Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Gluten-Free Breadsticks Recipe


Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free Breadsticks Recipe, Baked

Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free Breadsticks! 

Here they are - the gluten-free breadsticks recipe (dairy-free too) you have been waiting for. And, they were worth the wait, trust me! Wonderful taste and texture, especially soon after emerging from the oven. And, now we have also tested freezing the dough, thawing, and baking at a later time.

If you have been reading my blog lately, you probably read the blog entry about our gluten-free baguettes, French-bread, and breadsticks recipe. The breadsticks shown above are a variation on that theme, with the variation being in technique and process instead of altering the recipe itself. The recipe is super-versatile, and is proving even moreso over time.

The focus of this particular gluten-free breadstick experiment was perfecting the technique for mass-production, consistent size/shape, and freezing for extended storage. Everything has worked out well.

The recipe can be found here: Gluten-Free Breadsticks Recipe. And, you will see a discussion all the way at the bottom of the page about the techniques used to form the breadsticks and freeze them for later, and then defrost and bake them. This ability to create a large batch of GF Breadsticks at once, freeze them, and then bake them at any future time is critical to anyone wishing to serve gluten-free foods at a gluten-free restaurant, or to anyone that wants to sell frozen gluten-free breadsticks to others.

We will be mixing the GF breadstick dough up in one or two batches at a time, and then freezing them for later. Since, it is much easier to just take a few out of the freezer and bake them any time I want (versus mixing dough from scratch each time), not to mention the fact that I can not possibly eat an entire batch of these myself before the would otherwise dry out or go to waste. This is perfect for me! And, I am already getting requests from others for the bread sticks, and now I have a way to deliver them easily in a way others can bake them fresh any time they want.

I hope everyone likes them. And, if anyone is getting their gluten-free catering business or gluten-free foods business ramped up, this should make a fine addition to what you can offer your clients. The only thing I ask of anyone that wants to use this gluten-free recipe commercially is that you give credit to Laura for developing it. Laura has put a lot of effort into perfecting this recipe, and I am so proud of her baking skills!

I hope everyone likes these glutenfree breadsticks as much as we do. Now, what recipes to work on next?

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

So is it good enough to eat if you can eat gluten? We want to find some great gluten free bread (and pasta) that's as good as our hand made gluten free sausages and hand made cakes from Dorset. Got any suggestions as to what we can promote - even if a recipe is the only way and we sell good flours...?

Mike Eberhart said...

Devon Girl,

Let me start with your first question about whether it's good enough to eat if you can still eat gluten. Well, this is purely going to be a matter of opinion. We have received feedback on this recipe and other bread recipes where gluten-eaters have thoroughly enjoyed the bread. A couple wheat-eaters told us our gluten-free artisan-style multi-grain bread was their favorite bread ever whether GF or not. On the flip side, some people still prefer the taste and texture of a crunchy-crusted loaf of freshly made Italian-bread, or a artisan style boule, or regular breadsticks for that matter.

We taste test everything on GF and non-GF people to validate our recipes. In fact, my wife's gluten-free carrot-cake (in our desserts book) beat all the "normal" wheat-containing cakes in a regional cake-bakeoff... many have proclaimed it a 10/10. Does this mean everyone will feel that way? Probably not - food preference is a very personal thing.

So, all I could suggest doing is to bake up a batch and start doing some customer-feedback research.

But, this brings me to my final input, which is that I would need to understand exactly what your objective is. What are you selling currently - sausages, flours? I was a bit confused by that part of your statement/question. I'll certainly try to offer any input I can.

If you want to take the discussion "offline", email me at: sales AT suretalent-books DOTCOM (and put "KEY123" anywhere in the subject line to bypass my spam filter).

Dianne said...

The breadsticks look gorgeous mike ... I've really forgotten what good bread tastes like. Its time I reminded myself!

:)

Jean Layton-GF Dr. Mom said...

Hi Mike,
Wow! What wonderful breadsticks and so generous to offer the recipe for all to use. I am going to print it out and take it to our Coop for use in the cafe.
I will try it this weekend and let you know how the kids like them. Since Daddy used to work at an artisan bread shop, they are pretty tough critics.

Mike Eberhart said...

GF Momma - I am really looking forward to what those "tough critics" think of the recipe. I think that, if served fresh, the response will be quite fine. I'll be anxiously awaiting the results :)

Lynn Barry said...

Absolutely gorgeous! I wish I could tolerate yeast and eggs and...well, any ways. BRAVO! These beauties are works of art and look delicious.

Happy Homemaker said...

These look fabulous! My staunch "critics" are ages 9 and 13 and they're requesting your dessert recipes by name now. :-) So I'll try them on the bread sticks too. Thanks to both of you!

Mike Eberhart said...

Happy Homemaker, I'm glad the desserts are satisfying the "critics" :) We tested all our recipes on friends and neighbors (none of which are gluten-free people), and the one neighbor's kid (9 or 10yrs old) made his mother bring him over to our house to tell us how delicious the lemon bars were. He said he wished he knew more words to describe them since they were so good, and he so wanted to say delicious using more vocabulary. My wife and I got such a kick out of that!

Can't wait to hear how the "critics" like the bread recipes too. I have a feeling they'll also be a hit.

Jen said...

Mike thank you so much for your comments! These recipes look delicious!!!

Mike Eberhart said...

Jenny, you're quite welcome.
And, hopefully you get a chance to bake these breadsticks. They are definitely a favorite of mine! I love a great, fresh, warm breadstick. And, now that I can freeze this gluten-free bread dough after it's made into sticks, I can regularly enjoy them fresh and warm.

I'll be sure to stop by your blog to see how your gluten-free life is going. Take care.

Amity Susan Kate (am su ka) said...

Mike- thank you! I baked my baguette today- Yum!
I do have a question: I adapted the recipe for my bread machine to do the mixing, as I don't have a food processor. I then took out the dough, and finished as per the recipe. They turned out quite flat- which is fine, they will be wonderfully bun-like for sandwiches. Here are my questions: I had to do the recipe in half batches, as it looked like the batch would be to much for my machine- would that affect the outcome? And the recipe said 1 package of yeast- how many tsp would that be? Finally, if I freeze the dough, should I freeze it before rising?
Thank you thank you!! Real bread is the thing I miss the most, and this is wonderful!

Mike Eberhart said...

Amsuka,
I'm glad you had a chance to try making the bread sticks. We don't own a bread-machine, so it's interesting hearing how it worked in one. My wife commented how quite often, recipes tailored for bread-machines are completely different than otherwise. So, I really don't know what to expect aside from your experience.

As for how many teaspoons are in a "package" of yeast, I believe it is 2.25 (two and a quarter teaspoons) for Active Dry Yeast, and 1 Tablespoon if it is "baker's yeast".

Half vs. full batch at once: I don't know why it'd matter.

Freezing: we freeze ours before rising. We pipe the dough out onto wax paper and freeze them, then place the frozen "sticks" into a freezer bag for later use (i.e., thaw, allow to rise, bake).

Hope that helps.

Amity Susan Kate (am su ka) said...

Cheers Mike, and thanks again.
I will just keep tweaking it until I get a better "rise".
The flavour, and crumb is excellent though!

Anonymous said...

This is the second time I'm making and they are really great! This time though I re-read the recipe and realized you called for Active dry yeast not quick rise. So I made with Active dry this time and they are not rising... it's been 50 minutes now. Any suggestions? Thanks again for the recipe...I'm new at this baking thing especially GF!!!

Mike Eberhart said...

Newbie,
sorry about the delay - I was on vacation. As for the yeast, I know there is an "art" to getting the temperature of the water right and making sure you have fresh yeast. My wife has perfected this, and I know it became much easier with a kitchen thermometer. And, be sure the yeast is fresh. Also, a warm rising-environment helps too, but that should be easy enough in the summer time. Hope that helps. And, glad you like them (even better when they rise as expected).

Johanna Draper said...

Thanks! Those breadsticks look awesome, I haven't had breadsticks since going gluten free.
I remember back in my days of suffering I loved going to Pizza Hut and devouring a ton of breadsticks, I loved them so much.

Oh your blog makes me so hungry!

Anonymous said...

can you use an all purpose flour that has xanthum gum in it rather than the separate flours? Is there an alternative for apple cider vinegar? I'm fructose intolerant; otherwise the recipe looks pretty good :-)

Christy said...

I have a question about these breadsticks... could I substitute another flour for the rice flour? I am wheat/gluten/rice intolerant. Wondering if I substituted potato flour for the rice flour if it would do the same thing... or have the same consistancy. Would you know about that? Couuld you email me at sleepytoes@ymail.com?
Thanks!

Mike Eberhart said...

Christy / Anonymous (9-2011),

I'd only be guessing. Sorry to say, but you will probably have to do what we do when creating all our recipes from scratch: experiment, try things out, see what happens, adjust, repeat. Having not used potato starch as an alternate, I just do not know. It may work, it may not. I like trying such variations with 1/4-batches or 1/2-batches where possible to save money (on lost ingredients if things don't quite work out as I hoped). We have gone through a LOT of wasted ingredients perfecting recipes; sadly, it is a consequence of creating new versions of things. At least the results are usually "acceptable" to the local squirrels, raccoons, etc. even if we have to try, try again :)

Christy said...

Hi Mike,
wondering what other flour I could use instead of potato starch... I think I need a flour. Do you have a favorite one besides rice that you have used before? I am very new with the whole gluten free and also have a VERY tight budget... so I don't know what to do. ... hmmmm. Thanks for answering about the potato starch... but I would love to hear about another flour that may be comparable.

God Bless,
christy

Mike Eberhart said...

Christy,
I rarely use potato starch/flour. To me, it is quite similar to plain white rice flour or corn starch. I'd love to offer suggestions for substitutions, but the fact is, without me *testing* what I suggest, I could lead you astray. Experience has shown me that even the most minor-sounding change could have unintended consequences. We spent a lot of time (and unfortunately a lot of money on wasted ingredients) perfecting each recipe through experimentation and trial and error.

I wish you were close by (geographically) as I would gladly give you some varied flours/starches to try out to see what happens (since I tend to buy in bulk, I usually have a decent "inventory" around, and the per-pound cost is lower). I have all sorts of other ones here, but they each can change the recipe-outcome a lot (and may require "re-balancing" the ingredients) since some are "heavier" (like Teff) and some are med-weight (like Buckwheat), etc. But, this does not do you much good since you are on the other side of the country.

If anyone has ideas, please share them. There are a lot of different approaches to gluten-free recipes, and they each have their pros/cons. There are ingredients available that I rarely get a chance to try also: like pea-flours, bean-starches, etc. Those may work too. There is one way to save a LOT on some of these things, though you will likely not find "certified" GF: go to an Asian-supermarket (if you have a "ChinaTown" anywhere nearby of sorts). You can get DIRT CHEAP rice-flours, tapioca starch, pea/bean starches, potato starches especially. I use almost exclusively Chinatown-store-bought Sweet-Rice-Flour and White-Rice-Flour and Tapioca starch since it is fantastically fine-ground (great for my cakes/desserts), and knock on wood: I have not had any reactions to it in nearly 10yrs of consuming it. The choice/risk is yours, but I pay perhaps 50c/pound for the starches there (vs. multi-dollar-per-pound for "big-name" certified-GF equivalent ones elsewhere).

Best wishes.
m

Katherin said...

We made this yesterday and it was so delicious! Our house of 2 Celiacs 2 gluten eaters were all impressed and definitely enjoyed every bite. I was skeptical about the recipe because of the unconventional way of adding the yeast to the flours before blooming it in water, but it worked perfectly. THANK YOU!