This recipe for crusty bread was given to me by one of my patients and I think it’s the best tasting gluten free, FODMAP friendly bread I’ve had. We’d been having a conversation about home-made bread and I admitted that I had really struggled to make a good gluten free loaf either by hand or using my bread maker. Recipes on the packets of gluten free flour and from the bread-maker booklet just turn out a bit cake-like, very average tasting a best. She had tested several recipes and had come across one in Woman’s Weekly magazine which this recipe is based on that really tasted great. You can either make 2 large baguettes (as shown above) or a large loaf of bread if you have a 3lb loaf tin. It also works really well in a bread maker, for this method just follow the steps as below, making a paste of the polenta and mashing/scraping it into the flour in a large bowl before putting it into the bread-maker with the wet ingredients (milk, egg and vinegar whisked together) going into the bread-maker pan first. If you don’t have a gluten-free setting on your bread-maker it should work on a rapid 2 hour white loaf setting. It’s best eaten fresh but any leftovers can be sliced and frozen.
For more bread recipes try the Low FODMAP baking section and scroll down.
- 60g polenta (coarse cornmeal), plus extra for dusting
- 175ml water
- 500g gluten free white bread flour (I used Doves Farm GF white bread flour)
- 30g caster sugar
- 10g fast action dried yeast
- 10g salt
- 400ml lactose free milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- Olive oil (to oil the baking tray or loaf tin)
- Mix 45g of the polenta with 175ml water in a small pan and bring to the boil while stirring it. Let it boil and thicken for a few minutes them remove the pan from the heat an allow to cool while you measure the remaining ingredients and prepare either a baking tray by oiling it and dusting with polenta or doing the same with a 3lb (1.5kg) loaf tin.
- Mix the flour, the remaining 15g of polenta, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl then using a fork, break up the cooled polenta paste and add it to the bowl and scrape or mash it into the dry ingredients so that no big lumps of polenta paste are left. Make a well in the centre of the bowl.
- Add the milk, egg and vinegar to a jug and lightly whisk then pour it into the well and mix together until it forms a soft dough and beat together for a few minutes using a wooden spoon (the mixture will be too soft to knead)
- For crusty ciabatta style baguettes, divide the mixture in 2 and roughly shape into 2 logs on the prepared baking tray, use a knife to make 3 slashes on top of each then cover with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place for at least an hour until the baguettes have risen
- For a 3lb loaf, tip the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, cover with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place to rise. Meanwhile pre heat the oven to 220 degrees C (200 C fan oven or gas 7)
- Once risen, sprinkle the top of the baguettes or loaf with a little extra polenta and bake the baguettes for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through or 35-40 minutes if you are making the loaf.
Oh I’m so excited. I’ve been using the Doves Farm bread maker recipe on the side of their packet in my bread maker. It has a slow 3 hour setting in which the gf recipe works pretty well, but this sounds nicer. Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Roslyn, you should definitely give it a go, hope you enjoy it!
Hi Louisa,
I’d appreciate some advice if possible – I have no gluten free option on my bread maker and thequick cycle is only 1 hour 40. It’s too short, the starts too soon so you get an edible but heavy loaf. Any idea what would happen if I used a standard 3 hour programme?
I can tell it’s going to be fantastic when I get it right!
Cheers
Roslyn
Hi Roslyn, I haven’t tried it on a 3 hour setting but I’ll give it a go in the next few days and let you know how I get on 🙂
Hi Roslyn, I tried the 3 hour setting on my bread-maker today but it definitely didn’t work as well as the gluten free setting and making it by hand produced a much better result!
Thanks Louisa. Going to try again today. I’ll see what I can come up with. By hand may be my best option.
hello Louisa I am new to all this so hoping I will be able to get all the ingredients ok my doctor suggested I try the fodmap diet so glad to have found you
Hi Shirley, I hope the diet goes well for you. All of the ingredients I use are easily found in Stornoway so should be no trouble to find if you live on the mainland 🙂 Best wishes, Louisa
oh i feel so happy to have found you and yes I have found all what I needed thank you ill let you know how it goes
hello well I’m struggling with the bread but the banana and blueberry loaf is lush had 2 goes at the bread I’m not giving up tho I will have another try
Thanks Shirley, I hope it works out ok next time but glad you enjoyed the banana and blueberry loaf!
Thankyou so much for this website, I have been struggling to find any DECENT low fodmap recipes ever since I have been diagnosed and I love bread, so I am defiantly trying this, keep up the good work, I think I’m here for life xxxxxx
Thanks Libby, that’s really nice to hear. Hope you get on well with the diet and enjoy some of the recipes 🙂
Oh my word! My son and I have just tasted this bread, and it is utterly delicious! Like you I have struggled to find a light gluten free loaf, but this is it. We will be lucky if it lasts til the end of the day it is so nice.
I’m so pleased you tried it! Definitely the best tasting gluten free bread I’ve had 🙂
Not sure how to add a comment, but maybe this is how! I had the same dilemma with my breadmaker as it does not have a gluten free setting. I contacted Dove’s Farm who advised me to use the cake/quick bread setting, which works a treat. They explained that the bread only needs knocking back once or it won;t rise – as per the conventional 3 hour setting which knocks back twice. Yes it does only take 1hr 50mins, but it works. Trust me!
Thanks for the info Brenda, that’s really helpful. Louisa 🙂
Hi, made in my breadmaker but suspect the polenta was a bit slack! Loaf was a little compact ! but tastes delicious , fabulous toasted . Another loaf in the breadmaker as we speak and made the polenta mix a bit thicker so fingers crossed. Thank you for the recipes , keep them coming 🙂
Thanks for the comments Bronwen, I hope the thicker polenta mix worked better 🙂
yes done it and its great taste is so much better than the bought bread
I am about to begin the Fodmaps diet and have been becoming increasingly anxious about how to go about it. Then EUREKA!! I was searching for a recipe for stock and stumbled upon your website. Now I have not only found your really sensible, easy stock recipe, but all these other delicious recipe ideas. I am now looking forward to trying them and happy to know that my husband and family will enjoy them too. I love the way the recipes are grouped into meals – so easy to use. Thank you so much, I will let you know how I get on.
Hi Bev, thanks for the feedback, I’m really pleased to hear you’ve found the website helpful and I hope you enjoy some of the recipes 🙂
I’m recovering from a bacterial enteritis caught abroad & also suffer from IBS & am lactose intolerant.. I’m thrilled to have found you. We have a wonderful local wholefood shop, so I will stock up & try some of your receipes on my new low fodmap regime.
Hi Catherine, hope you enjoy trying some of the recipes and that you get some relief from your symptoms. Best wishes, Louisa
Hi. Thanks for the recipe. I wonder what difference it makes to use corn flour instead? And just mix it with the other dry ingredients. Should I add 175 ml water you used to mix with the potenta to the other wet ingredients, then?
Hi Leah, I’m not sure if cornflour would work so well in this recipe, the polenta really adds a nice texture which cornflour wouldn’t. If you try it, let me know how you get on. Best wishes, Louisa
Hi there – hope you can help.
I’ve just mixed all my ingredients and end result is like cake batter. Certainly nothing I could form into loaves. I oiled up a loaf pan and poured it in. Waiting to see if anything rises and then I’ll throw it in the oven and see what happens.
I followed the directions exactly except I used an AP GF flour because it was all I could find without xantham gum. I used a digital kitchen scale for the dry ingredients and spent some time mashing the polenta into the flour mix. Just not sure what I did wrong. Thanks!
Hi Karen, sorry to hear you had problems with the recipe. I think it must have been the type of flour, for bread making I would always choose one that does contain xantham gum, it makes all the difference to the texture. Best wishes, Louisa
Thank you so much for this recipe. I tried a couple of times to make bread that tastes nice, but most of the times it didn’t work out. Your recipe makes the difference for my 10 year old son.
The only thing was that I added cold (of course lactose free) milk to the flours and yeast and it didn’t rise. So, the first time I ended up with a tasty, but very small bread.
Today I added the milk to the polenta and warmed it until around 35-40 degrees. This I added to the flour mix. And it turned out great.
We hope to see many more recipes of yours!!! A warm hello from Greece, from a Dutch woman and her son.
Hi Nina, thanks for the feedback, really good to hear you and your son are enjoying the recipe. Best wishes, Louisa
I tried this last week, it’s the tastiest gluten free bread I’ve had yet. Not sure I’ve got the texture perfected yet either, and it was still delicious. Had a little panic a few days ago when the website seemed to be down, and had my husband using his skills to search for old versions of the site! Even he likes it, and he is lucky enough to be able to eat “proper” bread! Thank you.
Thanks Margaret, I’m really pleased to hear you and your husband enjoyed the bread. Sorry about the site being down, that was my fault but all sorted now. Best wishes, Louisa
Would the dough keep in the refrigerator for a few days?