Spicy Herb Bread

Here is an interesting tasting bread with a really nice chewy crumb, crunchy crust and spicy flavor. The naturally crunchy crust was enhanced with Milharina, a pre-cooked corn flake with the texture of polenta. Like most gluten free breads, it is best eaten when it has just cooled because it also becomes quite hard the next day. However, with the addition of "modified tapioca", the bread becomes wonderfully flexible when warmed for 10 seconds in the microwave or wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in a 400° F oven for 10 - 15 minutes. The recipe is for a bread loaf; however, you could make 12 rolls. The baking time would be around half.

Ingredients
1/4 cup	Water
1 Tablespoon	Yeast (or 1 package of instant yeast granules like SAF)
1/4 teaspoon	Sugar
3 1/2 cups	Gluten Free Bread Flour (see recipe below)
2 Tablespoons	Sugar, dried honey sugar or honey. If using honey, add as a liquid ingredient.
1-1/2 teaspoons each	Xanthan gum and guar gums or 3 teaspoons of xanthan gum
1 teaspoon	Kosher salt
1 teaspoon	Baking powder
1 teaspoon	Dried garlic granules or powder (not garlic salt)
1 teaspoon	Dried onion powder
1/4 teaspoon	Caraway seeds coarsely ground in a mortar or hand bruised
1 teaspoon	"Italian" herbs [mixture of oregano (2x), marjoram (1X), thyme (1X), basil (1X), tarragon (1X), and rosemary (1/2 X)]
1/4 teaspoon	Black pepper
3 Tablespoons	Dry Parmesan cheese (more, if the cheese is freshly grated)
3/4 cup	Warm water (110° F) Note: if you add corn flour to the flour mixture, the amount of water in the recipe may need to increase. This was tested without the corn flour.
1 teaspoon	Cider vinegar
2 whole	Eggs warmed to room temperature
	Margarine and Milharina (see bellow), cornmeal,or brown rice flour for preparing the baking pan

Mix first three ingredients thoroughly and place in the oven adjacent to the light. Turn on the light for warmth. Allow to stand until foamy - about 10 minutes. Meanwhile ....
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl using a whisk to ensure even distribution.
Into the work bowl of a stand mixer add the liquid ingredients. Next add the dry ingredients. Mix well for 5 minutes. If batter is too thick, add 1 Tablespoon of water.
Turn the dough out into 9 X 5 X 4 baking pan that has been greased with margarine and dusted with brown rice flour, Milharina, or cornmeal. Use the back of a spoon dampened in water to make the top of the bread even and smooth.
Spray lightly with olive oil, and loosely cover with plastic wrap.
Allow the bread dough to rise in a warm location until doubled in bulk, approximately 1 hour. You can make the loaf fancier by putting on an egg-yolk wash. I tend to save the egg for something else.
Bake at 375° F (actually 350° F in a convection oven) until a cake tester comes out clean or until an instant read thermometer reads above 200° F. A 9 X 5 X 4 pan will take about 40minutes. Allow the bread to completely cool before slicing and serving. Breads may be frozen. If you freeze the bread, you might like to wrap two slices with plastic-wrap and seal the packets into a Zip-lock bag.

"Chebe" enhanced bread flour recipe

2-1/4 cups	Sorghum flour
2-1/4 cups	Cornstarch
1	7-1/2 ounce package Chebe original bread mix. (Chebe says that the package contains 1-1/2 cups by volume)
3/4 cup	(optional) Masa Harina or corn flour

The above recipe is a modification for bread (only) of Carol Fenster's mix which we consider ideal for practically all baking except for pizzas. Chebe flour was substituted for tapioca flour. Chebe is a proprietary mixture of tapioca flour and "modified tapioca flour". About all we can tell from the ingredients is that there is more tapioca than modified tapioca. It is suspected (but cannot be confirmed) that the modified tapioca flour in Chebe is similar to Expandex because tapioca flour modified for bread makes the bread stretcher. Both Expandex and Chebe come from Brazil.

The public domain version and earlier cookbook versions of Carol Fenster's flour mix contain corn flour. We have found out that tamale flour (Masa Harina) improves upon just ground corn flour. However, in later versions of Carol Fenster's recipes, she omits the corn flour from the flour mix and uses a higher proportion of lower fiber, refined starches (e.g. corn and potato starches, tapioca flour) with her flour mix. We are happy with bread and cake recipes using 100% of Carol Fenster's original mix. Perhaps the texture is a bit heavier; however, the overall result is more nutritious and more tasty.

Why use Chebe instead of Expandex?

Chebe is easily found
You might want to try the recipe before you commit to buying Expandex

Why use Expandex instead of Chebe?

Using Chebe may be more expensive than if you purchased Expandex in bulk pack and used 1 tablespoon of Expandex for every cup of flour and left out out 1 tablespoon of conventional flour per cup required by the recipe. Note: If the Expandex is expensive, then the Chebe alternative may be better. Our Chebe cost $2.89 at Sprouts in Sunnyvale CA.
You like the results of modified tapioca starch and bake enough to warrant purchasing Expandex in bulk.

Why use Masa Harina

Adds moisture to the bread and may reduce dry mouth feel
Increases the taste and complexity
Adds to the nutritional profile

Why not use Masa Harina

May make the resulting bread less gummy
Milder tasting
Can reduce the amount of water which may yield a better crumb

Expandex enhanced bread flour recipe
3 Cups (12 oz)	Sorghum flour
3 Cups (16 oz)	Cornstarch
1 Cups (4.25 oz)	Masa flour or finely ground corn flour
2 Cups (9 oz)	Tapioca starch
9 Tablespoons (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon - 2.5 oz)	Expandex modified tapioca starch

Milharina

Milharina is pre-cooked and dried corn. It comes from Brazil (available in Portuguese food stores) and is gluten free. Brazilians use it in many ways, often like polenta and couscous. They also make a rich, unleavened cake using coconut milk and shredded coconut. We tried the couscous, and it is extremely bland; however, it is a good base for rich spicy meat and absorbs the juices. It makes a really wonderful crunchy coating for bread since it is pre-cooked.