So that I wouldn't hijack ritaweeda's thread about awful tasting commercial gluten free bread, I'm posting the GFCF French bread recipe I use from simplygluten-free.com blog of Carol Kincinski's of 2011 with my notes. I make many of these every week to sell during the farmers market season and found this to be the best tasting and longest lasting, let alone the easiest. I've
rewritten her recipe description for the way I bake but visit her blog
for the original, and to give her proper credit for creating it. This page
seems long but once you make it you can get it all on a 3x5 card like I have below without
all the method annotations. I'm a person who wants to know "why" you do something so that's what's included here.

Gluten Free and Dairy Free French Bread - copied from Carol Kincinski's Blog - French Bread

T=Tablespoon, t=teaspoon, C= Cup GF= gluten free CF=casein free=dairy free

In a medium bowl proof 2T dry active yeast, 2t sugar, 1 1/2 C warm water (110F) for 5 minutes or more until doubled and frothy. I first stir it with a small rubber spatula to blend and leave it in there while it is working so I have an easy way to get it out with less cleanup and to ensure that all the granules meet the water.

In a small bowl mix 1T xanthan gum and 2T olive oil with a small whisk (which will be used later for the eggs).

In
the bowl of a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the whisk attachment fluff up 1 1/2 C
white rice flour, 1/2 C sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour), 1C
tapioca flour, 1 to 1 1/2 t Kosher salt. Add the yeast mix, the oil mix,
2 eggs whisked in the empty oil mix bowl to save cleanup, and 1t apple
cider vinegar. Beat on high 4 minutes, scraping down once
or twice.

Spray a double baguette pan with GF cooking spray (Option: divide each
side with a U-shaped piece of foil to get 4 smaller baguettes). Option:
dust bottoms with cornmeal (my customers thought it tasted too much like
corn bread so I dust with a bit of rice flour instead). Or, use a single
baguette pan for one big roll, or two large loaf pans, or even a large
oval casserole dish, or 24 muffin tins.

Dollop from a sprayed ice cream scoop or a
large spoon and smooth out lightly with damp spatula leaving at least an inch
free on the ends to allow it to rise without flowing over the ends. It does not feel or look like bread dough so please resist adding
more flour. Make 3 slashes on each about 1/4" deep to allow steam to
escape while baking using a single edge razor blade or a sharp knife tip, don't press down.

Cover with a thin towel and let rise about 45 minutes, or until doubled.

Preheat
oven to 400F with a pan of hot water on the bottom rack to create steam
and a good crust. Brush tops with melted 2T Earth Balance spread for dairy
free or melted butter if not. Bake 35-45 minutes (10 min more if in other pans) on the middle oven rack until
internal temp is about 190 to 200F using an instant read thermometer, or,
when you thump it on the bottom it sounds hollow. Turn out onto cake
racks to cool. Wrap in waxed paper then plastic wrap. To freeze, add a tight
covering of foil, defrost on counter for a couple of hours, then unwrap.

For rolls scoop into 24 sprayed muffin tins about 1/3 deep, let rise to doubled and bake about 20 minutes until internal temperature is 190F.

My
options include adding garlic powder and dried oregano and basil with
the dry ingredients, or, pressing in chopped sun dried (no oil) tomatoes
and a sprinkle of onion powder before the rise, or finely chopped fresh rosemary.

If the bread is
not done in the middle after cooling because you didn't bake it long
enough or your oven temperature is off, slice it thin, butter or olive
oil it, and grill or toast it for crostini or bruschetta. It still tastes good room
temp so it can be frozen that way without reheating. It makes passable
croutons and dried out can be whizzed in a food processor for bread
crumbs, or cut up for making stuffing, or for French toast, though heavy
not fluffy.

About substitutions and alterations: This does
not work using a bread machine, even for just the dough. It has to be
whisked not beaten, don't use the dough hook or the paddle. It does not work with egg replacers or only whites.
It has no flavor at all without the salt. You
must use the sugar to feed the yeast, substitutes will not work,
including honey. Using brown rice flour makes this bread gummy and has
an odd color. It does not work making free forms. Do not use olive oil to brush the tops as the crust gets weird when baked. I mix
xanthan with the fats first in all my yeast recipes - it seems to distribute
the
stickiness better as it replaces the elasticity of wheat gluten and
gives stability to the rise, the extra step is worth it. You must use the vinegar to condition the
flours to become more stable like wheat flour, while lowering the pH. I have pebbled baguette pans. If you use ones with holes put it on a baking sheet to keep any corn meal from making a mess in the bottom of your oven. Closely covered this bread will
last on the counter for 3 days without getting moldy, longer in the
refrigerator.

Believe me, I've tried all the variances for my
multi-allergy customers so just make it without alterations, and it'll
be really, really good.

Here's the condensed version from my 3x5 card -
you'll see that personal abbreviations are easy for me to use but
writing it out takes a whole page, as above, for telling someone else how to do it:

GFCF French Bread - simplygluten-free.com 2011

Sm
bowl: 1T xan, 2T OO. Med bowl: 2T yeast, 2t sugar, 1 1/2 C warm water.
KA w/whisk: 1 1/2 C white rice fl, 1/2 C sweet rice fl, 1C tapioca
fl, 1 1/2 t Kosher. Add bowls, 2 beaten eggs, 1t cider vin. Beat 4min
Hi. Spray dbl baguette pan, dust rice fl. Dollop & smooth. Slash 3,
Cover rise 30-45 min dbld. Heat oven 400F w/hot
water pan on bottom rack. Brush w/melted EB. Bake middle rack 35-45 min. Internal 190-200F.
Dump to rack, cool. Opt: gar pow, basil & oreg: dried tom &
onion pow: rosemary. For 24 muffin tins bake 20 min; loaves or large 45-55 min.
Nancy