Bread

     I spend a lot of time these days, figuring out what I can and cannot eat. The problem is, I love bread and products that contain flour but I cannot eat them; ever since my emergency surgery last year, they've all made me very sick.

     My gastroenterologist had suggested that I might have an issue with wheat. When I stopped eating it, lo and behold, my life got a lot better! To maintain my wheat-free diet, I've tried a number of breads made from other flours, for example, Trader Joe's sells tortillas made from brown rice flour. The problem is, all of these products taste terrible, with all of the rich and complex flavors of damp cardboard. Actually, damp cardboard might be preferable; it wouldn't shatter when I try to roll it around my sandwich fillings. A small loaf of gluten-free bread from Whole Foods costs almost $10 and weighs almost as much as a standard brick, with much the same consistency. Living without real bread is a real hardship!

     I've found a tolerable flat-bread recipe - I did NOT invent it. It isn't wheat but it isn't awful. It even makes a pretty good pizza crust.
     Mix
3 cups brown rice flour
3 cups corn starch
1 cup Maseca (white corn flour, often used to make real corn tortillas)
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup garbanzo flour

I put all of the flours in a zipper bag with some air to mix it thoroughly. This makes a good all-purpose flour substitute. It yields about 9 cups, or enough to make 4 1/2 batches of flat bread.

Mix
2 cups of all-purpose flour substitute
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthum gum
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Add
1 cup warm water

Mix well. Divide dough into 8 pieces and roll into balls. Refrigerate if necessary. Use additional rice flour to keep the dough from sticking while you roll out each ball into a disk about 8 inches in diameter. Cook on medium heat on an ungreased no-stick frying pan until the disk puffs and browns, then flip with your fingers and repeat on the other side. The first side takes longer than the second. Eat immediately or allow to cool. I usually store bread in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, warming it up in the microwave for 10 seconds to make it more flexible. Or, you can refrigerate the dough balls for up to a week and cook it to order.

I use cooked flatbread as the base for quicky pizza, topping it with sauce, cheese, vegetables, and hamburger. I also use it for sandwiches and have toasted it to make bread crumbs.  It isn't wheat but it's a lot better than anything I've bought. Now, if only I could make a good bread for slicing!

I can buy Maseca and corn starch at Stop & Shop but the other flours and xanthum gum are Bob's Red Mill brand; the cheapest supplier in Western Mass is Ocean State Job Lot. You don't have to eat that awful (and awfully expensive) GF bread from the grocery store. Go wild! If you invent a recipe for a good sliced GF bread, PLEASE share it with me!