<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Thanks so much to the more than 30 people who responded to my request
for help with Bette Hagman's French bread recipe, which kept turning out
gummy. There were many suggestions, including:

* reduce the amount of water
* bake longer at a lower temperature
* pierce the loaf after taking it out of the oven to ventilate
* use regular yeast, not rapid rise.
* make rolls out of the recipe: using muffin pans, bake the dough at 400
     degrees for 35-40 minutes, then at 350 for another half hour.
* reduce water from 1+1/2 cup to 1+1/3 cup and proof the yeast; reduce
     the xanthan gum to 2 tsp.
* Don't use any xanthan gum at all.
* After the crust is brown, cover the loaf loosely with foil and
     continue to bake.
* Test the "doneness" of the bread with a bamboo skewer or toothpick,
     the way you would a cake.
* Use a little more rice flour.
* Use a glass pan instead of a metal one.
* Use Gluten-Free Pantry French bread and pizza mix, and prepare to
     fight off the non-celiacs because the bread is so delectable.

I also received a few recipes, including one for Italian bread from
Sandra Leonard, the Gluten Free Baker, who publishes a newsletter. It
sounds yummy.  I believe it is in the archives.

Then I got this for GF dinner rolls:
first bowl:
1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp sugar
4 tsp dry yeast
combine and wait

Second bowl:
2 cups tapioca flour
2 cups rice flour
2/3 cup dry milk
4 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c sugar

Third bowl:
1-1/2 c warm water
3 eggs or egg replacer
4 tbs. oil
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix all three bowls together and beat for about a minute or two
depending on how heavy duty your mixer is.  Let rise for half an hour.
Then get a bowl out and fill it with water. Use a 13x9 pan and take out
some batter the size of a large golf ball or larger and mold into a
roll, using the water in the bowl to mold.  It will be sticky.Repeat
with rest of dough.  Let rise until double.Bake at 350 for about 25
minutes.

And also this suggestion:

I make that bread all the time - with a few small changes: instead of
1.25 cups of tapioca, I use 1 cup plus a quarter cup of rice bran; and
guar gum instead of zantham gum; for the liquids I use 1 3/4 cup hot
water, 4 egg whites ; a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar; and maybe half
a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice,

I let the bread machine knead the dough (about 30 minutes) and then stop
it when it begins the rise cycle. I spoon it into a a bread pan and let
it bake for 22-24 minutes at 400 degrees.

Its very good fresh; and on other days I heat it into the microwave for
about 35 seconds.

Finally, I want to say that in my enthusiasm for change, I tried the
recipe again this morning. I borrowed several of the ideas, which was
certainly not the smartest thing to do. I should have tried one at a
time.  Anyway, I reduced the water, used only 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum,
and used the bread machine to mix the dough instead of my hand-held
mixer. Then I wrapped it in foil for the last 10 minutes of baking, and
tested it with a toothpick.  Results:  a definite improvement.Not
perfect, but less gummy for sure.  But there was one problem: the dough
was runnier than usual, and sort of oozed through the perforated holes
in my French bread pan, which made a mess on the bottom of the oven.  I
think my mistake was not letting the dough mix for 30 minutes, as the
person above had suggested.
Judy Beck in California