Kate’s Gluten Free Anadama Bread Recipe

After a several years of gluten free baking and making variations on several other recipes, I’ve developed a really good gluten free bread recipe. This is a gluten free version of anadama bread, a type of bread made with molasses and cornmeal that’s popular in New England. It’s not too hard to make, it has a good flavor, and it’s big enough and sturdy enough for making serious sandwiches.

Jump to sections: Ingredients | Instructions | Notes & Substitutions

Ingredients

• 350 g gluten free flour blend *
• 40 g cornmeal
• 40 g psyllium husks
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 c warm water
• 25 g molasses *
• 1 packet instant yeast (about 7g or 2 1/4 tsp)
• 1 1/4 c warm whole milk *
• 70 g melted butter *
• 1 large egg + 4 egg whites *

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix the warm water and molasses. Add the yeast and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the gluten free flour, cornmeal, psyllium, and salt, and set aside.
3. Melt the butter and warm up the milk (I usually do this by microwaving them in the same bowl).
4. In a large bowl, slowly add the egg and egg whites to the milk and butter and whisk thoroughly. Once the eggs are incorporated, add the water, molasses, and yeast mixture and whisk again.
5. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing as you go. Once all the flour has been added, mix for 10 minutes on medium to medium-high speed.
6. While the dough is mixing, preheat the oven for rising. If your oven has a bread proof or similar setting, use that; otherwise, you can preheat your oven to 200ºF and then turn it off and leave the door closed after putting the dough in.
7. While the dough is mixing, prepare your bread pan. I usually coat it in a layer of vegetable oil and then a layer of (gluten free) flour, but if you prefer parchment paper or some other method that’s fine.
8. After 10 minutes of mixing, the dough should be very thick and sticky. Scrape it out into the bread pan, level it a little with a spatula or by shaking, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in the warm oven for 60 minutes.
9. After 60 minutes, remove the bread from the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF. (If you leave the bread on top of the oven, it will stay warm and keep rising while the oven preheats.)
10. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the bread for 70 minutes. Let the bread sit for at least 5 minutes before trying to remove it from the pan, and let it cool to room temperature before cutting.

Notes & Substitutions

• Flour mix: I usually use Cup4Cup, but most commercial blends should work. ^
• Dairy: You can substitute a cooking oil for the butter and a plant-based milk for the whole milk. I would avoid strongly flavored options (eg. vegetable oil instead of olive oil, and no vanilla flavoring in the milk) and look for a higher-fat milk. ^
• Eggs: This bread really depends on egg whites for its structure. If you wanted to substitute a vegan egg alternative, I think you would need to go through several rounds of tweaking the recipe to get something that works. ^
• Molasses: If you don’t have molasses, you can use sugar (same weight). In my opinion, it’s worth getting molasses for the flavor, especially for those who are new to eating gluten free. The molasses flavor is part of what makes this anadama bread, and it also helps distract from the fact that there’s no wheat flavor. ^