Gluten free is tough. It is tough for the sufferer of coeliac disease and those with gluten sensitivity. It is tough to find good products to replace all the things you enjoyed in the past.
Bread products are especially hard to replace. And worse, commercial products are often 3 or 4 times the price that everyone else pays. Home baking can be a good way of keeping the cost down.
The problem is that gluten is what makes bread what it is. It is tough to replace. Most commercial GF flours are a blend of grain flours or starches that naturally do not contain gluten. They usually add some xanthan gum to be the replacement for gluten.
Some people will add extra xanthan gum to help. I prefer using psyllium husk as a more natural fibre product. Use the husks rather than the powder as they are less processed. I have ended up with pink / purple tinge to breads made with some powder!
Whatever you use, it just doesn't rise as much as a gluten based flour. For that reason, I think focaccia is a good one to start with, as it is a flat bread anyway, and not rising so much doesn't take away from the experience.
Ingredients
9g GF instant yeast *
5g psyllium husks
1g baking powder
1 tsp salt
420g room temperature water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp agave syrup or honey
Fresh rosemary
Sea salt
* many yeast brands include "flour improver" additives which are based on wheat and are therefore not gluten-free. I generally use the Caputo Lievito product, and the Doves Farm yeast is also a good choice. Just check the ingredients as wheat will be listed if it is there.
Mix the dried ingredients well together with a whisk or fork. Mix the water, oil and syrup together in a jug.
If you have a stand mixer, use the dough-hook and get it mixing the dry ingredients at low speed and slowly add the wet. Once combined switch up to medium (maybe 6 / 10) speed and leave for 2 minutes. After the 2 minutes use a spatula to make sure all the dry ingredients are combined and put it back at medium speed with the dough hook for another 3 / 4 minutes.
If you don't have a stand mixer, then I really recommend a Danish dough whisk, but a good spatula can do the trick. We don't need to develop gluten here, we just need to make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed well with the wet and get well hydrated.
This is a roughly "100%" dough, with the same volume of water as flour, so expect it to be wet. This is typical for focaccia.
Leave the dough in the bowl, covered with a lid (cling film if you must), for a couple of hours. You want it in a reasonably warm, draught-free place. It should double in size.
Move the dough into an oiled pyrex bowl and put it in the fridge, for at least 3 hours, until you are ready to use it.
Add a good amount of olive oil to a 34cm x 24cm baking sheet and spread it around with your spatula.
Pour the dough into the tray and push it out to the edges. Any oil that pools in the corners can be spooned over the top of the dough. We will want a good bit of oil on top too!
Put another tray on top and leave to proof for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 200C.
Now the fun bit with making focaccia! Make sure there is a good bit of olive oil on top and then use your fingers to make a load of dimples in the dough. The oil should pool in these.
Put fresh rosemary sprigs into some of the dimples and sprinkle with a couple of good pinches of sea salt.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the crust turns golden brown.
Allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting, as GF bread that is fresh out of the oven can sometimes be a bit gummy.