Gluten-free Cheesy Garlic Dough Balls
Photography by Simeon Crofts
DIETARY - Gluten-free, Nut-free, Vegetarian
A few Christmases ago, I made an incredible recipe for mozzarella-stuffed tear and share dough ball bread with parsley butter. It was so soft and full of flavour, and the cheese strung for miles (exaggeration) as you tore each piece. Delicious! Years later, we now have a household full of dietary requirements, and one poor guy who is missing bread big time. So, I got to work experimenting with making gluten-free dough balls and tried and tested a few batches over one weekend hoping to recreate some of that bread magic that has definitely been missing from my celiac hubby’s life. Although I am not celiac myself, I didn’t hesitate to dig in; these were mouth-wateringly good, and I can’t say I noticed the missing gluten.
I find the trick with making gluten-free bread is ensuring you make a yeast starter first. You do this by mixing yeast, sugar – which activates the yeast, and lukewarm water, then cover with clingfilm and set aside for 10 minutes. The yeast water will quite quickly form a large foamy head and give off a beer-like aroma; this is when you know it’s ready. If your yeast water doesn’t do this, then your yeast is dead and unusable. Another reason to prepare your yeast like this is it gives the yeast a chance to grow and start working before you mix it with your flour and salt blend. Salt retards yeast growth and can kill it if used in large quantities, but by activating your starter first, you’ll avoid any flat bread disasters later on.
Another thing to keep in mind when making gluten-free bread is there is no need to work or knead the dough, as there’s no gluten to develop. In fact, I highly recommend you work the dough as little as possible to avoid it becoming tough. You want to keep the dough as soft as possible, as it will only rise once, so when you knock it back to roll it out, work gently to keep the dough balls a decent size. They will puff up a little in the oven, but not by much, so when arranging them in your chosen tin, place them quite close together.
I used a mixture of basil and parsley for my herb butter topping, but you can experiment with any number of herbs. I think deeply savoury flavours like rosemary and thyme would work really well, as well as more fresh herbs like mint and coriander. When it comes to the cheese stuffing, the world is your oyster. I chose mozzarella for the extreme stringy factor, but I think any number of cheeses would work a treat, or why not blend a couple of your favourites and see what happens? I have tried these with camembert in the past and received rave reviews!
You can make this recipe as individual dough balls or as a tear and share bread as I have done – I think this makes it a bit more fun for dinner parties or on a snack board. Enjoy!
Gluten-free Cheese-stuffed Garlic Dough Balls
Ingredients:
- 10g fast-action dried yeast
- 1.5 tsp sugar
- 375ml warm water
- 450g gluten-free plain flour
- ¾ tsp xanthan gum
- 3 tsp psyllium husk powder
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 4½ tbsp olive oil
- 200g mozzarella
- 70g melted butter
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- Sea salt flakes
Method:
- First, make the yeast starter by mixing the water, yeast and sugar. Stir and cover with clingfilm – it does not need to be well blended; a quick stir will do. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the remaining ingredients. Add the flour, xanthan gum, psyllium husk, baking powder and salt to a bowl and mix well until blended.
- Add the yeast water and olive oil to the flour mix and mix with your hand until just combined. The dough will be very wet and sticky. Cover with clingfilm and set aside to prove for 1 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.
- Once risen, tip the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead only to bring it together into a smooth but very soft dough.
- At this point, pre-heat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan)/ 350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Using a knife or dough cutter, chop off pieces of the dough and flatten with your hand or rolling pin. Place chunks of mozzarella cheese in the middle of each then pinch the dough around the cheese and roll in your hands to seal. Place each dough ball in a lightly oiled tin.
- Bake the dough balls for 25-30 minutes, turning once, until golden. While still hot from the oven, brush generously with the garlic and herb butter then sprinkle with sea salt flakes. These are best eaten warm on the day you bake them.