When my sister came to visit, I wanted to bake a loaf of bread for her. The trouble was that my favorite gluten-free bread recipe just wouldn't do; my recipe contained butter, milk, and yeast, and my sister is not only a celiac, but she is also allergic to milk and yeast, among other things. Rather than embark on a quest to find a recipe that would fit all of my sister's food sensitivities, I decided to attempt a modification of my own recipe. If I could figure out how to modify one recipe, perhaps I could apply my changes to other yeast bread recipes. If so, it would certainly expand the number of recipes available for my sister, as well as for other celiacs with multiple sensitivities.

Replacing butter in the recipe with margarine seemed like an obvious choice, but my sister is also allergic to soy, and a margarine that contained neither soy nor milk products was beyond the selections available at my neighborhood grocery store. Therefore, I simply used the same amount of corn oil as the recipe called for butter. Since the original recipe called for melted butter, this change did not require me to adjust the amount of liquid used.

Substituting for milk took more consideration. Obviously, soy milk had to be excluded as a possibility because of my sister's soy allergy. Other products such as almond milk also had to be eliminated after careful scrutiny of the labels revealed that they contained soy lecithin or vitamin E, which is frequently derived from soy. I decided to use water for the liquid, but to compensate for the protein that milk adds to bread dough, I increased the number of eggs in the recipe from one to three. This change did necessitate a decrease in the amount of liquid in the recipe.

Eliminating yeast meant that I would have to use a different leavening agent to make the dough rise. Baking soda requires the addition of an acid to make it work, but I could use baking powder alone. After consulting some quick bread recipes, I postulated that it would require one teaspoon of baking powder to leaven one cup of gluten-free flour. As my recipe called for three cups of flour, I would need three teaspoons, or one tablespoon, of baking powder.

After making all the changes to my bread recipe, I wondered what the outcome would be. Would there be enough leaven or too much? Would the bread rise but then fall? Would the flavor of the bread be altered negatively? The only way to know for sure was to try the experiment. The worst thing that could happen would be to produce a loaf of bread that was only good for making into croutons or for turning into bread crumbs to keep in the freezer for use in meatloaf and other recipes. Such a worst case scenario was not serious enough to stop the experiment.

The resulting bread was a beautiful loaf that rose higher than my yeast bread. It had good texture and sliced well. I missed the taste of yeast and did not like the flavor of that much egg in my bread, but my sister, who no longer uses yeast and typically uses several eggs in bread dough, reported liking the flavor of the bread. (Could it be that she is trying to make up for all the times she got me in trouble when we were kids?) We both rejoiced in the success of the experiment, and I resolved that I would try the same conversion with other yeast bread recipes when my sister visits again – or when I happen to be out of yeast on bread-baking day.

The recipe that I used for my first experiment in converting a yeast bread recipe to yeast-free appears below. To convert another recipe, I suggest using one teaspoon of baking powder for every cup of gluten-free flour.

Yeast and Milk-Free Loaf Bread

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 1/3 cup pinto or other bean flour
• 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
• 1/3 cup tapioca flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 tablespoon molasses or honey
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups very warm water
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional)

If using poppy and/or sesame seeds, set oven to 350° and toast seeds on a baking sheet for approximately 10 minutes or until sesame seeds begin to brown. Remove from oven.

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and rice flour one loaf pan, approximately 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch size.

In a large mixing bowl, blend flours, salt, xanthan gum, and baking powder. Using an electric mixer, blend in oil, molasses or honey, and eggs. Add water until dough has the consistency of soft cookie dough. Beat dough at medium speed until dough is well mixed. Stir in toasted seeds (optional).

Pour dough into prepared loaf pan. With a wet hand, smooth dough and press it into the corners of the pan.

Bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow bread to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing it to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Yield – one loaf.

Alternate Mixing Method

To improve the texture of the bread, use this method to soften the flour.

In a large mixing bowl, blend flours, salt, and xanthan gum. Blend in oil, molasses or honey, and 1 1/4 cups very warm water. Cover mixing bowl and allow the dough to stand for about one hour to soften the flour.

When standing time is over, blend in eggs and baking powder. Add more water if necessary to make the dough have the consistency of soft cookie dough. Beat dough at medium speed until dough is well mixed. Stir in toasted seeds (optional). Press dough into pan and bake as directed above.