Vegan Gluten-Free Apricot-Orange Bread

I’m very excited about being part of the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally! (Thanks to Anile for the logo!)

Before you read any further, you should open this link to read about the fruits of all of the labour and love that went into creating quick bread recipes this month. I’m honoured to be part of such a creative and talented bunch, and I’m happy that they let a vegan who can tolerate gluten innovate gluten-free quick bread alongside!

So thanks very much to:

• Silvana at Silvana’s Kitchen for hosting this month
• Shauna at Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef for pulling us all together
• Jenn at Jenn Cuisine for organizing all of us
• and Erin at The Sensitive Epicure for being patient with me while we wondered why Google was lying and saying that I had access to docs when I was denied signing in

Don’t forget to visit Silvana’s Kitchen to-day for the complete list of Ratio Rally: Quick Breads participants! And if you’re interested in joining the monthly Rally, then by all means, email me! The more, the merrier.

This month, we all created quick bread recipes based upon a ratio of 2:2:1:1 (flours, liquid, egg, and fats). Because I used fruit purée in mine, my ratio ended up more like 2:1.2:1:1:.8, with the .8 being fruit purée.

Since this post is a little long-winded, here are the sections if you want to skip around a little bit:

• I’m a girl of extremes
• Cooking by mass instead of by volume
• Gluten-free flour mix recipe
• What’s a quick bread?
• Apricot-Orange Quick Bread (one large loaf, three small loaves, or 12 muffins!)

Backing up a bit, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but I’m a girl of extremes.

Case in point: my hair. I’m pretty laid back about my hair care. I get it cut, it grows…for three or four years…and then I get it cut again. The other day, I chopped off about a foot and a half of hair. My hair was about two feet long, and it was time to get it cut.

So it went from this:

To this:

(And it’s awesome and I love it so much! Seriously, my face hurts from smiling about it. It means that I might have to get it cut a little more often, though. Bah.)

Because why do anything if you’re not going to be ridiculous and do it all the way?

So about a month ago, I wandered across Shauna’s post about gluten-free pancakes.

And I decided that thereafter, I would cook by mass instead of by volume.

I mean, Try not; do or do not, there is no try, right?

If you’re interested in learning more about the logic behind it all, then you could:

• Live in Europe, or anywhere other than North America (see also: Fahrenheit)
• Read my explanation on my Gluten Freedom page
• Read Shauna’s explanation as to why they don’t use cups in their recipes

I must confess, I was a little leery of cooking with gluten-free flours in such a flour-based recipe. As a roux or a thickener, sure, I can try gluten-free, but in baked goods…what will happen to the texture? The taste?

I wasn’t sure, but I knew that I wouldn’t post anything unless it was really good. Self-assured as always, I bit the bullet.

I bought this Ozeri kitchen scale since it looks nice, tares, and CR2032 batteries don’t deter me.

I went to Whole Foods and invested in some gluten-free flours.

And I got excited about making delicious, vegan, gluten-free, soy-free baked goods for all of the lovely ladies in my life who can’t tolerate gluten.

Based upon Shauna’s recipe on her gluten-free whole grain muffins post, I concocted my own gluten-free flour mix. I thought about what flavours I like, what different properties the flours might have…and what was cheapest.

Here’s the gluten-free flour mix that I used. I made only 500 grams instead of a kilogram in case I didn’t like it and wanted to change up the proportions. I do like it very much, although I’ll continue to experiment with different flours for fun before settling on one mix.

Method:

Measure out all ingredients using a kitchen scale (one that automatically tares is best). Stir to combine and store in an air-tight container.

Substitue gram-for-gram for all-purpose or other wheat flours in any recipe (freedom!).

I might go a little lighter on the quinoa next time, try some corn instead of rice flour, and I’m dying to try some teff flour as it’s talked about so much (but wasn’t available at WF), but for now, I’m excited to cook with this mix!

So grab your favourite gluten-free flour mix and your kitchen scale, and try out the recipe below!

First, though, what’s a quick bread?

A quick bread is any bread that uses a fast-acting rising agent, like baking powder or soda, to rise, as opposed to yeast. Yeast takes a could hours to rise, whereas in a quick bread, the bread starts rising as soon as the ingredients are mixed.

Quick breads involve some kind of acid (such as buttermilk, yoghurt, or apple cider vinegar and soy milk) that reacts with the baking powder/soda base, just like baking soda and vinegar volcanos! (Side note: also awesome for cleaning toilets, and you get to watch everything foam!)

There are three methods used to mix quick breads: muffin, creaming, and biscuit. In the muffin method, the wet and dry ingredients are mixed separately and then the dry is added to the wet for the final mix. That’s what we’re all using today.

On to the bread!

I like to eat quick breads and muffins for breakfast, when I do eat breakfast, which is usually weekends. Anything that holds up well to a nutty, dark coffee is fine with me.

This apricot-orange bread is a toothsome little bread, chock full of soft and sweet apricots and raisins. You could add chocolate chips; nuts; or maybe some pumpkin, sunflower, or other seeds; but I liked it a little understated as it is. I even forgot to add any spices and it still had a complex flavour profile, coupled with a delicate crumb.

And besides, who can argue that these apricots aren’t beautiful? I could paint a room in this palate!

(They’re not freakishly orange because they haven’t been preserved with sulfur. Ew.)

The recipe below is in grams, so for those of you working volumetrically, you’re going to need to use the densities of any ingredients and convert. Or join the rest of the world and cook by mass…just sayin’…

For those of you working with a different gluten-free mix, note that different flours behave differently: nut flours like almond will require a little more moisture (soy milk), coconut flour will require a lot more, and all-purpose wheat flour means that you’re being unadventurous!

So enjoy, and again, I’m so thankful to be a part of this Ratio Rally!

I’m very excited about being part of the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally! (Thanks to Anile for the logo!) Before you read any further, you should open this link to read about...