Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We've been working through this book and have learned a lot. Gluten free bread isn't the same as gluten bread and it never will be. That said, this bread is a million times better than anything available commercially. 5 minutes a day? Yep, it's a fantastic concept that works. We're still learning and have a long way to go to achieve gluten free bread nirvana. This book is a great starting point and guide. We've now progressed to experimentation in the quest for a loaf of artisan free gluten bread this is so close to a hot and crusty gluten bread that no one would ever guess. Thanks to Zoe and Jeff, we're certain that we'll get there. DECEMBER 2014 UPDATE #2: We can now confirm that using Bob's Red Mill (BRM) flour/additive proportions, yeast proofing, dough rest/rise, and baking instructions found on the back of their 'GF Hearty Whole Grain Bread' mix - amount of flour (20 oz package of dry ingredients), water, eggs, apple cider vinegar - with GFABin5's basic 'white' and whole grain flour mixtures (and any other GFABin5 'standard' loaf mixtures), and the GFABin5 steam cooking method, result in a much more fantastic crumb than we've been able to achieve thus far with the GFABin5 refrigerator method alone with or without eggs. We also get the fantastic crumb without the steam but not the crusty crust. So, for vastly improved crumb along with a crusty crust, steam and then cover the bread with alu foil (BRM baking technique) to prevent burning the crust. We add more millet flour to help lighten the crumb; it makes a difference. What's more, the BRM baking method uses only a 375 degree oven and we can now use 'regular' parchment paper again. Oh, and yah, the effort still happens in under 8 minutes a day. For now, we have more refrigerator space and vastly improved GFABin5 crumb with the BRM baking technique. We recommend the BRM baking method for anyone who's still struggling with a too dense/wet/gooey crumb in their basic GFABin5 loaves. We continue to work toward a great crumb using the GFABin5 refrigerator method, but we have to admit that we're over the moon with the BRM results using GFABin5 flour mixtures and the recovery of refrigerator space. Because the BRM baking method is so successful for us, we're more adventurous with our GFABin5 flour mixtures. Our GFABin5 bread is now consistently really good. n.b. We bake all of our GFABin5 bread on a Lodge cast iron griddle in the oven Lodge LDP3 Double Play Reversible Grill/Griddle, 9.5" x 16.75". Two of these griddles cover an entire oven rack for those busy baking days. The cast iron griddles are much less expensive and more versatile than a stone, will not break and heat very evenly. We also love the cast iron dutch oven bread baking method for those 'lazy' baking days...lol. Happy GFAB bread baking! DECEMBER 2014 UPDATE #1: After working through this book for the last 6 weeks, we hope that the following comments will be helpful. We're scientists in real life (ergo not total morons), but gladly admit that we're complete morons when it comes to this method of making bread. So, we started at the beginning of this book, learned its process and went from there. If you're having problems with these breads, here are some things that we recommend. We were incredibly frustrated in the first weeks with all sorts of failures including fresh yeast that didn't cause the dough to rise when following the book's initial mixing instructions. 1) Go to the book's website and watch the authors' TV spots. There you'll see exactly what consistency this dough should be. We're at a high altitude (3,200+ feet) and find that the amount of water called for in these recipes is woefully short. N.B. to authors - please describe dough consistency better in the 2nd ed. One B/W photo of dough in a glop doesn't really give much useful information. What's more, we have no idea what constitutes dough that is either "too wet or too dry" in the trouble shooting section without some useful metaphor that describes what is meant by dough that is either too wet or dry. 2) After watching the authors' online videos, we noticed that Zoe sort of proofed the yeast by always adding it to the water first and NOT mixing it in with the dry ingredients as described in this book. She also always added the dry ingredients to the liquids. Following Zoe's examples make for a much easier and complete mix of the dough especially if mixing by hand with the very useful and fabulous Danish dough whisk. We had one batch that completely bombed with no rising dough when we mixed in the yeast with the dry ingredients. This happened before watching the online videos. We now always, always proof our yeast first by mixing it into the lukewarm water before adding the dry ingredients to the liquids. Because we like the taste, we also feed our proofing yeast a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses (or more if the recipe calls for it); the yeast go wild and our GF dough rises to the moon, Alice, to the moon! 3) Mixing the dough by hand works best for us. We tried it with our heavy duty food processor and it overworked the dough to the extent that we baked up concrete. Hand mixing will never cause this to happen. We have a heavy duty commercial stand mixer and haven't tested it because mixing by hand is so fast and easy. 3) The gooey crumb (baker speak for the not crust part of the bread) from these recipes is not something that we should have to endure. As scientists we're also explorers. After many frustrating weeks of bread that was so dense it could be used as filler in one of our brick walls, we bought some packages Bob's Red Mill gluten free bread mixes and baked them pdq. OMG!!!! The crumb from the Bob's Red Mill mixes is so light and airy that you would never ever guess that it was gluten free bread. There was no dense or gooey crumb. What's more, these mixes can be easily made in just 5 minutes a day with neither failures nor the super dense crumb (even with eggs) from the recipes in the GFABin5 book. BUT (pay attention Bob et al.) there are ingredients in the BRM packets that we wish weren't there - like maltodextrin and silicon dioxide, among others. NEVERTHELESS, their GF free bread mixes handily demonstrate that GF bread can have a similar crumb to gluten bread. We loved the BRM GF full grain bread and cornbread mixes (yes, Virginia, you can have GF cornbread exactly as you're accustomed to having it), but we found the BRM "Homemade Wonderful Bread" mix to be so much like Wonderbread and its ilk that we wouldn't make it again. It was like eating fluff. Nevertheless, it was gluten free, light and airy crumb, fluff. We learned enough from the Bob's Red Mill mixes that we've begun experimenting with these techniques using the flour mixes from the GFABin5 recipes. We learned about dough consistency using the BRM mixes. The BRM dough is literally poured into a baking/proofing vessel. It's not liquid, but the dough flows like cooling lava. Does this mean that the BRM dough consistency is really too wet for GFABin5? We don't know yet and will test it. We're in the process of testing the BRM dough/baking method with GFABin5 flours. The BRM method lets the dough rise in it's baking vessel or a floured banneton and then bakes it 30-45 minutes later when the dough has risen a specified amount. We hope that trying the BRM method results in a more consistently lighter crumb with the GFABin5 flour mixes. If the BRM method works with the GFABin5 flours, then we won't have to devote so much refrigerator space for resting dough except for the sourdough. The BRM mixes require the addition of a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. After a thorough web search, it seems that this tiny amount of acid from the apple cider vinegar helps the dough rise and temporarily strengthens dough elasticity. Because GF bread dough isn't worked like gluten dough, this teeny bit of cider vinegar might be a completely worthwhile additive to all GF bread dough when using the BRM baking method. We have no idea (and could find no information) as to whether or not this small amount of cider vinegar will affect a refrigerated dough. But, we're willing to try in the quest for a lighter crumb and staying true to the GFABin5 process. In the end, we happened to have a piece of GFABin5 whole grain bread with whole millet in the bread box. Even with its dense crumb, it was so much more delicious than any of the Bob's Red Mill mixes that we remain committed to the GFABin5 breads. We're just on a quest for a consistently lighter crumb with all of the flavor found in the GFABin5 breads. And yes, we're adding more millet flour to the GFABin5 recipes because it's supposed to help lighten the crumb. 5 stars is perfection, everything was easy peasy and worked exactly as described. Thus, 4 stars until all intrepid bread makers will have zero failures. Peace.