Substitutions
The ingredients we’ve listed for you to add are the exact same ingredients/brands that we use at Starry Lane and that we’ve vetted to be safe for anyone with one or more top 10 food allergies. Of course we know that not everyone needs to be top 10 allergen free, and you might have your own brands you’d prefer to use instead. We highly encourage experimenting!
That being said, our recipes are designed to work with those specific ingredients. If you choose to substitute (for example stevia instead of the listed sugar), or add different ingredients, it will change the finished product. The results might be amazing, but they might also be awful. Please remember, it takes us years to develop each recipe we use, so don’t get discouraged if your experiments don’t turn out the way you wanted them to.
Tips and Tricks
- For best results please follow the instructions exactly. Before starting the recipe please view the how-to video we’ve posted, that will walk you through each part of the recipe step-be-step. The video can be found at www.starrylanebakery.com/instruction-videos
- For best results, we do recommend using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment for all of our recipes (even bread). A hand mixer can also be used (as you will see in our videos), but results will vary slightly.
- Our methods and ingredients may be radically different than what you’re used to. We understand some of our instructions may seem to go against everything you’ve learned about baking. But there’s a reason Starry Lane baked goods are so much better than what you’re used to eating. As our ingredients are so different, the methods need to be as well. Trying to use traditional baking methods and handling with our ingredients will not yield good results. Please follow the instructions.
- It’s not too much liquid! We know it seems like too much. We know the dough/batter looks weird. It’s the right amount of liquid. Our mixes are very starch heavy (we don’t use any nut, soy, or wheat flours which have a higher protein content), and those starches need to be hydrated. Hydrate your starch!
Needed Ingredients
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar (C&H brand)
1 + 3/4 C Warm Water
1 Tbsp Yeast (active dry)
1/3 C Hot water
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Extra Olive Oil
What’s Included
2 Bags of White Bread Flour Mix
2 Bags of Xanthan Gum
Use one bag of flour mix and one bag of xanthan gum to make 1 loaf of bread.
Mix Your Dough
- Use a fork or whisk to thoroughly mix the provided xanthan gum with 1/3 cup of very hot water. Pour 1 Tbsp of olive oil on top of the xanthan gum mixture. Set this aside until step 3
- Mix 1 tablespoon of dry active yeast and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar into 1 + ¾ cups of warm water (just above body temperature). Let this rest for approx. 10 minutes, or until it gets bubbly and frothy. Excited yeast is happy yeast!
- Add the xanthan / oil liquid to the frothy yeast mixture. Give it a good mix up
- Carefully pour the provided flour mix into your bowl of liquid. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are combined, about 1 minutes. Now up the speed and mix on medium for another minute to make sure everything is fully mixed. (use a paddle attachment in a stand mixer, and dough hooks for a hand mixer)
- Even though there’s no gluten to overwork, be careful not to mix too long or you’ll add too much air into the dough and it won’t rise properly later.
- Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit undisturbed for 15-20 minutes
Shape Your Dough (for instructions on how to make other shapes such as round or submarine rolls please visit: www.starrylanebakery.com/instruction-videos
- Take your extra olive oil (or some non-stick spray), and lightly grease your work surface (just a tiny bit). This dough is stickier then traditional bread dough because it has more liquid to hydrate the starches, so it needs to be handled a little differently than you might be used to. If you have vinyl kitchen gloves, those are great to use right now, but if not, lightly oiling your hands will work as well.
- Turn the dough out onto the oiled work surface and gently kneed for 1 minute. It’s totally fine if some of the dough sticks to the bowl. Don’t worry about it.
- Round your dough into a ball, and then roll it out into a sausage shape, about 8” long.
- Turn your dough sausage until one end points toward you, and one end points away. Now squash it down flat! The flattened dough should be about 1” thick. (This squishes out the large air bubbles that would cause your bread to bake unevenly and look like Swiss cheese)
- Roll up your flattened sausage into a jelly roll shape, and then keep rolling to lengthen it out until it reaches the right size for your loaf pan (the ends of your bread should just tough the sides of the loaf pan). Put the bread in the loaf pan, pressing down on the top to flatten it, and wrap it up tight with plastic wrap.
- Your loaf of bread dough needs to rest in the refrigerator for at least 8, but no more than 24 hours. Overnight is perfect.
Bake Your Bread
- Preheat your oven to 375 F (350 F if you have a convection oven). Your oven needs to be good and hot before you put in the dough.
- When your oven is ready, remove the bread from the fridge and take off the plastic wrap (seriously, that’s important, no one likes burnt plastic).
- Brush the loaf with olive oil. You want to make sure you cover the entire visible surface with a light coat of oil. As there is no gluten in the bread to brown, any dough not properly oiled will have a weird white/crackly thing going on when it bakes. Alternatively if you don’t have an egg allergy you can use an egg wash instead.
- Bake your loaf for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Yes it really will take that long, and it’s still not done.
- With the bread still in the oven, lower the temperature to 325 F for regular ovens (300 F for convection ovens. Bake for another 15 minutes.
- As soon as the bread is done, flip it out of the loaf pan. If it sits in there for too long the edges will get soggy. Allow the loaf to cool completely on your counter or cooling rack (2-3 hours)
- Enjoy!