My Vegan & Gluten-Free Cinnamon Raisin Loaf

I've tested countless iterations of this recipe, and this is as good as (I think) it gets. Soft, milky fruit loaf, with a pleasant chewy crumb and gentle, easy to slice crust. There's no abrasive cardboardy aftertaste, just a gentle wholemeal vibe - that is pretty unavoidable in gluten-free bread-making.

The number of gluten-free/vegan bread recipes I've tried is truly mortifying. This recipe is an evolution of the Cinnamon Raisin Erin McKenna loaf, found in her 2015 cookbook, Bread & Butter. It was the first yeast recipe I tried that had a decent crumb, didn't sink the second you pulled it out of the oven and tasted good enough you wanted a second slice. Wild! It's taken at least 20 re-makes, some in a completely wrong direction, to get it to this reliable structure.

I've detailed both yeast & sourdough versions of this recipe below. So choose your player, read the notes BEFORE YOU BEGIN! and get baking.

GENERAL NOTES

• It needs to be said, this bread is not a looker! In my eyes anyway, it's about what's on the inside that counts. At first bite, the taste and crumb redeem it's gnarly appearance, immediately.
• This recipe follows the batter method - meaning you are preparing & baking a batter, not a dough. The result is just as bread-y, only gluten-free flours (as we all know) can come out quite cardboard-y if not prepared properly. Starting with a very wet dough - so wet it's a batter - ensures the mixture is adequately hydrated, producing a delicious soft crumb.
• The ingredients & quantities are slightly different for each recipe - a direct swap out is tricky, but the results are very similar. The sourdough version contains sorghum flour, whereas the yeast version, does not.
• This loaf (like many gluten-free loaves) has less spring than you might be used to. The absence of gluten is the ticket. So expect a more filling, delicious in its own way, compact result.
• You will see soy milk powder in the ingredients. This is a beautiful ingredient in bread goods that enriches the dough - helping to achieve that soft, tender crumb.
• Upon taking your loaf out of the oven, the crust may appear intensely brown and rock hard. The batter is already a little darker than most traditional bread doughs, so expect a darker crust. As for the rocky-appearance, fret-not - it's all show. All gluten-free breads all do this, however, they soften up after 1o minutes.
• Let your loaves rest in the pan for about 5 minutes after baking, then remove to a cooling rack. They actually finish cooking as the steam evaporates. This time is very important in a gluten-free loafs life. If you cut into it while still steaming warm (lukewarm is fine), you'll get a gummy, sticky result. Boo.
• Feel free to customise & make this your own! I've mentioned permissible flour substitutions in the recipes below. Also I've skipped the raisins in favour of chocolate chips and orange zest before & it was terrific!

YEAST VERSION

This version is incredibly quick to prepare. It's merely a matter of activating the yeast, preparing the dry ingredients, whisking in the wet ingredients, pouring the batter into the tin, letting it double in size, then baking. The batter springs up in no-time (sometimes only 15-20 minutes) and takes only 35 minutes to cook - no pesky oven tricks required! I'd start here & graduate to the sourdough method when feeling ready.

• The one downside of this loaf is that it has an optimal eating period of about a day. Day's 2-3 are great, if you toast it. However, I'd slice & freeze on day 2 to ensure it doesn't go to waste. This way you can toast from frozen anytime you please.

INGREDIENTS

• 500g unsweetened soy milk, as gum-free as you can find (I used Pure Harvest)
• 45g sugar of choice (I used rapadura)
• 8g instant yeast
• 1  tbsp light-flavoured oil (sunflower or melted coconut work well)
• 50g teff flour (or quinoa flour)
• 50g maize flour (not the same as cornflour)
• 90g brown rice flour
• 60g arrowroot/tapioca starch
• 190g potato starch
• 25g soy milk powder (optional)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 baking powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthum gum
• 100g raisins/currents/sultanas - I like to soak mine in a little black tea (to hydrate), before draining and tossing in a dessert-spoonful of rice flour so that they don't sink during baking

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 200C/400F.
2. In a small saucepan, add the soy milk and sugar. Gently heat until the sugar has just dissolved and the milk is warm to the touch (no hotter as you don't want to kill the yeast). Sprinkle over the yeast, fork through and let sit for 10 minutes to become bubbly & frothy.
3. Meanwhile to a large mixing bowl, add the different flours, starches, soy milk powder, cinnamon, salt, baking powder & xanthum gum. Whisk to combine. If some lumps of starch remain, simply pinch them out with your hands.
4. Add the frothy milky-yeast mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Topple in the raisins and fold through.
5. Pour into a greased loaf tin (banana loaf size if good), smooth over the top, cover & set aside in a warm spot until the batter grows 1/3 in height, or reaches the top of the tin - at which point it's ready to bake.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit in the tin for 5 minutes, before removing and letting cool (90%, or) completely before slicing.

SOURDOUGH VERSION

I'm relatively new to sourdough, so this is a fresh recipe. The finished loaf is sourer in taste (as you would expect), lasts longer on the bench and has a visually more plasticky (I apologise, that's not the best food-term!) crumb.

• You start this recipe the night before. Depending on the weather it can take 12-24 hours (not all hands-on!) to properly proof, bake and cool ready to eat. So consider that when preparing your bake. If you rise early & promptly prepare your batter the next morning, it's a safe bet you'll be eating it by lunchtime.
• To make this recipe, you need a bubbly active sourdough starter (fed 3-4 hours prior). Fresh is Real has excellent instructions, I will link my own tips once here I type them up for you.
• It doesn't matter what flour you've been feeding your sourdough starter. Brown rice flour is the easiest to work with (and what I feed my starter), but any gluten-free flour starter will work.

INGREDIENTS

Preferment

• 130g thick active gluten-free sourdough starter, fed 3-4 hours before
• 100g water
• 100g sorghum flour

Dry

• 45g sugar of choice (I used rapadura)
• 50g teff flour (or quinoa flour)
• 60g brown rice flour
• 60g arrowroot/tapioca starch
• 190g potato starch
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt

Wet

• 300g unsweetened soy milk, as gum-free as you can find (I used Pure Harvest), can sub for water
• 1  tbsp light-flavoured oil (sunflower or coconut work well)
• 100g raisins/currents/sultanas - I like to soak mine in a little black tea (to hydrate), before draining and tossing in a dessert-spoonful of rice flour so that they don't sink during baking, but up to you

METHOD

1. Prepare your Preferment the night before. Start by mixing your active starter (fed 3-4 hours prior) until smooth. Measure out the desired amount in a medium bowl, then feed your starter again to keep it happy. Add the 100g water to the 130g starter and whisk until smooth. Add the sorghum flour and whisk to combine. Cover with plastic-wrap (or with an air-tight lid) and set aside overnight.
2. In the morning, it should look like a slightly fallen sourdough starter - perfect! On to the next step.
3. Add all the Dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Break up any stubborn starch clumps (it's usually the potato starch) with your hands. Add the Preferment, 300g warm water and oil to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add the raisins and fold through.
4. Pour the mixture into a greased loaf tin (banana bread sized tin is perfect), smooth over the top and cover. Set aside in a warm spot for 2-4 hours until doubled height (it won't do much for the first 1-1 1/2 hours, give it time).
5. 30 minutes before you judge the loaf has finished proofing, turn your oven onto it's highest temperature. 10 minutes prior to baking, pour 1 cup of hot water into a heat-proof dish and place in the bottom of your oven to create a nice steamy environment - which aids crust formation.
6. After those 10 minutes, pop your loaf into the oven. Immediately turn the temperature down to 220C/430F and bake for 40 minutes. Leave the loaf in the tin for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a cooling rack, letting cool completely (it can be just warm to the touch) before slicing & serving.

This loaf is pictured (LEFT) with my Creamy Vegan Butter.