Homemade GF Bread and Shabbat

Friday we had our first Shabbat in our new home.  After several months of craziness, moving, unpacking, getting used to so much newness; a time of togetherness was greatly needed!

No, we are not of Jewish descent and we do not practice this every week, but we cherish this tradition and try to do it on Fridays when we can.  We started it a few years back when I read a book encouraging The Simplifying and Slowing Down of Things.

I light the two candles, the children each have a small part they have memorized and Daddy shares something or just prays, we break bread, and we share a time of communion.  Sometimes we give verbal blessings to our children, sometimes we laugh and are silly, and usually we each share something good and bad about our day or week.  This is a game we call "High-Low"; however, it has digressed into "Good-High-Low and Sad-Low" or "High-Low, Middle-Low, Low-Low...."  But we don't mind because it means our kiddos are loving sharing with us and they know this sacred time is a time where we all listen to one another, everyone is heard, and we eat a slow, healthy meal together late (for them!) into the night.

If you want to learn more about Shabbat practices, there are many places on the internet that give suggestions of what to do, say, and eat.  We have made it our own in a way we can best remember what is important and focus on each other and, of course, on Jesus who has been with us, healed us, and brought us through so much.  I highly recommend it for people like myself who need a forced slow-down at the end of the week to restart as a family!

I think the bread at Shabbat may be a highlight for my children because they know it will be hot from the oven and will "melt the butter"!  This one was a favorite of my recipes so far (usually I throw some ingredients together and it doesn't quite turn out the way I like, but this time it did so I wrote it down:) and I thought I would share with you all.  Enjoy!

Homemade GF (and vegan) Yeast Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tsp coconut sugar (will use the 1 tsp with the yeast)
• 4 cups GF All Purpose Blend (I use Bob's Red Mill's 1-to-1 Baking Blend), plus extra if needed
• 1/2 cup Arrowroot or Potato Starch
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Psyllium Husk Powder (this helps the bread can be found at local health food co-ops or Whole Foods or online)
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup melted Coconut Oil 
• 1 additional cup of water
• 3-4 cups Ice Water in a pitcher

Method

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place a pan (big enough and with a lip that can hold the ice water later) in the bottom rack of your oven.
• Combine warm water and sugar and sprinkle the yeast over to bloom the yeast.  Let sit until you see bubbles forming- about 10 minutes. 
• Meanwhile, stir and combine remaining dry ingredients: GF All Purpose flour, Starch, 1/3 cup coconut sugar, psyllium, and sea salt).
• When yeast is ready pour into dry mixture.  ADD 1 more cup of water and the oil.  Stir to combine, careful to not overstir- you don't need to kneed like glutenous breads.
• Add more water or flour if needed.  The mixture should be easily scraped from the side of the bowl, but still very wet.  It will also absorb some of the liquid as it rises.
• Cover the bowl with a wet cloth or seal and let rise in a warm area for about thirty minutes or until close to double in size.  
• Then re-stir back down to original size and shape into a rounded shape on a bread pan or stone.  The best thing to do here is cover with the mixing bowl (or larger bowl) for the final rise.  Just flip it over the bread round.
• Let rise 20 minutes or so until doubled again.
• Open oven and pour the ice water into the now hot pan in the bottom of oven.  This will create steam while the bread baked and really develop a nice crust (hard to get in most gluten-free breads!).
• Gently place the bread pan with the round, now doubled in size, in the middle rack of oven and bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes.
• This will keep a few days covered on counter-top, but I will sometimes freeze half if I know we aren't going to get to it all at once.  Alternatively, you can use a loaf pan for sandwiches; however, add extra baking time.