Gluten Free + Vegan Fluffy French Boulle Bread!

The bread is a sight to behold!! Watching it turn into a BIG football sized loaf in the oven is so exciting. You’ll be amazed you made it yourself. I apologize that I don’t have any sliced photos for this loaf. I didn’t want to cut into it as I went on to use it for a stuffed pizza pull apart bread (which you will find in the next post.)

But I promise the texture is PERFECT. It looks similar to the interior of the baguettes with a beautiful airy and soft crumb and a perfectly crusty exterior. Its great for sandwiches or just about anything. I highly recommend using it to make the pull apart bread! It is absolutely incredible.

For this recipe you’re going to need a bread proofing basket & either a pizza stone or baking steel. I promise they are worth the investment if you enjoy baking. I use my pizza stone in many of my bread recipes and will continue to do so going forward.

To proof the bread I used this 13 inch oval Banneton Basket. I also feel pretty confident that you could get away with used a 9 inch round proofing/ banneton basket for this specific quantity of dough. Please make note that you don’t use the cover when making the bread. :) Just the basket itself heavily doused in all purpose gluten free flour or superfine rice flour.

I shared some of this same information in the baguette recipe- but I think its worth repeating. Feel free to skip this section if you already read the last post.

The key to success in making a great egg free/ gluten free + vegan bread is Psyllium Husk, Which is an ingredient I have been wanting to experiment with but felt a little overwhelmed knowing there would be a big learning curve and a lot of trial and error. I had tested it out a number of times and felt as though it was actually preventing my breads from getting as big as I knew they could be.

Turns out I was making one mistake.. I wasn’t adding enough hydration to my bread doughs when I used it. The cool thing about psyllium is that it allows you to sneak in a lot more water into the recipe without the dough getting super wet. Typically with gluten free bread recipe development I’m walking the fine line between getting as much hydration into the dough as I can while also making sure the dough can be worked with and shaped. I have spent a LOT of time trying slight variations in the amount of water compared to the amount of flour whenever I’m putting the finishing touches on a recipe.

Basically.. it comes down to this. Psyllium provides the structure to bread that it needs very similar to how gluten works. It allows allows for more moisture which means the bread gets bigger. Its kind of a miraculous ingredient when used correctly. I’m finding it also allows for recipes to contain less ingredients. It really opens the door to a new frontier of innovation & I’m really excited to go down the path and see what I can create.

Psyllium works in a really unique way like other ingredient I have come across so therefore I really don’t think it can be subbed out or replaced successfully.

Have you ever heard of the term oven spring??

Oven spring is a magical thing that happens in the oven that bread bakers aim for. IF there is enough hydration and structure in the dough and you put the dough into a very hot oven (preferably on a pizza stone or baking steel) then the moisture in the dough quickly bubbles up and creates a lot of height in the bread in the first 10 minutes in the oven. This then equates to a fluffy bread with a beautiful crumb & lots of perfect air bubbles. Even without an oven spring happening the bread will still taste good .. it’ll just be a bit dense in comparison. I discovered that mixing in too much flour when shaping the dough prevented the oven spring from happening because it reduced the amount of moisture in the dough. This is why I suggest trying to shape the dough using only a few tbsp of flour at the most.

Making the dough in advance. You can totally do this. You can make the dough and place it in a TIGHTLY sealed container and stick it in the fridge for up to 48 hours. You may want to give your container a quick spritz of oil as this dough is very very sticky. Then, when you are ready to bake it place it in the pan and follow the rest of the directions. Making it ahead is wonderful for the flavor. It acts as a slow first proof for the dough.

Typically with this dough I let it slowly rest/rise for 2 hours before I bake it and then the second proof happens really quickly (usually within 30 minutes or so) since the yeast is developed and the dough is warm. If your second proof is happening with cold dough that was made ahead of time it will take longer for sure. Probably more like an hour or so. You’l know its done when the dough gets somewhat close to double the original shaped size. It should completely fill the basket and reach about the top of the basket.

Gluten Free + Vegan Fluffy French Boulle Bread!

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Author: Brittany Angell

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 50 MinInactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 3 H & 10 M

This makes for a large impressive loaf of French bread! As long as you don’t kneed too much flour into the dough you’ll be amazed watching it spring up in the oven & get huge! You’ll end up with a beautiful interior crumb texture and a sturdy loaf with a gorgeous crisp crust. It can be used for just about anything- but I highly recommend making a loaf for my garlic butter pizza pull apart bread recipe!

Ingredients

• 459 grams of warm water (NOT hot. Just warm. Hot water will kill the yeast.)
• 16 grams Psyllium Husk Powder (make sure it’s labeled as powder!)
• 60 grams of organic Cane Sugar
• 22 grams of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp fast acting/instant/ quick rise yeast
• 420 grams Better Batter Original Blend Flour
• 40 grams Expandex
• 2 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Add to the bowl of a stand mixer the hot water & psyllium. Give it a quick mix to make sure it’s well combined. Then add In all of the remaining ingredients making sure to measure accurately.
2. Using the paddle attachment mix on low then high for 2-3 minutes. Making sure to scrap down the sides once or twice.
3. Prepare a large glass bowl (glass conducts heat best for proofing.) by oiling it by hand or spraying oil over the entire inside of the bowl. Add all of the bread dough. Cover it tightly with ceran wrap. Place in a warm spot for 2 hours. I like to turn my oven on to 350 just until it’s preheated and then turn it off. Placing the bowl on top of the oven with a towel over the top of the ceran wrap. Giving it the 2 hours allows the dough to rise & the psyllium to absorb moisture.
4. After the 2 hours. Place a pizza stone or baking steel into the oven on the middle rack. Turn the oven on to 450 degrees
5. Prepare your proofing basket by liberally adding flour to the inside if it to prevent sticking.
6. . Dust your work surface with just a bit of better batter. This part is very important- you are going to want to intuitively knead in a good amount of flour to prevent any sticking. Don’t do it! If you knead in too much your bread won’t spring up and get as big as it can possibly be in the oven. I use maybe 3-4 tbsp at the very most per loaf and I try to get it shaped right away rather than kneading and shaping on repeat. Dust your work surface with the flour and dump the bowl of proofed dough onto the flour. Dip your hands in the flour so help prevent sticking and kneed the dough just briefly to get the dough smooth. Shape into a round or load that corresponds with the size and shape of your proofing basket. Place the dough down (the good smooth side down- and seams facing up!) and pat the dough into the basket evenly. If any areas seem like they might stick add a little more flour. Brush just the section of dough exposed with some water. Then cover with a kitchen towel. Place on the oven while it preheats for your second proof.
7. Set the timer for 30 minutes. During this time your dough should fully expand to fill the basket.
8. Place a sheet of parchment on a cutting board. And use the cutting board to flip the basket and its bread dough carefully to remove the dough from the basket while keeping its beautiful shape. Sprinkle some flour on the top of the dough & slash the top using a sharp knife with the design of your choice.
9. Cover with the towel gently and place the cutting board on the stove to give the bread 10 minute minute to proof.
10. After the 10 minutes your oven should be fully preheated and the bread should be fully risen. Remove the towel off of the bread dough. Using the baking cutting board as your guide - slide the sheet of parchment holding the dough carefully onto the hot baking stone. Be very careful not to touch the stone with your hands. Quickly close the oven door.
11. Quickly open the oven door and throw a few handfuls of ice cubes into the bottom of the oven. You may add them to a pan or sheet that was preheating on the bottom rack along with the pizza stone or directly onto the oven floor. I go the easy route and just throw the ice into the oven. This creates steam helping the bread to rise as much as possible.
12. Set the timer for 20 minutes. Make sure not to open the oven door during this time. After the 20 minutes turn the oven head down to 350 degrees. (Leaving the bread in the oven.) and set the timer for 25 minutes. At this point if your oven has a hot spot you can carefully rotate the parchment so that all sides are baked equally.
13. Check the oven at the 25 minute mark- if the bread hadn’t gotten too dark if can bake another 5 minutes for good measure and an extra crispy crust.
14. Carefully remove the bread from the oven using the baking tray again or a cutting board. Allow it to cool for a bit and then serve warm or at room temperature. Note that the bread may be a little gummy when hot but that texture goes away once cool.
15. This bread is best fresh eaten in the first day or two! If you intend to have it last longer than that- freeze it instead and or store it in a sealed bag at room temperature after it has cooled all the way. As time goes in the crust gets softer - feel free to throw it in a toaster oven or the oven to reheat to bring back the crispy crust texture.

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