One of the things that people miss most when they go gluten free is bread. There are some nice gluten-free breads and buns that you can buy, but they are costly. I love using this focaccia bread recipe to make gluten-free hamburger buns, which can be used for burgers or cold sandwiches.
While this recipe has been on my site for a long time, I wanted to update it a bit and remind you again of why I love it. This bread is easy to bake, it tastes good, and it is moist. If you are packing gluten-free lunches and miss a traditional sandwich, baking a batch of this bread can be more economical than buying gluten-free bread.
I’ve never had great success baking loaf breads, but this flat bread recipe turns out beautifully and can be used in a variety of ways. My favorite way to bake this recipe is using English muffin rings to form the buns. One full recipe will make 10 – 12 buns. I usually make 12. If you go with 10, the buns will be a little taller and have to bake a little longer. Since we don’t use 12 buns quickly, I let them cool, slice them, and freeze them for future use.
This recipe is adapted from Carol Fenster’s recipe in her book Gluten-Free 101. I love it because it is so versatile. I like using the focaccia bread for dips such as spinach dip. It is also great used for this focaccia bread sandwich and beef barbecue sandwich.
Here’s my original post, a bit modified.
Hamburgers have been my exception to the rule that dinner is always gluten free. When we have burgers, gluten-free son and I use some type of gluten-free bun or bread, or simply go without, while the rest of the family uses wheat based buns.
However, when I bake gluten-free hamburger buns, the family always prefers those to gluten-filled buns. They simply love this recipe.
This gluten-free focaccia recipe made enough for the five buns and a small round cake pan sized loaf. I used four English muffin rings and for the fifth one I folded a sheet of foil into a strip and made a circle the same size as the other rings. The foil didn’t hold the dough quite as well, but I was the only one who noticed the difference. I didn’t use the Italian seasoning on top of the hamburger buns.
- 1⅓ cups brown rice flour (white rice flour works too)
- ⅔ cup sweet rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca starch or flour
- 1 Tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 1 Tablespoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon onion powder (optional)
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 – 1¼ cup warm water
- 4 eggs
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon chia seed mixed with ¼ cup water (optional)
- olive oil (optional)
- Italian seasoning (optional)
- coarse salt (optional)
- Mix the wet ingredients together in the bowl of your mixer using 1 cup of the water.
- Combine the flours, yeast, gelatin, xanthan gum, onion powder, salt, and sugar in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat for 2 minutes. Add more water if it is too dry. The dough should be very soft and sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a greased pan. This recipe will fill a large cookie sheet. Or spoon into 10-12 greasedEnglish muffin rings for buns.
- Let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Optional: Brush the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and Italian seasoning. (Omit for hamburger buns.)
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. The top should be nicely browned.
Recent genetic research in celiac
Best Regard
http://minietasingluten.blogspot.com/
Linda, I made these yesterday after work and they turned out delicious. A bit more ingredients than the French bread but very worth it. I bought some English Muffin molds just for this recipe. I was wondering how you get the tops smooth like you do – like maybe a kitchen tool or method? My dough was very sticky so I tried my fingers and a metal spatula but it stuck and I got some sharp peaks. Still, this is a keeper and I foresee making many more in the future. Thanks for the recipe! You’ve perfected your breads to perfection!
I don’t do anything special to smooth mine out. I use a large spoon to place the dough in the rings and then push it to the edges. Maybe try adding a little more water next time. That might allow you to smooth it out more.
Linda, I used a bit of water in a bowl to wet my fingers and smoothed the tops! Worked like a charm!
I have also used wet hands to push this dough out on 12″ pizza pans. I get to crusts per recipe. I’ll use one for dinner tonight and freeze the other (with sauce and cheese) for later. Cheaper than ANY Store bought pizza and MUCH tastier!
(I buy my pizza pans at the 99c store so my good pans aren’t missed)
Honestly for all gluten free breads, especially yeast raised ones, just wet your fingers and smooth the tops…works every time!
keeping your hands wet prevents the dough from sticking to your hands and you will be able to smooth your dough out before you put them on the rings hope this helps
wet your fingers and then smooth the top
These hamburger buns look great, and with grilling season (hopefully) returning soon, I know I’ll be giving this a try. Thanks! 🙂
I have to try this! I really miss hamburger buns and foccacia bread sounds great.
I have tried GF hamburger buns in the past. They have all been “heavy”.
I was wondering if this recipe was closer to the reg. store bought kind.
Thank you,
Annie
P.S. I find some of your recipes to be very good. Enjoyed non gritty waffles this week. Yahoo!
FANTASTIC!! I baked some this afternoon and will be enjoying our first grilled burgers of the season with them. The texture (when still warm at least, haven’t tried them since), was just like that of regular buns. Nice! AS for the weight of them, they may be a little heavier than regular wheat buns, but they really don’t seem heavy when you’re eating them. HTH. Thanks for the great recipe!
Anonymous,
I know what you mean about other gf buns being heavy. These are not like that. I’m glad you liked the waffles. Thanks for your feedback!
VERY nice!! I’m impressed!!
Just made the focaccia today as a practice run before some gluten-free relatives come to visit Sunday. Delicious! I made it in a round wide cake pan and we had it dipped in balsamic vinegar and Vega EFA oil blend (good quality olive oil for Sunday). Thank you so much.
Chris, You're welcome. I'm glad it turned out well for you, and thanks for letting me know. Enjoy!
I just tried this recipe yesterday and was very impressed. I could serve this to non-celiacs.
Fred, I'm so glad you liked it. I think you're right, anyone would enjoy this bread. Thanks for the feedback.
I just found out that I must now live gluten free. I love going to the store and finding exactly what I want!I do not want to make my bread! Is there anyone that sells gluten free buns?
So far the only brand of hamburger and hotdog buns and bread that we like are Udi’s. I think they seem lighter because of the blend of GF flours. I have to try Kinnikinnick brand. We are fortunate to have a great gluten free bakery and a store dedicated to gluten free products just a few miles from our house!
Yes! Kinnikinnick is a brand I have tried and like. You can find their products at health food stores, and if you live in the east, at Stop & Shop or Giant Food stores. I'm sure there are other brands also. You will find these products in the freezer section.
These came out really tasty! I try to make all my GF stuff from scratch. I did have a couple problems I was hoping you could guide me on.
1. It didn't rise when I put it on the pan. Was I supposed to cover it? All I did was spoon it out like soft spackle and leave it in a pile.
2. It rised when cooking, but the end result texture was eggy and heavy. How can I make it more soft and airy? What did I do wrong?
Thank you!
Ingrid, it should rise before baking. If you are letting it sit out at room temperature, it might need longer than 30 minutes. I turn my oven on for about 4 minutes to warm it up and then put the dough in there for the rise time, or at least most of it. Try one of those options and see if it helps. Let me know how it goes!
But you only preheat the oven and turn it off before putting the bread in to rise, covered, am I correct in this?
For “Free” English Muffin rings, I use tuna or crushed pineapple cans. Remove both ends and run the “rings” through the dishwasher before using. When using I also line each ring with a strip of parchment paper, so that the English muffins or hamburger rolls slip right out. To store the rings, slide them onto a string; tie the ends, and hang on a hook in the pantry
Yes, I preheat it for a few minutes and then turn it off. That makes the oven warm, but not hot. I do not cover it for the rise time. The dough is much wetter than wheat dough and would stick to the cover. It rises fine without a cover.
FYI, tuna cans (and pretty much all cans) are lined with BPA. Plastic. Otherwise the food inside would taste like metal. So if you heat that can up, you will be letting off BPA and plastic fumes. If you arent too concerned about that, it might be good to at least cook the cans first before using them, so hopefully it burns off most of the plastic without going into your food. the plastic lining is usually invisible…usually you cant even tell its there.
When do you put the foil around the buns? Do you let them rise with it on and bake with it on?
Melissa ~ Because the dough is so soft, the foil or ring is necessary to hold the shape of the bun. Make the foil rings, then put the dough in the ring to rise and bake.
I have made these 4 times now and am making them again today. This has become our daily bread. These are good for everything I have found. We have enoyed them for burgers, sandwiches, and even toasted at breakfast with some jam. It is just a really good bread in general. I use those egg/pancake molds to shape mine, but I discovered the last time I made these that you can get away with shaping the dough in a mold and then removing the mold and shaping more and not actually baking the bread in the mold. I decided this actually works better for us because the original buns we made we huge. We prefer a hamburger that is not such a mouthful especially since my 3 year old has trouble eating them like that. The thinner bun means we can take our bun out on errands with us and go by McDonald's during the day….order just a meat patty and put it on our bun and it actually does resemble more of a McDonald's type burger …being thinner. It's not what many people like, but it's what my 3 year old likes so we go with it. Also…I only use one heaping spoonful of dough per bun since they rise so much. I was able to make a heack of a lot of buns the last time with this method. I think I ended up with 11? I will have to count this time. As far as storing, I have been cutting the buns in half when cool and then wrapping individually in plastic wrap. Then you can remove one from the freezer and nuke for 20-30 seconds or toast and you have a perfect bun that is moist and chewy the way bread should be. Today I was thinking of trying to make some White Castle style burgers with it.
Just wanted to add…I have been tinkering with this recipe a bit. The last time I made it, I subbed in some teff flour with the rice flour (1/2 teff 1/2 rice). The bread has gets a bit browner during baking, has nearly the same taste, but I think it was even just a bit better with the added teff. Trying to add nutrition where I can. I am still not using any forms on these and have even made hot dog buns with this recipe.
I can't wait to try these. We aren't much on hamburgers, but I miss biscuits and I bet foccacia would make awesome little morning sausage biscuits for my girls!
Thank you <3
Can you believe I am still messing around with this bread? I make a double batch each week and it serves as our basic bread for many things. Another tweak I have made is to substitute honey for the garlic for flavor, use honey in with the yeast (I proof my yeast in a separate bowl before adding), and using parchment paper for baking. I use an ince cream scoop dipped in oil to scoop out a perfect portion of dough, I plop it on the parchment paper, and then I flatten and smooth the top with oil coated fingers so that each bun will rise to be round and even. I let the buns rise for about an hour at room temperature on the counter. I also usually flatten a few of my scoops out very thin to be personal pizza crusts for my son. It makes for a speedy lunch treat. Anyway, bake in the middle rack of the oven on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes and you end up with beautfiful, lightly browned buns. This last time, I simply put completely cooled buns in a plastic freezer bag, in the freezer, and they defrost in the microwave just fine. I nuke one for about 30 seconds and it is warm and soft and ready to use. Just slice in half and do what you will with it. Oh…one other thing..I just put in one whole packet of Knox gelatin per batch instead of 2 1/2 teaspoons. It is easier to measure and the results are good.
Holly ~ I love that you are playing with the recipe and making it work so well for you. Thanks for letting me know what you've tried.
Can you use white rice flour instead of brown rice flour?
I ran out of brown rice flour and have been using white rice flour without a problem. We LOVE this bread and make it weekly!
I'm not sure if I've ever used white rice flour myself, but it should work. Let me know how it goes.
Brown rice and white rice flour are NOT interchangable. What is ‘sweet rice flour’
I want to really ‘get into’ GF baking but even a good health food store near me doesn’t have all the stuff I need and I seem to always be missing something….either tapioca flour or potato starch or something else. Sigh.
Sweet rice is a sticky rice and helps keep baked goods moist. If you don’t have it, try using white rice flour instead. Amazon sells many gluten free products at reasonable prices and there are other online stores. I usually buy a large quantity of the starches so I don’t have to pay shipping so often.
Sweet rice flour is very sticky, and you cant interchange it with anything else without the recipe turning out different. It is also labeled as Glutinous Rice Flour or Mochi Flour, Mochiko Flour. You can find it in asian food isles at your grocery store.
Would an egg substitute work? I would love to try this recipe without eggs. Thanks
Bunnymom ~ I don't have any experience with using egg substitutes. You could try making half the recipe and see how it goes. Don't cut the yeast amount in half though. I would probably use 2 1/2 tsp.
Probably a stupid question, but if I substitute a mix, like Bette Hagmans's flour mix, do I still need the tapioca starch? Thanks in advance!
Cherian ~ No. You would substitute 3 cups of Bette's mix for the rice flours and tapioca starch. I hope it turns out well for you.
To form or not to form…that is my question. I don't have any forms…was thinking of using the tuna can idea but don't have any of those on hand either. How about a 'muffin top' pan? Anyone tried that? Any suggestions if you don't have the round rings? Rena…who has completely failed at gluten free baking so far and really really misses buns.
Rena ~ I would give the muffin top pan a try, but it might not be deep enough. I have been making 10 buns with this recipe and I only have 8 rings. I make aluminum foil rings for the other two. My rings are 3 3/4" in diameter and 1" tall. The bread will be good no matter what the form, though.
Thanks for this recipe; the texture of the focaccia was perfect! I'm not a big fan of tapioca starch, so I replaced half of it with potato starch. I could still taste the tapioca pretty strongly. Do you think you could replace all the tapioca with potato? I think I'm going to try that next time and see how it turns out. In the meantime I finally have a good base for my GF panini!
You may have bad tapioca flour. The first time I baked with it I used Ener-G foods flour I had gotten on sale. I could taste it in everything. This aftertaste or aroma was in my nose after every bite and I hated it.
I tried again with another brand and it’s tasteless. I’ve had good success with Bob’s, Azure Standard, and an Asian store brand (which you probably don’t want to try if you are Celiac).
I am going to try the recipe right now since I need some buns. It looks promising and pretty fast.
Shirley from Gfe suggested this recipe for your buns and I'm anxious to try them!
Thank you,
Mary
http://www.glutenfreespinner.com/
Do you know if these will turn out without the gelatin? I’m wondering what the gelatin adds to the recipe (stretchiness? better keeping qualities?) and if it’s possible to substitute something else or simply leave it out.
I don’t think I’ve made them without the gelatin so I can’t say for sure what differences it will make, but the recipe will certainly work without it. Gelatin acts as a binder and ads moisture and protein.
I made the focaccia bread tonight with your Crock-pot pasta sauce. What a wonderful meal! Thanks for the great recipes!
I love bread!! I will have to try this. So far I have thrown away more attempts @ gf than successes. I am not a baker. I would love to get rid of the cross contamination risk in our house. Thanks for this.
Susan, we all have multiple failures at the beginning of the GF journey so don’t think you’re the only one! 🙂
Linda, thanks for the Focaccia recipe as I found a steak sandwich recipe which hubby wants to try from Ina that uses Focaccia… Will let you know how it goes.
This recipe ROCKS! I’ve always loved bread but never been a big fan of hamburger buns until now. I’ve only been gluten free for a year and have tried several store bought gluten free breads and been left wanting something better. I found a gluten free whole grain sandwich wrap from Gluten Free Gobsmacked that is just yummy that I use for wraps and pizza crust. Now I have recipe that works for my “real” bread cravings! I didn’t have any gelatin and they turned out great. I also made them in a muffin top pan and the size was perfect.
Hi Susan. I’m so glad you enjoy the buns. Thanks for letting me know!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve made it twice now with great results. It has become my go to for sandwiches and burgers. Not only do I have to avoid gluten, but I can’t eat soy, milk or sorghum, so most sandwich bread recipes and mixes are incompatible. Thank you for a recipe that works for my diet and tastes great. Even my non-celiac husband loved it!
Thank you for this, finally a GF “bread” for sandwiches that my son likes and much more budget friendly than UDI’s! Great texture. Now we’re ready for the new school year lunches!
You’re welcome, Kate. I was okay without sandwiches, but when my oldest son went gluten free last fall, I turned to this recipe for his lunches too.
Linda, does the pan and rings used for baking need to be oiled first or use parchment paper? Also, I was wondering if any of the flours would benefit by soaking over night for added nutrition and texture. For those wanting to sub out the gelatin they might be able to use flax seeds which develop into a gel when cooked in water (I know because I tried a homemade hair gel made out of flax seeds 😉 So excited to try your recipe 🙂
Thank you for creating this recipe. I wanted a roll recipe, but couldn’t find the ingredients, or it wouldn’t come out right. With this recipe, I was able to have rolls again for Thanksgiving using a muffin tin, and they were divine. Someone who wasn’t Gluten Free wanted to eat them off because they were that good!
Stephanie, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and were able to have rolls with your Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for letting me know.
I have to say, I LOVE this recipe. I’ve made a few adjustments, including the ones suggested and it is our staple bread. I make it every week since we discovered it. Best hamburger bun EVER. I love it even more than the evil gluten ones. Even got our school to think about trying it for the people that have the meal plan and are GF. Thank you so much for this!
I’m glad you enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks for letting me know.
Linda, these look awesome! I am wondering when you add the chia seed with 1/4 c. water? Thanks for the recipe!
Deanne, I add the chia seed mix to the wet ingredients in step one. I found white chia seeds and they look better in the bread. The dark ones look like mold spots. 🙂 But either one works.
This is a great recipe, THANK YOU!!! Even my non-GF family members prefer these buns over regular ones! I used my own all-purpose flour mix and made them in a muffin top pan with a fat 1/4 cup of batter per bun and they are just the perfect size, not too much bread to burger. I also made a wonderful egg sandwich on the weekend using a toasted bun… heavenly! So nice to have bread you don’t have to toast to be palatable.
Can you use cornstarch instead of tapioca starch? My body doesn’t seem to handle tapioca starch very well. I would love to be able to make these and have sloppy joes with them!
Kristen, I haven’t tried corn starch in place of tapioca in this recipe, but I think it would work well. It’s definitely worth a try. Let me know how it goes.
The corn starch worked perfectly! These turned out really yummy. I baked them in muffin tins as I don’t have English muffin rings. They will make great little burger slider buns!
I am going to try this recipe tomorrow. What do you think about baking in donut pans and toasting like bagels?
I’ve never used a doughnut pan, so I really can’t say. It’s worth a try!
Do you know size (i.e. 1/4 cup) of each dollop for the hamburger buns
No, I don’t have a particular measurement. It’s probably around 1/3 cup. This recipe is very versatile and you can make them whatever size you like. Just keep an eye on them and adjust the baking time.
I just started GF, and this was the first recipe I tried. The rolls did not rise at all. I placed in a warm oven, but no rise what so ever. I didn’t use rapid rise I had regular, could this be it. I like the taste, but I used an ice creme scoop and they were really small and very flat!
If you don’t use rapid rise/bread machine yeast then the yeast has to be mixed with the warm water and allowed to bubble up. Using regular yeast with my instructions won’t work. You can find bread machine yeast at the grocery store.
I retried today (with quick rise yeast) and was very pleased with the results. My hubs even liked them. Now I’m experimenting with “portion” size. Used 2 scoops of an ice cream scoop, too big so will try with just over 1 scoop. thanks for the recipe.
I made your recipe today and they came out so good! I made 5 rolls and molded the rest into a loaf of bread. I just wanted to see how everything would come out. I baked them separately, too. The bread took 25 min. to cook and the rolls were done in the 15 min. time.
After reading that several people used their muffin top pans for the rolls, I decided to use my whoopie pie pan. They came out great! They aren’t as big as a regular hamburger roll, but are the size of a biscuit. Fine with me.
Thanks so much for the recipe, the bread has such a nice soft texture. I also used the entire packet of gelatin because I wasn’t using sweet rice flour and I wanted that extra help with the moisture and softness. It worked!
I’m glad the bread turned out well for you. It really is a great versatile recipe.
I have tried this and really liked the buns, however I am still having some issues with other things now that I cannot eat. Can I replace the xanthum with chia or something else. The xanthum is corn and or soy based and I can not have either.
I haven’t tried using replacements for xanthan gum, so I can’t say for sure. You could try using guar gum. I have added chia to the bread successfully but only in addition to the xanthan, not in place of it. Guar gum is probably the best substitute and is made from guar beans.
Xanthan gum is not corn or soy based. Xanthan gum is a mold growth product the is fed a sugar mixture and cultured on corn . The end result has no corn. it is not made from corn, it is a by product of the digestion of a sugar grown on corn. Unless you have had a reaction to xanthan gum there is no reason to avoid it. However, if you yruly must avoid xanthan gum the best eplacement is guar gum. It is a ground seed. It is not as effective as xanthan gum, so you must increase the amt of guar gum by 50%. ie) 1 tsp becomes 1 1/2 tsp. etc
Many people react to Xantham Gum. Xantham Gum is a laxative, and can affect some peoples intestines. If it bothers you, try guar gum.
I am a regular baker of this focaccia. I thought I would try it out as a pizza crust. I took half the batter and spread it out on my big cookie sheet. I prebaked it for about 10 or 15 minutes, added my toppings and then baked it again for another 15 or 20 minutes. Super delicious!!!! (I have made traditional red sauce pizza and ranch chicken pizza)
Hmmm, I wish I can say what all the rest are saying about the recipe. I am definitely not an expert in bread making, gluten free or else.
I made the recipe as instructed then let it rise for 30 min in a preheated oven. I did not have any english muffin rings, so I used the regular aluminum cake pan (the one with the hole in the middle). Then baked it at 400 degrees for 25 min… not baked. I added 15 min, until the crust was a lovely brownish color and it had risen almost to the edge. Took it out… pffftt…it fell drastically. And when I cut it to check, it was wet and heavy on the inside. But tasted good.
I have no clue what I did wrong… help. Thanks heaps.
Reema, I think the problem is with the pan you used. This is a flat bread and if you’re not making a number of small buns, then the batter needs to be spread out on a large pan like a cookie sheet or several round cake pans (no hole). There should only be about an inch of batter in the pan.
I put a link to this post on my blog. Yum, these look good!
http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/
Moe
How many buns does this recipe make
About 10 – 12. It depends on how much dough you use in each.
Question for you, I have brown rice flour; and tapioca starch, but no sweet rice flour, can I use another kind?
You can use brown or white rice flour in place of the sweet rice flour, but the sweet rice flour really helps keep the bread moist.
Thank you Linda, will hopefully try it soon.
Today I finally broke down and baked my first GF item and I made these buns. Wow they turned out perfect. I made 2 hotdog buns and the rest into hamburger buns. I was nerves cause you’re right the dough is sticky, but the end results were out of this world. Thank you so much for taking the time to share and educate us on GF baking. Have you ever made this into a loaf of bread, can I put in a regular bread pan to bake? If so how long would I need to bake it and does it only need to rise 30 mins like the buns or longer? I can’t wait to try this recipe as pizza crust. Since I share a kitchen with gluten eaters I used parchment paper to cook the buns on and they turned out great. They are slightly heavy but when you eat them it doesn’t appear to be heavy. Honestly I like them better then gluten buns. Thanks again Linda for dedication to us Celiacs. God Bless you!
Denise I had the same thought as you regarding turning it into a loaf bread, but it didn’t turn out well. It was a number of years ago that I tried it so I don’t remember what happened, but it wasn’t as good. I’m so glad to hear that the recipe turned out well for you and how much you like the bread. Thanks for letting me know!
I made these hamburger buns, but I realize what my mistake is now. I used Tapioca Starch NOT Flour, so I have these little round beads in my buns, that didn’t melt or dissolve, so I keep having to spit them out. That’s why I only rated 4 stars, as the recipe said Tap. Starch or Flour. I am impressed however with the taste, they are so good! Finally a GF sandwich option for my 10 yr old son. After 4 days of Udi’s bread, he was done with it. I have been baking different breads, trying to find a recipe he will like. This, I think he will like and we can use them for hamburgers and sandwiches, and they are so light and moist too. I just need to go get the Tapioca Flour instead. Does anyone know how it would taste if I used Potato Flour instead? I didn’t have anything to form them, just used my fingers with oil on it and an ice cream scooper. How do you use the muffin pan? Do you just put it upside down on top of the buns and bake it on top of the dough?
I used the muffin top pans to make these for the first time today. You actually put the dough in the pan. Muffin top pans are also referred to as whoppie pie pans so they have much smaller sides. This worked great. I didn’t put the chia seeds in this time. Probably will next time. Also used 2/3 tapioca flour/starch and 1/3 cup potato starch. To answer your question you would need to use potato starch not potato flour they are different. This will be getting made again at my house and I will be featuring them on my blog once I get it going. Just getting started.
Tapioca Flour IS Tapioca Starch. They are the same thing. You may have gotten a low quality flour/starch that was not ground fine enough. Or you did not mix the dough well enough. The flour/starch should feel the same and be as fine as corn starch.
I have made these hamburger buns 5-6 times so far & they are always liked! Great flavor & texture!! I don’t have chia, but I tried flax seed & they were a bit too gummy. I may try & use it again, but use less. GREAT buns!!
Do you recommend any certain brand of English muffin rings?
No, any brand should work.
Linda,
My wife has just found out though she does’nt have celiacs she does benefits from a gluten free diet. Could I substitute Pamela’s mix and still get a good result?
Thanks for your help.
Mark
I get that kind of question all the time, and it’s very hard for me to answer because I haven’t tried it. My best guess is probably. You’ll just have to experiment. 🙂
Mark, last time I made these I used Pamela’s Artisian Bread Mix. It came out great, and had a great flavor, but don’t follow the baking instructions for a loaf of bread, follow Linda’s instructions. I baked them way too long, so they were a bit hard. I found if I put the buns in the oven at 200 for the first 30 minutes, to rise, then bake at 400 for 15 more minutes that should be fine. I always double the recipe, so I bake for about 20-30 minutes. Hope this helps, I want to try this with Pamela’s Pizza Crust Mix and see what it’s like.
I can’t wait to try these. I have to pay &8 for 4 FROZEN Udi’s hamburger buns and for me, that’s a lot on a limited income. Thanks for posting! ????
OMG! OMG!! OMG!!!
I just made these! They are fantastic! They rose beautifully, Beloved (a chef) likes the texture, and I can’t wait to have a sandwich for work tomorrow. The best part?? I didn’t pay EIGHT DOLLARS for four frozen only-God-knows-when-they-were-fresh buns!!
Just a suggestion: instead of individual rings for tea biscuits, has anyone tried a “Whoopie Pie” pan? It worked like a dream and one recipe’s worth made 12 identically shaped buns.
Thank-you for sharing, Linda. This worked beautifully and I will DEFINITELY be making these again. Frequently!
Shelly, your comment really made me smile. I’m glad you love the recipe. I agree totally! And that’s exactly why I like to blog–to share great recipes like this with people like you. I love your whoopie pie pan idea. I don’t know how the size o the buns compares with using the individual rings, but at long as it works, that’s what matters!
Linda, working in front of a computer as much as you do can be exhausting, especially when recipes are concerned because you have to make sure everything is right.
I hope you know how grateful is everyone that reads these blogs. Your efforts are appreciated more than you will ever know! ??
Where have you been all my life!
You are a gift from God. Thank-you so much for sharing!
Rally love the menus.
You’re welcome! Glad I can help, Jo.
Hi Linda:
Since becoming gluten free, I have been trying a variety of bread recipes since my favourite store-bought bread (Udis) is quite expensive and not always available. I’ve tried this recipe twice and the first time I added some dried grated parmesan which was probably a mistake since the buns were a bit flat. The second time I made it I followed the instructions exactly. This is a great recipe but my results (both times) are slightly gummy and a bit “egg-y” for me and my daughter. Could I reduce the eggs by one? And should I replace my yeast? (The bottle I have seems fine and expires in July of this year.) Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Lynne. Be sure you are using instant or bread machine yeast (not regular active dry yeast). If the yeast hasn’t expired, I don’t think that’s the problem. I would cut back on the amount of water to deal with them being gummy (hold back 1/4 cup). I haven’t tried it with fewer eggs, so I’m not sure about that. I’ve never thought of them as being eggy, and you might not notice the egg as much with less liquid. I guess you’ll have to experiment. 🙂
I felt the sweet rice flour is to sticky. I would use plain white rice flour the next time I try this recipe. I had no problem using my English muffin pan. No overflow.
Linda, your readers might want to try making buns in mimi pie pans. I’ve
been doing this for quite some time. I use the aluminium disposable ones,
wash and reuse many times.Place on a cookie sheet.I’m anxious to try your recipe,
not sure how many it will yield but it sounds like a keeper!, linda t.
I made these and they are great as hamburger buns!! Soft and fluffy but also not too difficult to slice open. I used 2 cups of plain ‘rice flour’ instead of the mixture of sweet rice flour and brown rice flour, because that’s what I had on hand. I didn’t have rings so I used greased glass and ceramic ramekins with parchment paper on the bottom so that they would come out. I see some focaccia bread in our near future!!
Glad you liked them , Erin. And thanks for letting us know what substitutes worked for you.
I don’t like the bread from the store i think it taste funny. Im going to make this one at home. Im. A pastry chef that can’t eat gulten and i do a great job on making regular bread. But im going to make this recipe and hopefully the bread comes out. Because it looks great on your website.
This bread ROCKS! I did modified it.
instead of sweet rice flour, I used sorghum flour.
I used 2 teaspoon of salt.
1/4 cup of sugar… but will be changing that to hopfully using stevia
used only 2 eggs
and used grape seed oil instead of vegetable oil.
It’s great to freeze after they are baked. Freezing the dough, wasn’t a good idea, it tasted gross. Love how moist the buns are after defrosting them in the microwave. It comes out like it just came out of the oven. thanks so much.
You’re welcome. I’m glad it worked so well with all those modifications. I do think that sweet rice flour is very helpful in keeping the bread soft without reheating.
Hello! Am going to try this next weekend. Can I use gluten free all purpose flour instead of the different types of flour? How much should I use? Thanks!
All I can say is that you can try. Different flour will always give different results. You should substitute the all purpose flour for the first three ingredients. If it contains xanthan gum you can omit that also. Use 3 cups (the total of the first three ingredients).
Is there anything I can substitute for the yeast? I can’t have yeast-
thanks, Nancy
I haven’t tried this recipe with any yeast substitutes. It’s worth experimenting with though!
Have you found any substitution for the yeast in the hamburger recipe
I am SO glad I found this recipe, it’s awesome… these buns taste way better than regular “gluten” buns!
I’ve made them many times and here are my own little tweaks.
Because I have a large bag of active dry yeast (not instant) I use that in this recipe. I just add it to my warm water along with the sugar in this recipe and let it activate for about 5 minutes. Then I just follow the recipe, adding this mixture with the other wet ingredients.
Also, I am a seasoned baker and love to mix everything by hand, probably because I’m just to lazy to drag out a mixer and then have to wash it after! Anyway, I mix the wet and dry together by hand and it works just fine.
I don’t find that any muffin rings are needed, (too cheap to buy them!)….I just blob the dough by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and the dough is stiff enough to keep it’s shape, I flatten then in to hamburger bun shapes with my spoon.
Also, I sometimes use sorghum flour instead of the brown rice flour, they turn out great with either flours.
Once I used half the dough to make a larger focaccia style bread, just added the seasonings and some coarse salt on the top. It was awesome too! 🙂
Made these up today using white rice flour for all of the rice. Did use the tapioca. Didn’t use the chia. Using large tuna tins I got five hamburger buns and one small loaf of bread…about a half loaf size. As I have to bake in large electric roaster, I had trouble getting them to brown and put them in a toaster oven for about 10 mins at 400F for the loaf and maybe 5 mins for the buns. I did rub the surface of them with oil when I brought them out for a soft top. Taste is excellent and wonderful air pockets…like gluten yeast breads. Next time I will use 1/2 cup batter per large tuna tin, instead of the 1/3 for a bit more thickness. Will def be making these again!
Alton Brown likes to do kitchen gadgets cheap. For his english muffin recipe he uses tuna cans for the rings. He uses them for biscuit and cookie cutters as well.
I know this is probably a lost cause, but is there a substitution I can use for the yeast? Yeast is one of the 4 thing my son can’t have. I think I’ve read lemon juice in the past but I just don’t remember. Hoping I can find a way because these look amazing!!! Thank you!
I really don’t know, Kristy. I haven’t tried these with a yeast substitute and I don’t know what to suggest. Sorry I can’t help.
I need to try these ideas to be healthier! TY 🙂
Just wondering if instead of using all the different types of flour if one can use a GF flour mix instead. We are in a small town and all those ingredients are next to impossible to find. It would mean a special trip to the city. Just wondering. Would appreciate your thoughts!
Such a great recipe…I make these all the time! I have made a few “tweaks” that don’t seem to change the way they turn out. I use only 3 eggs (May try cutting back to 2?), and I use active dry yeast (just dissolve it in the water with the sugar first). Also, I usually use the gelatin, but not always. I hand mix it because I hand mix everything…hate dragging out my mixer! I find the dough is stiff enough to just blob it in spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and form the blobs into bun shapes…. I was too cheap to buy rings but found you didn’t need them.
These are delicious and are WAY better than regular wheat buns! 🙂
I made these, but substituted flax for the eggs, potato starch for the tapioca starch (because that’s all I had), and accidentally like an idiot put in 2 T of sugar instead of teaspoons…and yet they turned out perfectly!! Soooo good! Thank you for such a wonderful recipe 🙂 GF bread of any kind is tricky, but these are awesome! Even baking, I didn’t have to bake for extra time or anything, as some GF breads just DO NOT get done in the middle. But not these 🙂 Thanks again!
Jamie, so glad to hear flax worked for you. How much ground seeds/water worked for you, please?
How do I make this into bread? Do I spread it out onto the cookie sheet and cut it into squares like you would a pan of bars??
Yes, a cookie sheet works great.
1tbsp of xanthum gum….is this a typo? Normally 1.5 tsp is sufficient for this amt. of flour.
The problem I have with these is the fact no carbs are listed
Hi, wondering if gelatin is added dry or dissolved first. Made the biscuits and were a flop. Thinking maybe yeast was bad. I used instant yeast and added it dry. Trying to figure where I went wrong.
The gelatin is added dry. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. It could be a problem with the yeast.
We are just getting started cooking gluten free! I got a gluten free cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen, aka Christopher Kimball. Has great recipes of everything! I really like their loaf bread!
Will try your recipes, also! Thanks!
Hi..Both my husband and daughter cannot have sugar, even in small amount, including honey, or any substitutes. Fruit juice in a tiny amount is possible. Has anyone tried this? With the comments, these must be incredible!! Thanks!
Hi I have a question. Every time I have tried to bake bread or cake and the recipe calls for three eggs, I find it at the end product is very moist. It is so moist that upon biting into it the bread or cake just turns to mush. It is not a pleasant sensation. I noticed that in your hamburger and focaccia bread the recipe calls for three eggs. I am wondering if I will get the same mushy results. Please help as I do miss my bread. Thank you
I don’t think the problem is the eggs, it is more likely the amount of liquid. How much liquid you need can vary with different flour brands and environment. Start with a smaller amount of liquid and add more if needed. This dough should not be as thin as a cake batter but not holding together in a ball either.
Hi Linda TKS so much for your reply. I will give your hamburger buns a try and let you knowhow thy turn out. I have read the comments and because they are so positive I am very hopeful.
M.
I am allergic to rice. What would be the est flour substitute?
Thanks,
Teresa
I haven’t made this recipe with a substitute, so I don’t know how it will turn out, but I would try using millet flour or sorghum flour.
Hi
Can I use xanthan gum instead of gelatin in this recipe?
No, just use the amount of xanthan gum that is called for and omit the gelatin.
I am also sensitive to tapioca starch. It gives me a very bad migraine along with all bean based flours especially soy. Could one use amaranth flour instead?
I would try potato starch in place of the tapioca starch.
I am looking forward to trying this recipe. They look fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
Im excited to have learned this bread reciepe
I was wondering if I could omit the unflavored gelatin?
Yes, you can omit the gelatin.
Can you use a gluten free flour mix that has a number of different flours in it and if so how much
Absolutely wonderful! I am new to gluten free, in fact this is my first week. I read through all the comments and decided that this is the first recipe I will try. I used China grass powder instead of gelatine and it was still perfect. Thank you for this awesome site! ~ From South Africa 🙂
Wow! This is the first bun recipe that not only was edible but delicious, not crumbly, and a treat to have rather than being forced to eat because it’s GF. Even friends that eat Gluten wanted them and loved them. Thank you soooooooooo much for sharing this recipe. I highly recommend using the Chia, I used “Skinny B” cereal and it worked great. I too used white rice flour rather than sweet rice and am very pleased with the results.
Do you have a Pinterest account, I would love to be about to pin your information and recipes.
Yes, I do. There is a Pin It button when you hover over images and also at the bottom of each post. Here’s my account: https://www.pinterest.com/gfhomemaker/
LINDA, I RECENTLY WENT ‘GF’, by Choice and my sister’s advice, AND I NO LONGER FEEL TIRED, NAUSEAUS, FOGGY BRAINED, AND MY EYESITE HAS IMPROVED AND MORE! I HAVE TRIED EVERY GF BREAD/BUN, ETC. RECIPE I COULD FIND AND MORE!!! “THIS IS THE MOST FANTASTIC, AWESOME, ACTUAL GF BREAD RECIPE I HAVE MADE YET!!!” I HAVE MADE A WHOLE LOT!!! MY HUSBAND LIKED IT BETTER THAN REGULAR/WHEAT FLOUR BREAD AND ASKED FOR ME TO BAKE MORE OF IT! I MADE THE BUNS AND USED THE REMAINDER OF DOUGH FOR THE FOCACCIA LOAF!!! I HAVE THROWN OUT ALL OTHER GF BREAD, BUN RECIPES AND MADE YOURS ‘PERMANENT’, THE HOLY GRAIL OF GF BREAD RECIPES!!! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AND GOD BLESS! I WILL BE A REGULAR ON YOUR WEBSITE!
Hi Marsha! I’m glad to hear the the gf diet is helping you so much, and I’m especially happy that my bread recipe is a keeper at your house. I’m not surprised since it’s the top bread recipe at our house too. Thanks for your comment!
Hi, just wondering if an all purpose GF flour can be used in this..?.. I see that I would keep the sweet rice flour for moisture, has anyone tried this? What do you think. I am new to baking GF, I have rice flour, Garbanzo bean flour, tapioca and potato on hand, need to find sweet rice though.. Thoughts? Thanks!
I’ve never been good at baking bread. Do I add the chia seeds in the water to the wet ingredients? It seems like a dumb question but I’ve never used chia seeds. Thank you in advance.
It’s not a dumb question. Yes, add them to the wet ingredients. 🙂
I just mixed up this recipe. I did not have the chia seeds. How much extra water should I add? I added an extra 1/4 cup twice and the dough was very stiff. I have shaped them with my hands so I hope they turn out.
Something is not right if the dough was very stiff. It should not be, even without the chia seed. I am wondering if you measured something wrong or if it’s a difference in flours.
Hi Linda, just want to know if these are right because I am confused as different recipes call for Arrowroot and Tapioca flour, and Potato Flour and potato starch and my Tapioca flour is in a tin which says Arrowroot and in small print it says Tapioca floor and also my potato flour (Kartoffel Mehl) that is what is says below the Potato floor print and is also says this product is also known as potato starch. I live in Australia.
Oh and by the way your recipes sound Great and I am looking forward to baking once I work out the ingredients.
Regards Julie
Julie, unfortunately I cannot say what that labeling means. In the US, tapioca flour and starch are very similar and can be used interchangeably. That is not true with potato starch and flour. The flour is heavier, more granular, and yellowish. Potato starch is white and starchy looking. In many recipes, you can substitute one starch for another such as subbing arrowroot for tapioca, but variety is usually best. So if it call for two starches, then use two starches.
thank you for your quick reply Linda, problem is I cant get most of the ingredients around here so I was trying to make an all purpose flour to make these buns and the calls for potato starch and potato flour lol confusing hey when my potato flour which it is labelled says this product is known as potato starch also. Anyway I ended up buying an all purchase flour and I am just making the rolls now but they have spread but not really rising and I used the oven like you said because it is cold here, anyway about to put them in the oven , will see how they go. probably won’t work because I didn’t have the right ingredients , will let you know.
Cheers Julie
I have a quick question. Do you bake them in the english muffin rings or are those just to form the dough and then you remove and bake?
I bake them in the rings.
I absolutely love your recipe for French bread using the cold oven method – have adapted this to many kinds of French/Italian breads. Looking forward to trying these hamburger buns because I really don’t like the store-bought ones – yuck!
Has anyone tried an egg-replacer? What was used and how did it work? After a few minutes of scrolling a lot of comments, I gave up looking as I need to get back to work 🙂
Wow, thank you for this fantastic recipe, the buns are so soft, flavor is great, and not heavy. I froze one to see what it will be like after I thaw the bun out If
I omit the chia seeds and put in ground flax , would this also give moisture? as I wanted to make them plain . just a inquiry to see if you knew linda.. .
Hi Marg. I have not tried it with flax seeds. If you do, let me know what you think.
Also can I make this focaccia bread/hamburger bun recipe into a loaf bread. Thanks marg
No, unfortunately this does not work as a loaf bread.
What is the difference between brown rice and sweet rice?
Sweet rice is more of a sticky rice and helps to keep the bread moist.
Where do I get sweet rice? I’ve never heard of it. Is it a powder? I’m learning to cook and bake and need everything exolained. Can I use my bread machine to mix the dough?
You can find sweet rice flour on Amazon or at an asian grocery store. It looks like white rice flour. It is best to use a stand mixer if you have one or a hand mixer if not. A bread machine won’t mix the dough well enough.
If trying to stay Gluten-free / Healthy, why not go on, and be ALL healthy!? Remember, Gluten-Allergi, is not an Allergi, it simply just ain’t food!!! I can see you use Vegetable Oil, really bad for you!!! Brown Rice contains Arsenik, in case you didn’t know that… Yup it is sad, White Rice are actually healthier, but still not to be considered food, cause it ain’t 😉
This recipe had become a family staple. We serve the bread for dinner parties and take the buns for lunches… And every time we eat a hamburger. We have even taken the buns to Five Guys and had them put their burgers on our buns. It’s the best recipe for gf buns out there.
My very full daughter just tried these as the came out of the oven. They are for sloppy joes. She is so full from lunch, but can’t stay out of these! She thanks you from the bottom of her sloppy joe loving heart. Bless you!!!!!
When I baked regular home-made bread, I just use flour, milk, yeast, salt, baking powder and maybe eggs and it turns out light and fluffy. Do you have to use the xantham gum, starches and gelatin?
Gluten-free baking is VERY different. The xanthan gum and gelatin help hold it together (gluten is a binder and without another binder to replace it, breads fall apart). The starches help lighten the rice flours, which on their own would be very heavy.
Hi. I am so anxious to try this. I am a little confused. It says to put all wet ingredients into your mixing bowl starting with 1 cup of water, what about the 1\4 cup of water the chis seeds are in. Hope I am making sense. Thanks so much, debbie
Hi Debbie. The 1/4 cup water used for the chia seeds is in addition to the 1 cup of water. The chia seeds absorb the water they are mixed with and it becomes like a gel. That should be added with the wet ingredients.
Hi Linda. Thank you for such a quick reply. I made this recipe last night and spread it out on a cookie sheet. It was great. Thank you for sharing. I ordered the English muffin rings and going to try making it as hamburger buns. Thank you again
Just one more question, I promise. I would like to use this recipe to make pulled pork sliders. Any suggestions on how to make these into little rolls. Thanks, Debbie
That’s a great idea, but I think you’ll have to experiment a bit. You can try using parchment paper on the baking sheet and not greasing it so the dough doesn’t spread as much and just dropping small amounts of dough. Or put the dough in greased muffin pans, not filling them very much. Let me know how it goes.
This is a great recipe idea for a friend of mine! I would love to share this on facebook so she can check it out!
This is excellent! Mine turned out wonderful! You didn’t explain at what point to put the chia seeds/water in but common sense made it easy to figure out (in case anybody was wondering add it with the other “wet” ingredients. In either case….I just have to say Thank you for providing a wonderful and very easy to follow recipe…..Mine turned out perfect! This is a keeper for sure!
Thanks, Tracy. I’m glad you like them!
We recently had to go gluten free after my son and husband were diagnosed with celiac. I had made our bread before going gf so I was used to baking bread all the time, but nothing prepared me for gf bread baking. I threw away so many loaves of bread because they were awful. We had resorted to buying gf bread from the store because I just couldn’t face spending all that time waiting for a loaf of bread only to hate the results. But with 6 in our family, gf bread is cost prohibitive and $9 for 1 meals worth of hamburger buns was just too much for our budget. I found your recipe today and made the buns. We can finally enjoy bread and hamburgers again without breaking the bank! Thank you so much for this.
Please could someone post a picture of how the hamburger bun dough should look after it’s all mixed. Thank you
Love this recipe. I thought my dough was too wet but the buns came out beautiful with a lovely texture. I used a gluten free all purpose mix (rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and xantham gum and cellulose gum)