<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Notes for Non-Celiacs Making GF Bread and Soup ---------------------------------------------- by the Lyles family Our church likes to hold family-oriented Wednesday night events during Lent, which begin with a simple soup and bread dinner. Different church members make the soup and bread each week. Of course, we know how "simple" that sort of thing generally is when you have two celiac children. But our pastor took a progressive stance: He decided that each week there would be at least one pot of soup and one loaf of bread that was gluten-free (GF), so that we would not have the burden of preparing both all six weeks. We talked about how best to accomplish this. We agreed that it would be possible to communicate enough information so that someone else could prepare soup that was GF. However, my wife and I decided that it wasn't practical to expect a non-celiac to make GF bread from scratch. So our "game plan" was to prepare six batches of dry ingredients for 1.5 lb. loaves of bread to give out to the bread baker, and then include a list of wet ingredients and directions for making the bread both manually and in a bread machine. This experiment was mostly a success. We had a mishap one time with the soup, but otherwise things worked out fine. To be on the safe side, we always brought some GF cup-of-soup (Lipton broccoli and cheese) and crackers (Elco, Hol-Grain, or Dietary Specialties) with us. Enclosed in this article are the instructions we passed out, for non-celiacs making GF soup and bread. You may be able to adapt them for your use in similar situations at church, school, social events, or holiday family meals. (The bread recipe's dry ingredients are from Butter-Basted Brown & White Bread, on pg. 39, in More From the Gluten-Free Gourmet, by Bette Hagman. We made one change: We added 1/4 tsp. of ascorbic acid crystals to the dry mix, so we could eliminate vinegar from the liquid ingredients.) Instructions for Gluten-Free Bread ---------------------------------- 1. The Ziploc bag contains all the dry ingredients needed to make a 1-1/2 pound loaf of bread, EXCEPT for the yeast. Please store it in your refrigerator until the day you make it, then get it out ahead of time and allow the ingredients to get back to room temperature. 2. You can make the bread by hand or in a bread machine. Separate directions are included below. 3. Please note that this bread is not like regular wheat bread, and we don't want you to think you are doing something wrong: A. The bread dries out very quickly. Please bake it the day it is to be served if possible. B. The dough has a texture between cake batter and cookie dough, so it is too gooey to knead. In a bread machine, it should have swirl lines on the top surface after mixing. C. This bread does not need to rise twice. If using a bread machine, run it empty through the first mixing cycle, or program it for 20 minutes mix, one hour rise, and 55 minutes bake. You may need to use a rubber spatula around the edges of your machine's pan during the mix cycle to be sure the flours mix evenly. 4. Contamination is a concern. If flour particles or crumbs from regular baked goods get mixed in with or fall on this bread, it will not be safe for those on a gluten-free (GF) diet. Please be sure bread machines are cleaned thoroughly, measuring cups are clean, grease used for pans has no crumbs in it, and that this bread gets sliced and wrapped or put in a container BEFORE the knife and cutting board are used for regular bread. Other ingredients needed: 4 tablespoons margarine, melted 3 eggs (or 2 eggs and 2 egg whites) 1-1/2 to 1-2/3 cups water (room temperature for bread machines, lukewarm otherwise) regular (not quick-rise) dry yeast (Red Star or Fleischmann's brand). Use 1 packet for a bread machine, or 1-1/2 packets for oven baking Bread Machine Directions: 1. Stir the yeast into the dry ingredients and set aside. 2. Beat the eggs lightly. Add the melted margarine and water to the eggs. 3. Add the ingredients to the bread machine in the order specified by your machine's owner's manual (wet then dry, or dry then wet). Refer to item 2-C above. 4. You should notice swirl lines on top of the dough after a few minutes of mixing. If the batter is too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time. If the batter is too wet, add cornstarch 1 tablespoon at a time (otherwise the bread WILL sink in the middle during baking!) Oven Baking Directions (1 large loaf or 18 muffins): 1. While the butter is melting, proof the yeast by dissolving 1 teaspoon of sugar in 2/3 cup warm water. Add 1-1/2 packets of yeast and wait until foamy. 2. Put the dry ingredients in a mixer bowl. Turn the mixer on low, and slowly add melted butter and the remaining 1 cup of warm water. Then add the eggs one at a time, and finally the yeast water. Beat on high for 3 minutes. 3. Spoon the dough into greased bread pan(s) or muffin tins. They should be no more than half-full. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a towel, and let it rise in a warm place for approximately 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 5. Bake, covering pans with foil after 10 minutes to prevent the top from burning. (It WILL burn if you don't.) Bake for: 9" x 5" pan -- 1 hour muffin tins -- 25 minutes smaller bread pans -- 35-45 minutes, depending on their size 6. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. If you have any questions, please give us a call at ________________. Instructions for Gluten-Free Soups ---------------------------------- Gluten-free (GF) soups cannot have wheat (including wheat flour, bread crumbs, pasta, or any noodle), rye, barley, or oats; nor any ingredients made from these grains. Below we've listed various ingredients commonly used in soups, and categorized them for you so that you would know which are safe for people on a GF diet. If you have questions about any ingredient or brand, please give us a call at ________________. Never Safe: flour barley pasta (unless it is a special GF brand) croutons Always Safe: fresh vegetables and herbs plain canned vegetables (no thickeners or spices) milk dried peas and beans (no flavor packets) plain fresh meats plain salt and pepper tomato juice, including V-8 olive oil Crisco (regular or butter-flavored) butter or margarine, as long as it hasn't been in contact with bread crumbs from toast, etc. cornstarch Sometimes Safe--Only Use These Brands: bouillon--Herb-Ox, if labeled "No MSG" rice--use plain, non-seasoned varieties broths--Health Valley beef or chicken; Swanson vegetable ham--cannot contain modified food starch, caramel color, or "flavorings". Hillshire Farms and Kowalski are okay spices--McCormick's are safe if they don't list any ingredients, or if they don't list flour or wheat in the ingredients cheese--no blue-veined cheeses; also none that contain flavorings such as Taco seasoning. Otherwise, most regular cheeses are fine (but NOT Velveeta or other processed cheeses)