• I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It’s definitely tricky. I’ve had the most luck with quick breads like pumpkin or zucchini leavened with baking powder, but the recipes always need tweaking or you end up with a loaf pan of wet oatmeal with a leathery skin on top even after baking it for a couple hours. Sometimes I have to finish them in the microwave (in a glass loaf pan).

            • Doc Avid Mornington@midwest.social
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              9 months ago

              I see what you mean, and sorry, I hadn’t previously associated your two comments as being the same person.

              I think that your second hypothesis is more or less correct. The long gluten chains give the dough the elasticity to stretch and contain the bubbles.

              I’ve heard other people say that a sourdough works better, as well. You have a good point, maybe some combination of a yeast and a bacteria that act more symbiotically together could be beneficial.

              I’m not sure how the bacterial action that creates sourdough improves a gluten-free bread, though. It seems intuitively unlikely to me that it would be by breaking anything down, as we want more elasticity that, in wheat based breads, comes from building up the long gluten chains by kneading.

              Maybe it is the bacterial bodies themselves? Xanthan gum is very commonly used in gluten-free flour to help it hold together and have more elasticity. Xanthan gum, as I understand it, is derived from the mash made after fermenting sugar with a specific bacterial strain.