Rachel’s Recipe Box

As a child, I loved eating Portuguese Sweet Bread when we were on vacation on Cape Cod. The mild sweetness of the bread and the chewy bread was just wonderful. I’ve tried to recreate some of that experience with this bread. It has just the right level of sweetness, and says lovely and moist. For this sweet bread, I prefer to serve smaller slices, so I bake it in a silicone bundt pan, which works beautifully. I strongly recommend that strategy!

This recipe is gfcf, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, legume free, nut free, vegetarian, and can be corn-free. It is not egg free, sadly. I’ve had limited success using egg substitutes with this recipe – I would only try it with rolls, as the egg protein holds together the dough in a bread shape.

DO NOT skip the step of lining the pan with parchment paper if you are not using a silicone pan! GF bread dough is very sticky, and you’ll end up with bread stuck to the bottom of the loaf pan. It’s worth the extra money to get the silicone or parchment paper! You can get away with not lining cupcake tins (for rolls) or hamburger pans, though.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup gf flour (amaranth, sorghum, and millet all work well here)

• 1 cup arrowroot, tapioca, or corn starch, or a mix (potato starch tends to make it fall)‘
• If you use a gf baking mix, you would just use 2 3/4 cups of the baking mix
• 2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum or guar gum
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
• 1 1/4 t salt
• 2 t apple cider vinegar
• 2 T olive oil
• 3 eggs

Method

Whip together the 3 eggs in your stand mixer.

While they are whipping, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, and whisk together.

Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the eggs, mix together. Slowly add the dry ingredients, beating together on low. “Knead” for 4 minutes. The dough will be very wet, almost like cake batter.

Line a 9×5 (or so) bread pan with parchment paper, or use an oiled silicone pan. Use a spatula to fill the bread pan/bundt pan/rolls with the dough/batter.

Let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from pan and cool (it cuts much better cooled if you can wait that long).

If you are going to save the bread, slice it once it is cooled, then freeze it sliced. Toast it straight from the freezer to warm it up. Microwaving for 30 seconds a slice works as well, but I prefer the texture when it’s toasted.