Thermomix Gluten Free Focaccia Bread
I love my Thermomix – in case you hadn’t noticed 😉
I’ve been an Independent Thermomix Demonstrator with UK Thermomix for three years now, and I am seeing a growing number of people in the UK who are gluten intolerant. I read somewhere that this may be due to the speed at which our industrially-produced bread is risen, which doesn’t give the natural gluten contained in wheat flour enough time to develop its digestibility. Whatever the cause, however severe the effects, there are luckily many good recipes out there for Gluten Free breads, including this delicious gluten free focaccia recipe by Leslie Collins (@meandmythermie), Adriana Rabinovich (@glutenfree4kids) and UK Thermomix Director Janie Turner.
It’s so fast and easy to grind the ingredients freshly with your Thermomix, and this makes a wonderful difference to the flavour and nutrition. This focaccia is really tasty and has good texture and consistency so you can make it for your whole family and they’ll love it. The recipe is very flexible, too, so you can replace some or all of the rice and chickpeas with a bought variety of GF bread flour, such as Dove’s Farm, if you’re in a hurry – but never fear, it’s really quite fast and easy to grind your own flours. I have a client who has a life-threatening allergy to almonds so I have experimented with alternatives suggested by Lesley Collins and they work well, too. My personal favourite is today’s batch, made with 55 g of gluten-free oatmeal in place of the almonds. The texture is the closest to wheat bread that I’ve made so far. Lesley says this recipe also makes a terrific pizza base!
Thermomix Gluten Free Focaccia Bread
Ingredients
110 g basmati rice
110 g brown rice
110 g dried chickpeas
55 g almonds or coconut flour or GF oatmeal or Millet
55 g potato starch or potato flour or cornflour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 level tsp instant yeast (or 1 x 7 g sachet)
350 g water plus more to reach desired consistency
30 g olive oil plus more to drizzle over the top
1 Tbsp rosemary needles, fresh or dried to sprinkle over the top – optional
1 tsp flaky sea salt to sprinkle over the top – optional
1/2 lemon, freshly grated zest to sprinkle over the top – optional
Method
- Grind rice 1 minute/Speed 10.
- Add chickpeas and almonds. Grind 1 minute/Speed 10.
- Add remaining ingredients (except the rosemary, flaky salt and lemon zest). Mix 10 seconds/Speed 6, pause to scrape down the sides of the TM bowl with the spatula, then mix again 10 seconds/Speed 6. The dough should be the consistency of a cake batter. Add more water if needed to get the right consistency.
- Prepare a large rectangular baking tray by pouring in a thin layer of olive oil and swirling it around so it coats the bottom and sides of the dish. Pour in the batter. Let the bread rise for 20 minutes in a warm place, then press your fingers into it all over to make little dimples. Add toppings of your choice, or drizzle with some olive oil and scatter with chopped fresh rosemary, flaky sea salt and freshly grated lemon zest. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/400°F/gas 7/Aga Roasting Oven for 20 to 30 minutes until golden, with browned, crispy edges. Remove from the baking tray and place upside down onto a wire rack. To test if the bread is fully cooked, tap gently on the underside with your knuckles – you should get a hollow sound. If not, place it back in the oven for a few more minutes to finish baking. Leave to cool before cutting or tearing into chunks.
Bon appétit !
Here’s the reply I got from Judy in Chile who is rather pleased with her Thermomix Gluten-Free Focaccia:
Hi Jane
The bread was AMAZING!!! Taste was divine! The only issue was exactly as you described below…. No spring and it was not airy.
I’ll try the recommendations listed below for next time.
I can’t thank you enough for your recipe and tips.
BTW….. This was the very first recipe that I made with my new Thermomix. You can imagine how hard it was to find a bread recipe for my celiac husband and Vegan daughter to enjoy!!
Kind regards
Jude
And here’s my reply. Perhaps it can help some of you out there:
Hey Jude,
I’m so pleased you liked the GF Foccacia. It is a brilliant illustration of how Thermomix makes GF baking achievable, thereby making it easier for more and more people to live with gluten intolerance.
In addition to many other recipes on my own blog, here are some links to Thermomix blogs featuring gluten free, vegan and raw recipes. You should be able to find lots of inspiration for your family. Smart choice to give yourself a Thermomix!
Quirky Cooking
Me and My Thermie
Radiant on Raw and on Facebook
If you’re on Facebook, you can also check out the Thermomix Recipe Vault Facebook page, with thousands of Thermomix recipes of all sorts. It’s frankly a bit hard to use but if you follow the directions and click on the Baking/Gluten Free album, for instance, you’ll get links to loads of great recipes from a selection of the finest English-language Thermomix blogs.
Enjoy your journey to gluten free and vegan cooking with Thermomix!
Hi Judy! I’m replying to your comment about 7 hours after you left it. Your Gluten Free Focaccia Bread should be out of the oven by now. It should be delicious but it might not have the texture and springiness it would have had with the Xanthan gum. How was it?
If you do a quick web search on Xanthan gum you’ll find that it is a substitute for gluten. Gluten gives bread its stretch and springiness, and xanthan gum does the same in gluten-free baking. It is often used as a thickener in non-baked foods, and it is considered an extender in baking. If you don’t have xanthan gum you can substitute an equal amount of ground physllium husks, ground chia seeds or ground flaxseed.
These articles may be helpful to you in understanding the hows and whys of gluten free baking:
Wheat substitutes by the queen of gluten free, Quirky Jo Whitton
http://www.quirkycooking.com.au/substitutes-recipe-conversions/wheat/
Gluten-Free-Girl’s A GUIDE TO GLUTEN-FREE BAKING
http://glutenfreegirl.com/a-guide-to-gluten-free-baking/
Bon appétit and happy Thermomix cooking – and baking!
Hi !!!
I have this bread in my oven- problem is that I did not have and have not been able to find 2 tsp xanthan gum. Is this bread going to come out delicious or was the gum a very important ingredient.
Thanks so much!!
P.S. I live in Chile!!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your lovely comment, Cherryl, I’m so glad you like the recipe! I cannot take any credit for it and please do pay a visit to Me and My Thermie and Gluten Free 4 Kids for more GF delights. I love the reaction you get when you don’t tell people that they’re eating something gluten free 😉
I am so thrilled to have found this recipe, it is the best GF focaccia bread I have ever made. I made it for my visiting family of 3 teenage boys and didn’t tell them it was GF and they didn’t even know, the left overs I did in a sandwich press cut in to small chunks and had them with lovely spicy olive oil and dipped in Egyptian dukkah.
Hi Meaghan! I just love this GF Focaccia and I hope you like it, too.
I have done some quick research and Coeliac Australia says that yeast is generally gluten free: “From a gluten free perspective, yeast and yeast extract is generally gluten free, unless it has been cultured in a barley malt medium.” http://www.coeliac.org.au/faqs/
As far as rice is concerned, most sources say that all types of rice are gluten free. http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Gluten-free_diet?open
According to this source, plain white rice can sometimes be mixed with barley which gives it gluten. http://www.gluten-free-today.com/gluten-free-rice.html
I would think that arborio rice would be fine (if that’s all you have) because it, like basmati rice, is probably grown and harvested in a more natural, less industrial fashion. That, however, is my own personal opinion and I am neither gluten intolerant nor an expert on gluten intolerance and/or coeliac disease. I urge you to do some more research and make an informed decision based on your own needs as concern gluten.
I have asked Jo Whitton (Quirky Jo) about this on her Facebook page as she is much more informed than I. I’ll forward her reply to you, it might help you decide.
Good luck and Happy Thermomix cooking!
Could you please tell me if the dried yeast used for normal bread is ok for gluten free cooking. Also could you tell me Arborio rice would be suitable instead of basmati? Are all the different rices ok for gluten free cooking? We have been told to use just brown.
Greetings from France, John! I’m so glad you made this wonderful recipe that is used in gluten-free Thermomix demonstrations in the UK. It was developed by Adriana Rabinovich and Lesley Collins who both have gluten-free websites that are full of ideas and recipes that could make eating more pleasurable for your coeliac wife – and still be tasty and enjoyable for you. Check them out! http://glutenfree4kids.com/ is Adriana’s website and here’s Lesley’s: http://meandmythermie.com/
Happy Thermomix cooking!
Jane
Hi from Western Australia!
I love your blog, writing style and sense of humour!
Wishing you the best of success in France.
I just had to make this focaccia for my coeliac wife and it was a great success!
I used whole almonds and potato starch as per the recipe and it was yummy.
I can see this would be wonderful as a pizza base.
Thanks for sharing the recipes and the love!
John
Hi Diane, I’m really pleased that you and your friends liked this recipe. It’s so good, here in the UK we make it at all of our Gluten Free Thermomix demonstrations.
Forgive me, but what is yeast rice? I’ve never heard of that before so I cannot tell you how to make it.
The only thing I know of that brings yeast and sugar together is the fact that sugar feeds yeast and keeps it alive in recipes combining yeast with salt. The salt gives flavour but can kill the yeast if left too long in contact. Many bread recipes do not use sugar, and you do not need sugar to make bread. It might take a few minutes more to rise, that’s all. If you want to avoid sugar in your bread recipes, you can use honey instead, or even Agave syrup. Give it a go and let me know how it turns out!
I had a go at this recipe, just love it. Made it for my granddaughter and a friend who are gluten intolorent. Also can you suggest or let me know away to make yeast rice without using sugar, I tried orange juice .
So very pleased you like this recipe, Valerie! Lesley and Adriana did a brilliant job coming up with it, didn’t they? ThermoHubby John will actually eat it, too, so that’s saying something! I have also made it for a customer with a life-threatening allergy to almonds by substituting either coconut flour or oatmeal for the almonds. Very nice taste and texture all around, don’t you think?
Thanks for reading Why Is There Air and for taking the time to comment. Hope to see you back soon!
This was a total success! Thanks so much! This recipe is as advertised- it actually tastes like REAL foccacia without any of the yucky cakey GF signatures! Wonderful! This recipe will be on high rotation!
This is my quick and easy ‘go to’ gluten free bread, either in focaccia, loaf or pizza form! Nice one, Tebasile and Madame Thermomix!
Wow, that’s fantastic! I’m thrilled that this recipe has gone round the world and been used in a Thermomix demonstration! I’ll be sure to inform the creators, Lesley Collins, Adriana Rabinovich and Janie Turner. They’ll be pleased, too. Happy Thermomix cooking!
We made this focaccia yesterday at our demo. This is the best glutenfree bread ever!!!
Thank you for sharing the recipe.