Gluten Free Swedish Braided Bread (Fail – sort of)


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The bread looks perfect, Right? Well it’s not. The last time I made a braided bread was 4 years ago, and it wasn’t gluten free. It was light and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside, perfect. But not this bread! It’s taste wonderful, whew, however the consistency sucks! I get a little frustrated when my baking doesn’t turn out right. Because I always wonder, “Why?? Why is it like this?” For the past 2 years, on and off I’ve tried to bake out of this cookbook called Gluten-Free and Vegan Bread, and not to criticise the author, but her recipes do not work. I’ve read reviews and thankfully it’s not just me, lots of people are having a problem. I haven’t had a single success with ANY of the recipes in her book. This time I decided to take one of her recipes and COMPLETELY change it, hoping that what I know about baking could possibly make this bread turn out. So far everything was going well, my yeast dissolved, it began to bubble, and I gradually added my flour. I suddenly became nervous at this point, the dough was not clumping together, it was too moist. So I immediately grabbed some more oat flour (that’s all I had left) and gradually added it in, starting with a tablespoon. I ended up adding 3/4 cups of EXTRA flour and it was STILL moist. What? At this point I really didn’t want to mix it too much, because I didn’t want to somehow ruin the yeast. I decided to dump olive oil in my hands (so the dough wouldn’t stick to me) and form the dough. I wasn’t able to roll it out (like how she says to do it) instead I gently formed it into 3 long “ropes”. When it was time to braid the dough together, I suddenly forgot how to braid. I guess I was thinking about it too much, finally I was able to braid it and I popped it in the oven, hoping it would bake. It did bake (it never did rise), but it’s very dense, and really falls apart. It is delicious so at least I can still eat it and not spit it out (I have made something that turned out so nasty I couldn’t stop scrubbing  my tongue, Yuck!). I believe all her recipes are too moist, so next time I’m going to try to add less liquid.

Anywayss, I’ve been pretty busy (haven’t posted anything in a few days, yikes). Today I went on a 2 hour walk/hike with my mom and pup Monaco. We’ve been exploring different areas around us, it’s amazing all the different, beautiful, secret spots around our home. I could be outside in nature forever, if I could just have an open kitchen in the woods that would be amazing. Two of the best things! I’m a little obsessed with taking pictures too, I make my mom stop a lot just so I can snap a quick picture of something that catches my eye. I’m not the most skilled photographer, but I love it, that’s all that matters. I can spend hours looking at other peoples photography and studying new ways I can take pictures. I learn from others, then go out and capture the world how I see it through my eyes.

My days are pretty filled, I spend about 2 hours every morning at a local coffee shop, another 2 hours walk/hike/explore, baking, cleaning, wrestling my dog, and so much more. We are currently trying to rent this house, not too far from where we currently live. It’s in the perfect location, right in the heart of town, it’s cozy and it’s a house! Not an apartment, our dog would love to have a house, so would we. We are having a hard time with the rental agency not returning calls, etc. We know this is the house, we feel it. Now all we can do is pray, if this is where we are suppose to go next, then it will happen. I’m actually pretty excited. I miss living in a house and not having to worry about walking too loud because of the people below us. I’m trying not to get TOO excited, incase something doesn’t work out. But I’m staying positive. Okay enough with the talking. I know I can get carried away sometimes.

Oh wait! I almost forgot to mention, I’m also going to be entering into a food contest. I have to make a recipe involving dark leafy greens! I already have ideas running through my head. Super excited about that! Don’t know why I’ve never thought about doing this before.

I won’t post the recipe, I try to only post recipes that actually turn out, so you will have success. But I will post pictures, because I did take pictures of the process. Don’t want those to go to waste. Whenever it comes to adding the pictures to my posts, I always have so much trouble. It’s ridiculous how long it takes me to try to make the pictures align right, etc. Yet they still don’t turn out right. There is a lot that happens with my blog that frustrates me. One day I’ll get it, but for now, don’t mind the awkward jumbling of pictures.

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First, don’t forget to remove your rings when handling dough!

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I ended up deleting most of the pictures, they were not aligning right and I’ve been trying to fix them for over an hour.

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Have a lovely evening, I will be going to my brothers house for dinner. He is hosting a little dinner party. Lovely! 🙂

Creative thoughts?

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