Cast Iron

Slo-Mo San Francisco Bread

by:
June 15, 2011
4.5
2 Ratings
Slo-Mo San Francisco Bread
  • Makes 2 loaves
Author Notes

So called because it rises in slow motion, and has a sort-of sourdough starter. If you have the kind of kitchen where wild yeast is constantly flying about, you can make a real sourdough starter and let the rice flour, sugar and water mixture hang out until it starts to ferment. Anyway, the challenge for me was to fashion a moist, flavorful, gluten-free bread that did not require toasting to taste good. This does, albeit slowly. It's worth the wait. The ricotta is in there to give some structure to the bread (also because I had some!) and I am told one of the tricks to gluten-free baking is using moist heat; hence the ice cubes.) —wssmom

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Starter
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3/4 cup white rice flour
  • Slo-Mo San Francisco Bread
  • 1 cup sorghum flour
  • 1 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/2 cup millet flour
  • 1/2 cup brown rice flour
  • 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup nonfat dry milk (I used King Arthur Baker's Special dry milk)
  • 2 teaspoons xanthan gum or guar gum
  • 2/3 cup starter
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 6-8 ice cubes
Directions
  1. Starter
  2. Stir yeast and sugar into warm water; wait 10-15 minutes until it starts foaming a bit. Stir in rice flour, cover, and let sit for a while, until it starts rising and bubbling. I let mine hang out on the counter for more than an hour while I went and did something else. It should look like waffle batter, but if it's thinner, that's OK.
  1. Slo-Mo San Francisco Bread
  2. Stir dry ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer.
  3. In another bowl, mix together the starter, water, eggs and ricotta.
  4. Using the paddle attachment on the mixer, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir for a few minutes. Maybe five in all. Move the bowl to a warm place, cover with a dishcloth, and let rise for a couple of hours. The dough will be quite moist and sticky.
  5. Return the bowl to the stand mixer, and stir again for 3-4 minutes, adding a little millet flour if it seems too soupy. (It should be quite soft and damp).
  6. Divide and scrape the dough into two well-greased loaf pans, cover, and let rise again for a couple of hours while you go do something else. If you come back and it hasn't doubled, go away again until it does. This can take a while.When it does ....
  7. ...preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set one rack in the middle, and another rack on the bottom. Put a cast-iron skillet on the bottom rack and allow it to heat up. When the oven is ready, put the loaf pans on the middle rack and, working cooly and efficiently, toss 6-8 ice cubes into the cast-iron skillet and quickly close the oven door. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then crank up the oven to 375 degrees and bake for another 45-50 minutes or until golden brown.
  8. Remove from oven, allow to cool a bit, slice, and enjoy with some of your favorite jam!
Tags:
Contest Entries

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • aargersi
    aargersi
  • Sagegreen
    Sagegreen
  • VanessaS
    VanessaS
  • inpatskitchen
    inpatskitchen
  • drbabs
    drbabs

Popular on Food52

18 Reviews

katiemd
katiemd March 5, 2012
First-time G52 poster here: I followed the oven directions exactly and opened the oven at 45 minutes. The top was dark brown and the interior looked cooked, but was gooey. The oven is pretty accurate. The only variation I made (and not a small one.....) was I used Namaste's gf baking mix, not the single items listed. Namaste's blend includes sweet brown rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour, rice milk powder, cream of tartar, xantham gum, baking soda and salt. Should I have reduced the nonfat milk powder? Not used the baking mix at all? I've exchanged this mix with other recipes that call for individual elements and met with success. Did everyone follow the recipe exactly? (I know, I know, but it was 11:30pm and we needed bread in the am!)
 
katiemd
katiemd March 5, 2012
First-time G52 poster here: I followed the oven directions exactly and opened the oven at 45 minutes. The top was dark brown and the interior looked cooked, but was gooey. The oven is pretty accurate. The only variation I made (and not a small one.....) was I used Namaste's gf baking mix, not the single items listed. Namaste's blend includes sweet brown rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour, rice milk powder, cream of tartar, xantham gum, baking soda and salt. Should I have reduced the nonfat milk powder? Not used the baking mix at all? I've exchanged this mix with other recipes that call for individual elements and met with success. Did everyone follow the recipe exactly? (I know, I know, but it was 11:30pm and we needed bread in the am!)
 
aargersi
aargersi June 18, 2011
This sounds really great - lots of cool flours to hunt for! Do you get goat milk or is she just for kissing??
 
wssmom
wssmom June 19, 2011
Only for hugs!
 
Sagegreen
Sagegreen June 17, 2011
This looks like a perfect texture!
 
wssmom
wssmom June 17, 2011
I was delighted with the way it turned out!
 
VanessaS
VanessaS June 16, 2011
Yum, looks great!
 
wssmom
wssmom June 16, 2011
Thanks Vanessa, if you get a chance to make it, let me know how you like it!
 
inpatskitchen
inpatskitchen June 16, 2011
That is one beautiful loaf of bread!!
 
wssmom
wssmom June 16, 2011
Thanks; it does taste good, too!
 
drbabs
drbabs June 15, 2011
What a beautiful loaf of bread!
 
wssmom
wssmom June 15, 2011
Wow, thanks, drbabs! I hope you try it!
 
boulangere
boulangere June 15, 2011
Wow, this is beautiful! I love your cast iron pan. I also sacrificed one of my small ones and just leave it in the oven to make steam. Just a hint: ice cubes are about as far from steam as you can get. Better to bring about a cup of water to a boil, then (carefully, now!) pour it into the pan with an oven mitt on your hand. And please kiss that goat for me.
 
wssmom
wssmom June 15, 2011
Goat kisses done! Thanks for the steam tip - I was kind of going for the pouring of the water over the rocks in the sauna thing, and goat has been kissed!!!
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour June 15, 2011
I'm sure good bread is high on the list of wants for people who don't tolerate gluten! Nicely done, wssmom, this one sounds delicious.
 
wssmom
wssmom June 15, 2011
Thanks hla! My gluten-intolerant friends gave it a thumbs-up today!
 
wssmom
wssmom June 15, 2011
Oh, right! Yes!
 
mrslarkin
mrslarkin June 15, 2011
This sounds awesome. Don't forget to enter it into the contest!