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Lynn asked:
 
"Does anyone know of bread machines that work well for gluten-free breads
that can be used on European current? The popular models I've found so far
are only good on 120 volts. Thanks in advance."
 
My 220v bread machine recently arrived from Australia (I now live in Israel)
- it is a SANYO Bread Factory.  It has 8 separate programmes and I have
tried 2 recipes so far on the basic bread cycle (only one knead).  The
heavier knead cycle is available for whole wheat and this may help too but
it doesn't have a programme cycle that can stop and omit steps as far as I
can tell.  And I am not in Australia so as to call the 1-800 number.  Bread
machines are just not sold in Israel (to date).
 
The 2 recipes I followed are:
 
a) the improved basic bread from Mike Jones - it made good toast but I was
disappointed - the crust was incredible.  Now I don't know what I should be
expecting.  I didn't have the Sure-Gel but I had all other ingredients.  It
wasn't crumbly, it was very, very dense and didn't have the texture of
bread.  Maybe my expectations were too high?  I didn't mix all the dry
ingredients but instead put the ingredients in the order the machine said
to do.  The top was rough and not smooth.  I think I should have mixed the
dry ingredients together and that this would have helped.
 
b) tapioca bread with bean flour (sorry, forgot who posted this) - this time
I mixed all the dry ingredients, except the yeast and placed in the bread
machine.  The final product looked great but was very crumbly but it tasted
revolting and I had to throw it away.  It was the bean flour that did turn
my stomach.  I am limited with my other flours.  We can't get tapioca flour
here so I have an Indian grocery store grind sago for me in the hope that
basically these 2 flours are interchangeable.  Nor can I use potato starch
or potato flour because of my arthritis.  So next time, I will make it
without bean flour and use cornflour instead and add gelatin and pectin in
the hope that it won't crumble.  I am going on holidays to the States soon
so I will buy some Sure-Gel there.  The texture did look about right,
though.
 
I will also try Mike Jones basic bread again and make the changes that I
spoke about.  But my conclusion is that I think the Sanyo bread machine
will work O.K. on these non-gluten flours.  I couldn't buy in Australia the
Welbilt, Red-Star or the Zojirushi that others had recommended.  And I was
also doing it with the help of a friend as I was here in Israel so I was
limited.
 
I am currently eating gluten for 6 weeks because I am having the biopsy
done so I am enjoying eating real bread from my bread machine but definitely
paying the penalty.  It wasn't worth it initially and I nearly changed my
mind about proceeding at day 3 but my body has become less violent towards
the gluten as the days are progressing but back into the rhythm that I had
for many years.  I also realised that unless I have the biopsy and know for
a fact that I have a gluten intolerance, that I could be tempted to cheat,
just a little and naturally, this wouldn't be wise if I do have a gluten
intolerance or celiac disease.
 
Colleen Dawes
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Baha'i World Centre,
Haifa, Israel