Easy Gluten Free French Bread (2024)

Learn how to make this soft and chewy gluten free bread recipe! It’s easy to make without too many ingredients and too many complicated steps. If you’ve been missing bread in your gluten free diet then look no further with this recipe!

Bread

Who doesn’t love it? Fresh out of the oven, crusty, artisan bread slathered with butter, or drizzled with olive oil? Gimme all the bread.

It’s the perfect accompaniment to pretty much any main dish while also being just as satisfying on its own.

It’s also the destroyer of diets with its carb filled goodness and an actual source of pain for the millions of people who are afflicted with Coeliac Disease or gluten intolerances. Historically, gluten free breads have been…well…sad. Dry, crumbly, tasteless, not to mention expensive. Thankfully, as time goes on and the demand for gluten free products increases we’re getting better at making do sans gluten without compromising taste and texture.

Homemade Gluten Free Bread Recipe

Altogether this bread is made up of about 10, fairly basic ingredients without too much effort.

Unlike a lot of really great gluten free recipes this bread only requires two different types of flours: rice and tapioca. Since I first made this bread years ago rice & tapioca flour have become one of my favourite combos whenever I’m looking for an easy GF flour blend (like in these Yorkshire Pudding).

Yeast Prep Steps

1. Whisk together most of your dry ingredients: flours, salt, xanthan gum and baking powder. Set that bowl aside.
2. Dissolve the sugar in warm water.
   • You want your water to be warm to the touch, but not hot. Too hot and the heat will kill the yeast which will prevent the bread from rising.
3. Stir in the yeast and then let the mixture sit aside for about 5-10 minutes as the yeast foams up.

Dough Steps

1. Whisk the eggs, oil and vinegar in another small cup or bowl. You don’t need to mix too much, just enough to get the egg whites slightly foamy.
2. Add the yeast-mixture and the oil-mixture to the flour mixture and combine.
   • The dough is going to look very wet and very unusual. As long as you mix until no lumps of flour remain you’re alright.
3. Spoon the batter into a prepared loaf pan, cover and set aside in a warm place. Let rise at least 30 minutes. The bread should have risen by at least 30%.
4. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes and then enjoy!

Tips

1. Since there is no gluten to over work, don’t be afraid of mixing this bad boy up. If you have a stand mixer, that’s perfect. If you don’t have a stand mixer, give yourself a good arm workout and put some elbow grease into it. I tried this out with an electric handheld mixer, and while it did eventually work, I wouldn’t use it again because my dough kept getting stuck.
2. The fully mixed dough will look very wet. The first time I made a gluten free dough, I was concerned I had messed up somewhere along the lines because my dough was sticky, wet, and needed to be spooned into my bread pans.
3. I find this to be true with baking in general, but especially when working with yeast please make sure to use room temperature ingredients so that the yeast has the opportunity to rise properly.

Can I Make this Egg Free?

Yes! I have a Gluten Free Vegan French Bread recipe you can make! Instead of egg whites, that recipe uses aquafaba (the goopy liquid found in cans of beans). Weird, but it works!

Can I use different flours?

• You can use brown or white rice or a combination of the two.
• You can use arrowroot starch in place of tapioca flour.
• Beyond those changes I haven’t played around much with other types of flours. I do think you could probably use potato starch as well in place of the tapioca but I can’t say for sure yet. I am currently working on a grain free/paleo bread so stay tuned if you’re interested in something like that. (Update: Everything Bagel Almond Flour Bread)

Do I have to use xanthan gum?

Xanthan gum does a couple of things in this recipe: it helps hold on to moisture (something gluten free goods are often desperate for) and provides added structure which is something that gluten would normally provide. Without xanthan or some kind of binder gluten free goods can be dry & crumbly.

If you can’t buy or use xanthan you can use guar gum instead. Both of these can usually be found in the baking or gluten free section of major grocery stores. If all else fails you can always find these on Amazon.

Why didn’t my yeast mixture foam up?

Your water was too hot or too cold. Too hot will kill the yeast and too cold it won’t fully activate.
Your yeast is already dead. Yeast has a shelf life of about 4 months. It can last longer than that but there’s no guarantee. If it’s been awhile since you last used it you may need to buy more.

Can I use sugar substitutes or leave out the sugar all together?

The sugar helps us to see that the yeast is working as it’s what makes it foam up. It’s not actually 100% necessary for the bread, though a little sugar does help with the flavour.If for whatever reason you can have or don’t want to use sugar just leave it out.

• Sugar subs like erythritol & swerve won’t work for the yeast.
• Honey, maple and coconut sugar all work.

If you have any more questions please let me know in the comments below!

More gluten free bread recipes you might enjoy:

• Gluten Free Vegan French Bread
• Gluten Free Yorkshire Pudding
• Gluten Free Focaccia
• Gluten Free Pizza with Chorizo Sausage
• Herby Gluten Free Vegan Biscuits
• Everything Bagel Almond Flour Bread
• Gluten Free Manakish Za’atar