Here is the best gluten free bread recipe you will ever eat! It is super soft, makes great toast and my kids who don’t need to eat gluten free like it so much better than regular bread! If you miss foods like sandwiches, French toast and croutons, you must try this recipe!
This gluten free bread recipe is easy to make, has a quick prep time and actually tastes good! I had to start eating a gluten free diet a while back and I was disappointed at how difficult it was to find gluten free bread that was edible. Some gluten free bread was OK but was very expensive, so I decided to try to come up with a recipe of my own.
After a lot of trial and error, I came up with the best gluten free bread recipe ever! This gluten free bread is great for sandwiches, toast and French toast. You can easily cut it up and dry it out to make gluten free croutons. The leftover gluten free bread makes wonderful bread pudding. If you don’t have any leftover, you can make the bread and let it dry out just to make the bread pudding!
If you also have to adhere to a dairy free diet, these recipes are dairy free, too!
I am including two versions of my gluten free bread recipe. Both of them are dairy free, too. One of them is designed to be used with some of my favorite store bought gluten-free flour mixes and I indicate which brands of flour worked best when I tested it.
The other gluten free bread recipe is designed to be used with homemade gluten free flour. In case the mix is not available or you prefer to make your gluten free bread from scratch ingredients, I included the particular mix of gluten free flours and starches that worked best.
When I say this is the best gluten free bread recipe, it is important when making the bread that you make it exactly according to the directions. I tested it over and over again (We are talking 30-40 times! It’s really been tested!) and the specific mixture of flours I included in the recipe was the one that made the absolute best bread flavor and consistency.
If you want to substitute ingredients, you will be changing the bread and I can’t say if it would be as good as the original recipe. I highly recommend that you make the gluten free bread exactly according to the directions the first few times so you know how to make a good loaf before you start experimenting.
After you have made the gluten free bread recipe a few times, you can experiment with substituting other ingredients and see how you like it. Be aware that experimenting is always trial and error (which is why I test it for you!), so be prepared to waste some ingredients if you decide to test.
Gluten Free Bread Recipe
(using store bought flour mix)
Tested with Walmart Great Value Gluten Free Flour Mix and Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Mix.
1¾ cups warm water (100°)
3 tsp. active dry yeast (not instant yeast)
2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. sugar or honey
3⅔ cups gluten free all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder (high altitude, use 2½ tsp.)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
⅓ cup shortening, melted
Place water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Whisk well until yeast is dissolved. Then let it sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients.
Combine the bread dough thoroughly until smooth, either with an electric mixer or vigorously by hand, using a large whisk, about 4-5 minutes, until there are no lumps remaining at all.
Pour dough into a greased 9x5x3 inch bread pan. (Note: DO NOT use an 8×4 inch pan.)
Set dough in a warm place until it has risen to ¼ inch below the top of the bread pan, about 15 minutes. (DO NOT let it rise higher than ¼ inch below the top.)
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place the bread pan with the dough into the oven on the center rack. Bake 40-55 minutes. When baked, the bread will be golden brown and have an internal temperature between 200º-205º or a skewer pushed inside will come out mostly clean with just a slight amount of sticky dough on the end.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan 5 minutes. Then carefully transfer the loaf to a cooling rack, laying on its side to cool.
Let the bread cool for one hour before slicing.
Store in a plastic bag or airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Slice and freeze if necessary.
This bread can be frozen once it is completely cooled. Wrap the loaf tightly in plastic wrap. Then wrap it in foil or freezer paper. Place the wrapped loaf in a freezer bag. The bread can be frozen up to 3 months. When ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Herbed Bread
Add 6 tablespoons of fresh herbs to flour. Chives, sage and thyme work well.
Jalapeno Cheddar Bread
Add ½-1 cup dairy free Cheddar cheese and ¼ -½ cup chopped jalapeños.
Gluten Free Bread Recipe
(using homemade gluten free flours)
1¾ cups warm water (100°)
3 tsp. active dry yeast (not instant yeast)
2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. sugar or honey
1⅓ cups tapioca flour
⅔ cup potato starch
⅔ cup cornstarch
⅔ cup brown or white rice flour
⅔ cup sweet white rice flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder (high altitude, use 2½ tsp.)
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
⅓ cup shortening, melted
Place water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Whisk well until yeast is dissolved. Then let it sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients.
Combine the bread dough thoroughly until smooth, either with an electric mixer or vigorously by hand, using a large whisk, until there are no lumps remaining at all.
Pour dough into a greased 9x5x3 inch bread pan. (Note: DO NOT use an 8×4 inch pan.)
Set dough in a warm place until it has risen to ¼ inch below the top of the bread pan, about 15 minutes. (DO NOT let it rise higher than ¼ inch below the top.)
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place the bread pan with the dough into the oven on the center rack. Bake 40-55 minutes. When baked, the bread will be golden brown and have an internal temperature between 200º-205º or a skewer pushed inside will come out mostly clean with just a slight amount of sticky dough on the end.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan 5 minutes. Then carefully transfer the loaf to a cooling rack, laying on its side to cool.
Let the bread cool for one hour before slicing.
Store in a plastic bag or airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Slice and freeze if necessary.
This bread can be frozen once it is completely cooled. Wrap the loaf tightly in plastic wrap. Then wrap it in foil or freezer paper. Place the wrapped loaf in a freezer bag. The bread can be frozen up to 3 months. When ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Herbed Bread
Add 6 tablespoons of fresh herbs to flour. Chives, sage and thyme work well.
Jalapeno Cheddar Bread
Add ½-1 cup dairy free Cheddar cheese and ¼ -½ cup chopped jalapeños.
Troubleshooting The Gluten Free Bread Recipe:
Here are some problems some people encounter making the dairy free gluten free bread recipe, along with how to deal with them:
- My gluten free bread overflowed and made a huge mess. You CAN NOT let your bread rise higher than 1 inch below the top of the pan. If you do, it will overflow. If it does overflow, it may still be edible so, if possible, place a baking sheet under it and let it finish cooking.Also, MAKE SURE your bread pan is 9×5 inch and NOT 8×4 inch.
- My bread is flat. Make sure your pan is 9×5 inches. This is the pan that works the best to make the most “normal” loaf of bread.
- My bread didn’t rise. Either your yeast is dead or not fresh or your water wasn’t hot enough. Use a thermometer to make sure your water is the right temperature and buy fresh yeast.
- The bread fell in the middle. You let it rise too high and then it fell when cooling OR you slammed the oven door or jarred the bread while baking in some way and it fell. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR to the oven until your bread has cooked AT LEAST 40 minutes.
- My bread is undercooked in the middle. Use a meat thermometer to stick into the bread and make sure the temperature is AT LEAST 200º before removing from the oven. If the top is getting too brown and you need to let it cook more, place a piece of foil over the top to stop the browning.
- I want to substitute (fill in the blank). These recipes were tested as written and work IF you follow the directions EXACTLY! Feel free to substitute anything you want, but the results may or may not work out.
- I just can’t get this gluten free bread recipe to work. I tested more than 25 loaves of gluten free dairy free bread. This IS the easiest and most delicious gluten free dairy free bread. If it is not working, try making it at least 5 times, paying careful attention to the instructions, to see if you can get it to work. It REALLY is MUCH cheaper ($1.50) than the store bought bread and MUCH tastier, so it IS worth learning how to make it.
More Gluten Free Recipes You May Like!
Easy Gluten Free Dinner Rolls Recipe
Gluten Free, Sugar Free Peanut Butter Dough Cookies
This easy gluten free bread recipe is from our gluten free dairy free cookbook:
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Hi!
Can this gluten free bread recipe be done in a breadmaker?
Thanks!
I have never made it in a bread machine but I think you can. Remember though that most gluten free bread does not have the same texture etc. as regular bread.
HI Karen, Gluten Free breads don’t need the 2 cycles of rising as regular bread. If you are going to use a bread machine only use the mixer part then place in your bread pan to let rise then to the oven it goes! Newer bread machines have a “gluten free” selection which I don’t have on my bread machine. If you have that feature follow the machines directions and recipes.
Hello! I can’t wait to try this recipe. When you said Bob’s red mill GF flour, which one did you use? Their red bag gluten free flour or their blue bag 1 to 1 gluten free flour? Thank you!
Use the blue 1 to 1.
I was just recently diagnosed celiac
and saw your recipe
when it says flour mix
does the bags say flour mix ? or is it your mix?
I hope to be able get your cookbook in the future
thank you 😊
Jackie often they use more than one thing in the gluten free flour – like in the one recipe where there is tapioca, rice flour etc. It usually just says gluten free flour when you buy it at the store. Hope I understood your question right.
I have never made home made bread , I am very nervous . Your white bread looks good. I am
Going to pickup ingredients tomorrow. Wish me luck.
You can do it Pam. : ) The thing is don’t give up. Like any new thing we learn we need to practice it a few times (not always) to get the feel of it and to perfect it. I read an elderly lady one time who said “If you want to learn how to make a good pie bake 1 every day for 14 days and you will have it down pat on day 14.” LOL There really is some truth to that and it goes with so many things. Just don’t give up. The first time I baked gingerbread men it took me over 4 hrs (most of the morning) and all I had was a big mess and 6 eatable cookies. I said I would never make them again. Long story short years later I am making and decorating 3,000 – 5,000 every year the weeks before Christmas. LOL
Hello y’all, love your gluten free recipes. I’ve tried several bread recipes and so for have found yours to be the best. I’m having a little trouble getting a decent rise out of it though. I’ve made sure the yeast is fresh and all my ingredients are room temperature. I’ve also made sure to have the right size pan. I’m using Walmart gluten free flour. The only difference is the shortening. I didn’t have shortening so use butter. Could that have been my problem.
Thank y’all so much for all the time and effort.
It was the shortening Cheryl. When you change the shortening in almost any baking recipe for butter that is what usually happens. Like with chocolate chip cookies you will see some that are very thin and spread out and that is because they used butter instead of shortening. Many don’t think it makes a difference because that is the way they always turn out so they think that is the way they are suppose to look but if you use shortening in the cookies instead of butter you can see the difference. So am pretty sure that is what happened here. You really need to stick exactly to these gluten free recipes especially because Tawra found in all her test runs of them if she changed one thing even a little it could make a really big difference. Hope this helps.
Hi can I use olive oil? We can use shortening for health issues and what about the The King arthur flour will work? Some are not gluten free certified.
Thanks
You can try but it might not turn out.
I purchased the wrong flour and cannot return it. I purchased Bob’s red mill GF flour in the red bag. Can I just add xanthan gum? If so, how much?
yes
My yeast bubbled and I followed the recipe exactly with specified ingredients but my bread did not rise at all. It tasted good but was VERY dense(denser than store bought gf bread)and will now be used for bread pudding. How stiff or tacky is the dough supposed to be? Directions said pour into pan but my dough was consistency like biscuit or normal bread dough if not thicker. Is it supposed to be very loose and tacky like normal no knead bread dough? I’m thinking my flour might’ve been packed when measuring or something. Thanks
Lysa this happens sometimes with GF bread. You need to mix it like crazy and then beat it again. The beating it is what helps the flour absorb the moisture and for it to rise more.
Has anybody tried this recipe to use in a stuffing recipe? I want to make stuffing for Thanksgiving, but would like to know if you think it would work. I hate purchasing all of the store bought gluten free breads because there is so much junk in all of them. Thanks so much!
I am not sure why it wouldn’t work Gail like regular bread does. I would be sure it is good and dry before using it though.
Gail here is our whole THanksgiving dinner that is gluten free and it includes recipes for everything including stuffing https://www.livingonadime.com/dairy-free-gluten-free-thanksgiving-dinner-recipes/
Instead of using shortening can I use lard?
Yes I think you can Mary. I haven’t tried it myself but usually lard and shortening are usually interchangeable in recipes. I wouldn’t though use lard made from bacon drippings because of course that would change the flavor and all.
Thank you so much for your response. My daughter is gluten intolerant. We finally found one bread in the refrigerated section at the store that she likes but it’s so expensive. I bought her y’all’s Gluten Free cookbook as a Christmas gift for her, and of course myself, last year. We just need to use it more.
Thank you and your family for everything you share with us.
You are so welcome Mary.
Hello,
I have two questions.
#1, will substituting olive oil in place of shorting work since it’s a healthier alternative.
#2, can you provide the Great value flour in grams? When I fill a 1/4 cup by spooning the flour in, I’m consistently getting 34 grams per cup but the package says a quarter cup = 39 grams. This 5 grams per 1/4 cup can equate to over 70 grams when measuring 3 2/3 cups.
Thank you,
Don S.
Don these recipes are really touchy because they are gluten free so you need to use the exact ingredients like the shortening plus this is suppose to be like regular sandwich bread to use for toast or sandwiches and the olive oil will change the flavor of it. As far as the flour goes we only have the cup measurements.
Hi !!
I’m so glad I found a recipe with Bob’s Red Mill, but I was wondering if it’s Bob’s Red Mill all purpose flour or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking flour ?
Thank you
Sharon it does say in the recipe all purpose flour is what you use.
I have tried several GF bread recipes and am looking forward to trying this one. This will be the 1st time I am working with melted shortening. Excuse the dumb question, but do I measure out 1/3 of a cup of shortening in its solid form, then melt it… Or melt the shortening then measure 1/3 cup liquid?
You can do it either way but I think the easiest would be to measure out 1/3 cup in and melt it.
Has anyone tried making individual rolls out of this recipe? I made it once and it was sooo delicious that I couldn’t stop eating it! Ha! I want to be able to make individual rolls, freeze then all, except for one each time I need them. Thanks everybody! This is the best Gluten Free recipe for bread that I have tried!
Oh thank you for letting us know you liked the bread Gail. It helps others not to be afraid to try it. You should be able to make into dinner rolls or such. I would only bake them for about 20-25 mins. and watch them carefully the first time to see how long it takes them.
can you use the King Arthur 1:1 flour for this? just checking before I attempt this and what brand of shortening do you use for this
Yes you can and the brand of shortening doesn’t matter just use your favorite.
perfect thank you!!
My bread machine is small, 1 1/2 lb loaf maximum. How should I reduce the ingredients for this size loaf?
I am not sure Merle you may just have to experiment with 1-2 times to see how that works. Maybe you could start with cutting the recipe in half. It might take a little bit of math.
Question about the jalapeño cheddar version of this, will regular cheese work or does it have to be dairy-free?
Yes for dairy you can almost always use regular.
After mixing my dough it is very tacky. Is it supposed to pull away from the bowl like bread flour does?
The top looks like dough that has been spooned onto a cookie sheet. It is not smooth on the top like the picture of your bread.
Thank you,
Jeanne
Not sure I can tell what happened Jeanne. Be sure when you make this recipe that you are very exact in your measurements, don’t substitute anything and use the high altitude if it applies. Also more often then not most things we make don’t always look exactly like the picture because of many different factors. It is just a general guide.
I would love to try this recipe however I know shorting is soy based and I cannot have soy. Would lard or even Smart Balance work as well?
You could try it Linda but this recipe is very touchy when it comes to substitutions. Most who have changed anything in have had problems but hey I would personally try it myself once to see what happens.
My grandson is 1st stage diabetic and has to eat gluten free for now, I make his lunches, but I don’t see on these bread recipes how much carbs they have in one slice. Can anyone help in that area?
You might figure out how many carbs is on the bag of flour you use and how much you use then divide that by the number of slices you get out of the loaf.
I have made this bread twice and both times it has come out so dry and crumbley. Any hints.
They only thing on this recipe is you do need to use exactly the ingredients it suggests – no substitutes- and measure very accurately. Also if you live at a high altitude you will have to use the changes normally used for high altitude.
In your first bread recipe, can I use a healthier oil instead of shortening?
yes if you don’t want it to be heavier. There’s nothing wrong with shortening. It’s not like you’re eating an entire tub of it in one setting.
This bread was great but very thin, it did flood out of the pan but that’s ok. But found that this morning when eating it , it has a bitter taste to it now?
Paula sounds like something went wrong with it. We have had so many people make this and love it. Be sure you use all the exact ingredients and measurements when you make this and follow the recipe exactly.
What is the nutritional value of one slice of this gluten free bread? Please specify the thickness of each slice. Thank you.
Lisa we don’t do nutritional value for our recipes and the slice depends on how thick you slice it.
Can I bake three or four of these in the oven at once or will that affect the baking?
You can do at least 3 of them – try to leave at least 2 inches apart if you can. This is if you have an average size oven.
my children are allergic to corn is there something I can use besides corn starch
Probably not. The gluten free recipes need to be made exactly as they are written because the different chemicals in the ingredients in the recipe are in there to make it all work together.
Hi,
Thanks for this recipe. It is exactly what I was looking for.
When you say “Pour”, does this mean the dough is liquid? Mine looks like a regular bread ball that needs to be kneaded.
It’s rising now. In 10 minutes it goes to the oven.
I hope I did it ok.
Kind regards,
Francisco
This is a little softer bread dough so much so you can beat with a mixer. If it is rising and looking ok now it probably should be ok
I can’t find a pan that is 9×5. (I have been loving the pullman pans) What pan do you recommend?
I personal try to use Mirro pans for most of my baking but there are many good ones and it really is just personal preference. Also it depends on how much baking you are going to be doing etc. Here a links to walmart and amazon and they have several brands to pick from. Hope this helps.
https://www.walmart.com/search?q=9x5x3+baking+pan
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9x5x3+loaf+pan&crid=7GT4PWA9LL4A&sprefix=9x5x3%2Caps%2C143&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_5
Have you tried making dough ahead of time, storing it in fridge, and cooking several days later? Would that work?
Gluten free bread recipes are very touchy. I would make the recipe as called for the first time and bake right away then you could try to store it the next time and see what happens. I usually bake mine right away so am not sure.
I have tried this recipe many times (yes, exactly), and it takes way longer to bake. And it usually caves in part way through baking. I don’t even bother opening the oven until this bread has baked for at least 1 hour. I can’t figure out what is going wrong. However, I just realized that my pans are 9″ x 5″ by 2.5.” Could this be the problem?? And would it help the baking time if I used ceramic or stoneware rather than metal pans?
If the pan isn’t the right size yes it can take longer, your oven might be off for the temp too. You can try stoneware it might work better for you but I’m not sure since I haven’t tried it.