds, almond meal, or crushed sliced almonds.

I'm so excited!

Small loaf of amazingness!!