Gluten Free Rice Batter Bread

This gluten free rice batter bread is the no-yeast, no-kneading loaf that solves the ‘I need bread today’ problem for anyone avoiding gluten. The structure comes from a blend of brown rice flour and potato starch, leavened with two tablespoons of baking powder for serious lift, and bound with eggs, water (or soy milk), oil, and honey. Mix the dry, mix the wet, combine, pour into a loaf pan, bake. The whole process takes ten minutes of hands-on time.

The brown rice flour and potato starch combination is the technical key to gluten-free bread that doesn’t taste sandy or fall apart. Brown rice flour provides the bulk and the nutty flavor; potato starch adds tenderness and just enough binding power to hold the loaf together where gluten normally would. Two tablespoons of baking powder sounds like a lot, but rice flour batters need that much lift to rise without yeast.

Honey is the right sweetener here. Beyond the touch of sweetness, honey’s slight stickiness helps the bread retain moisture for two or three days, which gluten-free loaves notoriously fail at. Without something like honey, gluten-free quick breads often go dry and crumbly within a day.

Pro Tips

• Cool the loaf completely in the pan before slicing. Gluten-free bread is fragile while warm and crumbles if cut hot.
• Toast slices before eating for a better texture. The crust crisps up and the inside stays tender.
• Store sliced and frozen. Frozen GF bread thaws better than refrigerated, which goes stale fast.
• Use unrefined oil for a better flavor. Refined oils are flat in this simple recipe.

Variations

• Stir in a half cup of raisins or chopped dates for a sweeter breakfast loaf.
• Add a teaspoon of cinnamon and a quarter cup of chopped walnuts for cinnamon-walnut bread.
• Swap honey for maple syrup for a different sweetness profile.
• Make it dairy-free and vegan by skipping the eggs and using soy milk plus an extra tablespoon of oil.