Real Deal Grain Free Crusty French Bread — Otto's Naturals

By nnlester

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water (about 100-110 degrees)
• 2 tablespoons - maple syrup
• 1 package active dry yeast (we use Red Star)
• 4 eggs - beaten (about 230g out of the shell)
• 1 1/3 cup (180g) Otto's Cassava Flour
• 1 1/3 cup (180g) Arrowroot flour
• 1 tsp salt (we use Redmond Real Salt)
• 4 tbsp butter - softened

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from ottosnaturals.com

Preparation

Step 1

Combine the warm water (about 100-110 degrees) and maple syrup together and then sprinkle yeast on top. Set aside to get frothy. When it has doubled it is ready. Should take about 20 minutes. If it stalls out pop it in your oven set to warm.

Sift or stir together Otto's Cassava Flour, arrowroot flour and salt. Add slices of butter to the flour mixture and incorporate until crumbs form. I usually do this with my hands.

Add beaten eggs and yeast mixture to flour mixture. Mix just until it all comes together well. You can use a Kitchen Aid, or a wooden spoon and a little elbow grease.

Your batter will be sticky. Flour your hands well to handle. When a thin layer of flour coats the outside it becomes way, way easier to work with. You can then place it on a well floured silpat or parchment and either shape it into a ball with a coating of flour on the outside to make a Boule/Country round loaf, shape into a baguette or two, or put it right into a greased and floured loaf pan for sandwich bread. Alternatively you can put in mini springform pans for crusty hamburger buns. I prefer splitting the recipe in two and making two smaller baguettes with this pan here: bit.ly/smallbaguettepan I love it! Remember to grease and flour your pans, whatever shape you choose and smooth the top out with wet hands and dust with a bit more flour. You can also slit the top a few times with a sharp knife.

Allow to rise, covered with a kitchen towel, in a warmish place for 40 minutes. Set a timer. In summer, if our air conditioner is blasting, we turn our oven on warm, let it heat up and then turn it off. Bread rises well in there. Usually the kitchen countertop is sufficient though. Don't let it rise too long otherwise it might fall during baking and/or have too many holes develop. (Don't worry though, it'll still taste good!)

Bake in a preheated oven set to 350-400. (I do 350 for sandwich bread and 400 for crustier baguette loaves.) After ~30-35 (Or about 25 minutes if splitting into two baguettes) remove from oven and immediately take out of pan and allow to cool on a rack. Or bake for 9 minutes on 500 and 11 more on 350 if you're in a rush. If it stays in the loaf pan while it cools it will lose its nice crust and get soggy. If that happens though pop back in the oven directly on oven rack for a few minutes to crust back up.