gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

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Well and Good's Crusty Bread mix

Just when you think you have tried out all the gluten free bread mixes in the market, a few more pop up out of nowhere.

This is especially true in the case of the Tasmanian Sky Ranch Bakehouse, who recently shipped me a packet of their bread roll mix to test out.

It was hard to resist making the charmingly named ‘Bunsky’ mix, and as I have never actually attempted to make gluten-free buns, I was particularly interested.

And lo and behold,  in the very same week, Well and Good sent me a box of their crusty loaf mix – hence an ideal opportunity for a mini-bake off.

You may remember I tried out Well and Good’s Classic bread mix some months ago, and found it extraordinarily easy to bake – and this one was no exception.

I expected a lot of kneading and rolling pin action – but really all I had to do was mix the ingredients, leave it to rise a little while, knead it for a few minutes, shape it, and then bung it in the oven for the prescribed period (results pictured above).

The most beautiful thing was that I had some extremely picky gluten free guests (all under the age of nine) around to dinner that evening and I was able to serve them up fresh-baked buttered bread with their pasta – which they devoured.  Although the loaf wasn’t quite as springy as its fresh-baked wheaten equivalents – it was still quite a novelty for them – and I was sent back to the kitchen several times to slice and butter up more.

As popular as it was, I wouldn’t recommend  it as an ideal toasting or sandwich bread – mainly because it is a smaller loaf -  but if you want to whip up an easy, tasty loaf for dinner or a picnic then this one would probably be my top choice for ease, simplicity and same-day eating. I also love that it does not contain dairy, egg or soy. (And Well & Good also make a very mean chocolate mud cake mix).

Bunsky buns

Now for those cute little Bunskys from the SkyRanch Bakehouse in Tassie. This isn’t a bread mix that I have ever encountered before (though it is available online) – but I wanted to give it a go because I’d love to be able to bake little rolls for lunchboxes – especially ones that are soy free and dotted with yummy chia seeds.

Bunsky rolls from SkyRanch

These buns are meant to be sort of jagged in shape and hollow inside – which you can fill with delicious things like bolognaise sauce, or grated cheese – and comparing my buns with the picture on the Sky Ranch site you may think I carried this off perfectly  – but I must declare right here and now I stuffed it up royally because, to save time,  I foolishly tried to bake them while also preparing dinner.

The pack contains two types of seeds – linseed and Chia – and I accidentally switched these around – soaking the Chia by mistake. Then I confused my oil quantity with my water. Fortunately I realised this before I had added all the oil – but I had already put in about three or four tablespoons too much.

As damage control, I decided to leave out the linseed and just add my soaked chia seeds, and adjusted downward the levels of mineral water to compensate for the excess of oil. Once the mixture was made, I just popped them in a silicon muffin tray and into the oven.

I don’t want to give the impression the  instructions are complicated because they are quite simple really if you are concentrating on them, but some of the measurements were a little fiddly.

That means this is probably a recipe you need to focus on completely the first time you do it – and you will also need accurate measuring equipment because the instructions contain very specific quantities like: 43g water (or 3/4 cup plus 1-1/2 tsp).  It also asks for sparkling mineral water – which I don’t tend to keep in the cupboard.

In spite of this – and my bumbling first attempt – these little rolls were undeniably yummy – ending up with a melt- in-your-mouth texture that was somewhere between a scone and croissant. And they were also a hit with my extaordinarily fussy four-year-old – who is a gluten free bread expert in his own right. He even ate them for breakfast the following day.

I have very high hopes that these could become a lunchbox favourite and I will be placing an order with Sky Ranch soon.

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