I am going to learn to make bread to-morrow. So you may imagine me with my sleeves rolled up, mixing flour, milk, saleratus, etc., with a deal of grace. I advise you if you don’t know how to make the staff of life to learn with dispatch.
–Emily Dickinson
Now, this post doesn’t involve milk (obviously–sorry, Emily), but it does involve bread (duh).
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread. When you’re gluten (or dairy) free, you have to learn to bake your own bread. And really, I’ve gotten used to it now, and rather relish the mixing routine and the anticipatory period before the finished product comes out of the oven.
We’ve been using this recipe for a few years now, ever since we stumbled upon it in the magazine Living Without, which my mom subscribes to. We’ve found that rolls are the easiest when baking vegan, gluten-, and corn-free. Loaves just don’t bake all the way through (though the original recipe calls for eggs and loaf-baking dishes, so feel free to experiment if you eat eggs!)
Still, this bread is great for little sandwiches, toast, along side soups, or whatever. I really like the reminiscent tang from the cider vinegar, and the little specks of flax.
Ingredients
4 cups flour blend
- 1 1/3 cups brown rice flour
- 1 1/3 cups tapioca flour/starch
- 1 1/3 cups potato starch
- 1 tablespoon potato flour
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup powdered milk or nondairy milk powder substitute
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 eggs (or 3 tablespoons flax seed mixed with 9 tablespoons hot water)
1/4 cup butter, margarine, or Spectrum organic shortening
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey or agave vinegar
2 cups warm water
Directions
1.Grease two large cookie sheets for rolls
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a medium-size bowl and set aside
3. Place eggs (or flax-eggs), butter, vinegar and honey/agave in a bowl and mix.
4. Add half the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Mix just until blended. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until blended.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add warm water until well absorbed. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat for 4 minutes. The dough should resemble cake batter.
6. Spoon the dough into roll-sized bits onto the greased cookie sheet. Set aside to rise, about 50 minutes. While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Place pans in preheated oven and bake 50 minutes. (If you’re using two pans–one on top, one on bottom–make sure you switch them halfway through so that the bottom ones don’t get burned on the bottom.)
Food Allergy Cooking 
I am having a hard time finding non-dairy powdered milk (even at mega Whole Foods, Wegman’s and the niche Healthways Natural Foods store)…any idea how to substitute other milk (like oat or hemp) for dry milk?
Hi Michelle, thanks for your question.
I’m not sure about substituting a liquid milk for dry milk… You could probably try it. Perhaps to compensate you could not add as much water while mixing (1 1/3 cups water instead of 2, perhaps).
As to non-dairy milk substitutes, I use a non-dairy powdered coffee creamer. Coffee-Mate makes one (http://bit.ly/iLPtXC) and so does Western Family (http://bit.ly/k5SMC1). I think both of these are available at most grocery stores. In my experience, this is the only non-dairy powdered substitute for cow milk that I’ve found (besides powdered goat milk).