Gluten free buckwheat boule
Vegan, xanthan gum free, nut free *Tablespoons are in Australian tablespoons which are 20ml as opposed to the far more common 15ml. If you are based in USA, Europe, UK, Canada or New Zealand, use 4 teaspoons (4 X 5ml teaspoons = 20ml)
Equipment
- 1 X large Dutch oven (make sure it is suitable for baking at high temperatures and that the lid handle is heatproof) mine is 27cm/10 inch diameter
- 1 X banneton (round or oval) (mine is 21cm/8 inch diameter)
Ingredients
- 500 g light buckwheat flour
- 100 g tapioca flour
- 25 g psyllium husk powder (see notes)
- 12 g salt
- 7.5 g instant yeast
- 20 ml (1 tablespoon)* oil
- 20 ml (1 tablespoon)* maple syrup
- 600-700 g water I used 650g, see notes
- Rice flour for shaping the dough and for the banneton
Instructions
- Lightly flour your banneton with rice flour and get your dutch oven ready. Make sure the dutch oven you use has a heat safe handle (I found this out the hard way).
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large non-reactive (glass or plastic) bowl. Whisk in the oil, maple syrup and water. Initially, the dough will look alarmingly wet. Within a few minutes, the dough should start to thicken to the consistency of a paste. Make sure you have removed all the lumps of flour and the mixture is smooth.
- Cover the bowl using an airtight method (I invert a snug plastic bag over the top of the bowl) and set aside to proof for 1 hour.
- Once the dough has proofed, it should feel airy and more solid. The ideal consistency is just slightly too sticky to pick up, but still a ball of dough that you can easily hold in one (floured) hand.
- If your dough is drier than this, add more water to reach this consistency. If your dough is wetter than this, add scant amounts of buckwheat flour and tapioca flour and knead them through thoroughly. Dough that is too wet won’t hold together in a boule shape and will spread as it proofs, so it’s important that the dough is not too hydrated either.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean bench floured with rice flour. Sprinkle every surface of the dough with a small amount of rice flour so you can touch it without it sticking.
- Flatten the dough slightly into a circle, then bring one edge of the dough up at a time into the centre like you are wrapping a present. Pinch and twist the edges together in the centre of the dough to secure them together. I like to ‘knit’ them by pulling a small piece across to one side and another piece across from the other side. I also like to double check the bottom of the dough (which will be the top of the bread) is smooth before I commit. A cracked bottom of the dough (aka the top of the bread) will become a cracked looking loaf of bread at the end. It will also encourage the loaf to crack in unpredictable ways, whereas scoring your bread will control where the steam escapes and minimise cracking elsewhere on the loaf.
- Gently pick up the dough and place, seam side facing up, it into your 21cm/8 inch banneton. See notes in body of the post if you don't have a banneton.
- Cover your banneton without touching it (again, I use an inverted plastic bag that covers the bottom and sides of the banneton) and proof for 1 hour or until the loaf is puffy and brings back when you touch it. Note that proofing takes longer in summer than it does in winter.
- Preheat your oven to 220-230C/428-446F with your dutch oven inside about 30-40 minutes before you bake. Make sure the dutch oven is safe for high temperature baking.
- When your loaf is proofed, carefully invert it onto a sturdy piece of baking paper. So many brands of baking paper are so thin these days – use two pieces if you are in doubt (or reusable stuff).
- Use a lame or a sharp knife to score the bread however you like. I generally keep it simple but I’m not very skilled at doing lovely patterns, so go for it if you are.
- Working quickly but very carefully, remove the dutch oven from the oven. Take the lid off and gently place the loaf inside. I like to quickly slip an ice cube in (to create steam, which will help with oven spring) before placing the lid back on. Return the dutch oven to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, carefully remove the lid from the dutch oven. The loaf should have grown a little in size and should have started browning on top. Your scoring should be more evident as the loaf has expanded.
- Turn the oven down to 200C/400F and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes until the loaf is a nice light golden brown. You should be able to knock on the crust – it will be firm.
- Remove the bread from the dutch oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Ideally, leave the bread until it is completely cool to slice.
- Store the bread in an airtight container. I like to slice it fresh and then store the slices in a container in the fridge to eat as toast after the first couple of days.
- The bread can also be sliced and frozen, then toasted straight from frozen.
Notes
- Gluten free boules are a balancing act. The dough needs to be wet enough to ensure it proofs (yeast only grows in moist environments) but you still need to be able to handle the dough to shape it.
- A dough that is too dry will not proof, but a dough that is too wet will be unable to hold it's shape as it proofs and you will end up with a flat bread blob.
- Use extreme judgement when determining how much water to add to your dough. Every bag of flour will have a different absorbency and I can't test them all. Read through the body of the post and the notes to understand how the dough should feel and what to expect. Add water according to the description of the dough as opposed to just the number in the recipe card. Hydration can vary wildly and you need to use some initiative in determining if your dough is striking a good balance.
- Substitution notes are in the body of the post, as are notes on using something other than a banneton or a Dutch oven.
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