I have the bread baking bug.
Saturday evening I was thinking about what bread I might make on Sunday. Then I remembered that I could prep a bread right that moment and set the timer for the bread maker to begin the process at 3:00 a.m. and be ready for me to enjoy when I woke up. But, what kind of bread?
Thanks to Uncle Jim’s response to my last bread post, and reader comments, I learned that gluten is required for bread to rise. I had no idea! I read up a bit on gluten in the bread baking process and also learned that gluten makes a nice crust on a bread and it also helps keep the bread from crumbling. I certainly wanted those qualities but I like the density of gluten-free bread. So I had an idea.
How about a little coconut milk flavor (goodness knows I have tons on hand!)
How about a little bit of wheat gluten to make a “crust”?
JL’s Coconut Milk & Chickpea Flour Bread
PRINT RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 cup So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk
- 3 T olive oil
- 1.5 t Florida Crystals natural sugar
- 1.5 t iodized sea salt
- 2.5 cups stone ground garbanzo bean flour
- 2 T vital wheat gluten (omit if you want a gluten-free bread)
- 1.5 t active dry yeast
Instructions
- Spray the bread maker pan with olive oil spray.
- You can add the ingredients to the bread maker in the order suggested by the manufacturer (usually wet, dry, then yeast); however, I did this:
- Whisk coconut milk and olive oil in a small bowl and pour into bread maker.
- Whisk sugar, salt, flour and wheat gluten and pour into bread maker.
- Make a little hole in the dry ingredients and pour the yeast into the hole.
- Set the machine for a small, wheat loaf.
Look at that crusty top! Wow, vital wheat gluten rocks (well, we seitan-lovers knew that already)!
When the bread came out, I was craving something sweet. I had an idea.
Peachy butter!
I puréed one large peach in the food processor
and melted two tablespoons of earth balance in a small sauce pan. I added the peach puree to the saucepan and stirred in a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
I spread the Peachy Butter on a warm piece of bread
and swooned!
The bread is indeed dense–with flavor! The natural sweetness of the Peachy Butter smothered on the warm bread made my taste buds dance.
I’m enjoying these bread adventures!
