If you’re looking for the best gluten free bread maker then you already know that there’s no easier way to make gluten-free loaves than to let a machine do all the work for you. Or you’ll immediately become convinced of that.
After all, all you have to do from now on is adding the ingredients into the pan, select the cycle, and press the Start button.
It’s totally worth getting a bread maker since GF breads are not exactly cheap.
It will save you money in the long run but the most important aspect, at least for me, is that I know exactly the ingredients from which my loaves are made.
For really busy people, it can be a life saver. Furthermore, there’s also the option of gluten-free bread mixes that can be made by hand or with the help of a bread maker.
Contents
Gluten Free Bread Makers: My Top Favorites
1. Best Gluten Free Bread Maker: Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso
It’s the most highly praised, most expensive bread machine, an impressive kitchen appliance but only if you can afford the high price.
2. Cheapest Gluten Free Bread Machine: Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982
Choose the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982 if you’re looking for a cheap price and pretty impressive capabilities, it’s that simple. It’s one of the best gluten free bread makers, even if it’s at the same time one the cheapest, too.
3. Best Value for Money: Cuisinart CBK-110
This is one of my absolute favorites when it comes to picking the best GF bread maker. It has a pretty affordable price, while possessing pretty impressive qualities, the most important of them being the fact that it makes and bakes awesome breads every time. The slightly more expensive alternative is the CBK-200.
4. Amazing: Breville The Custom Loaf
We get to bake either 2 pounds or 2.5 pounds gluten free loaves. We also get an automatic fruit and nut dispenser. And a collapsible paddle. This Breville is not a cheap gluten free bread maker but it is an impressive one. Nearly not as popular as it should be.
Best Gluten Free Bread Maker Reviews
All these 9 models are amazing candidates as the best gluten free bread maker. It’s hard to differentiate between them.
The important thing is that each one has the potential to be the best gluten free bread maker for you, you just have to give it a try. I hope you’ll be as excited as I am about using a bread machine even after all these years.
1. Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso BB-PDC20: Best Gluten Free Bread Maker
And here it is, the most expensive best gluten free bread maker, the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso.
Let’s be honest here:
No matter how amazing it is, I couldn’t afford the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso. It’s just too expensive for my budget when it comes to how much I can afford to spend on a bread machine.
Fortunately, some of you are not me.
If you can easily afford this model, you’re going to get a great unit. It can be easily called the best bread machine for gluten free bread.
Features
It makes and bakes totally delicious GF breads.
And your effort is minimal. But it totally should considering how much it costs.
You should expect the highest quality for any cycle.
The Zojirushi Virtuoso, just like its counterpart the Zojirushi Supreme, bakes horizontal loaves.
I actually love the horizontal shape, it’s a big plus for this machine. It’s the best horizontal bread maker on the market.
The Supreme is cheaper and both have a lot in common but the Virtuoso is the one with the GF cycle.
The Zojirushi Virtuoso is one of the most appreciated bread makers and that includes being a best gluten free bread maker.
The interesting part is that there are two kneading blades, which makes it perfect for whole wheat loves. The 2 blades are needed for the horizontal shape but their advantage also extends to getting amazingly kneaded dough.
There are plenty of people who buy the Zojirushi Virtuoso just for its impressive dough kneading capabilities.
We can bake only 2 pound loaves. But that’s frankly the perfect size for making delicious loaves of all kinds. So we’re not missing out on anything just because we don’t other loaf sizes available.
There are 15 cycles:
- white
- whole wheat
- European
- multigrain
- gluten free
- salt free
- sugar free
- vegan
- rapid white
- rapid whole wheat
- dough
- sourdough starter (a unique one among bread makers as far as I can tell)
- cake
- jam
- homemade (where you can record 3 of your favorite recipes)
You can find a few GF recipes on their website.
The replacement pan is quite expensive but at least it’s an option if you need to replace it.
Overall, the Zojirushi Virtuoso is the best gluten free bread maker. I know that it’s expensive so you really don’t have to think that there aren’t awesome choices for people on a budget. In fact, I’m going to review a bunch of those more affordable gluten free bread makers just below.
By the way, we can also make sourdough starter with gluten-free flour. Check out my recommendations for the best flour for sourdough if you’re willing to give it a go.
How to make gluten-free bread with Zojirushi Virtuoso
In order to understand how we can use the Virtuoso to make GF bread in a bread maker, we need to check out their recipe book. Or you can check out the recipes on their website, like I mentioned above.
The first recipe is called gluten free brown rice bread. It’s made with milk, large eggs (beaten), apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, honey, potato starch, brown rice flour, xanthan gum, salt, and active dry yeast.
First, we need to mix the potato starch, brown rice flour, xanthan gum in a bowl. Mix them well.
Then, we need to add all ingredients in the baking pan in the order listed. You can use olive oil if you don’t prefer vegetable oil or sugar if you don’t have honey or skip it entirely.
Once all the ingredients are added, press the Course button, select Course 5, and press Start.
When the Add Beep sounds, thoroughly scrape down the flour and other ingredients from the sides of the baking pan. Use a rubber spatula. Never use any metal instruments inside the baking pan because it will scratch the nonstick coating.
The other two recipes are called gluten free Italian herb bred and gluten free raisin bread.
All recipes basically follow the same steps.
The only different is for the GF raisin bread. We need to add the raisins when the Add Beep sounds, after thoroughly scraping down the flour and other ingredients from the sides of the baking pan. That’s the only variation.
2. Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982: Cheapest Gluten Free Bread Maker
Well, there are a lot of things that can be said when talking about the features for this bread machine but there’s one very important aspect that needs to be mentioned right away:
The Hamilton Beach Bread Maker is the cheapest best gluten free bread maker.
There’s no cheaper option.
Even though it’s affordable, that doesn’t mean that it’s not fantastic.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be on my list for the best bread machines for gluten free bread.
Before checking out any other model, you should definitely consider this one, no matter your budget.
The Hamilton Beach has 3 loaf sizes:
- 1 pound
- 1.5 pounds
- and 2 pounds
It’s quite impressive that we get 3 loaf sizes. It doesn’t happen but the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982 meets a lot of expectations at a pretty low price level.
There are 3 crust settings: light, medium, and dark. I prefer it medium.
There’s also a 13-hour delay timer.
There are 12 cycles:
- basic (white)
- French
- gluten free (which is what interests you since you’re looking for the best gluten free bread maker)
- quick (for recipes that don’t use yeast)
- sweet
- 1.5-pound Express, 2-pound Express (for the Express ones the loaves are all done from start to finish in just 58 minutes but the result is not as delicious and they don’t work for the GF recipes, they’re just a fast replacement for the basic setting)
- dough perfect for pizza and any other recipes that need to be baked in a conventional oven
- jam
- roast nut
- whole grain
- bake
It’s a complete list.
The gluten-free cycle only allows us to make 2 pound loaves and we can select either of the 3 crusts.
The total time for the gluten free bread cycle takes only 3:09 minutes. The Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982 is fast.
White bread, French bread, sweet bread, whole grain bread can be made in the 3 sizes: 1 pound, 1.5 pounds, and 2 pounds.
However, you might be wondering what that roast nut cycle is all about in a bread machine. It’s certainly unique. And just as the name suggests, it’s used for roasting nuts or making a roasted nuts recipe.
There’s a lightly salted roasted almonds recipe for the roast nut cycle in the user manual. You can check it out here.
The order in which you should add the ingredients are:
- water (and other liquids)
- sugar
- salt
- butter, margarine
- flour
- yeast – this is the last ingredient added in the pan, the one on top
For any bread machine, the rule is that liquids don’t come in any contact with the yeast.
The order in which the ingredients should be added is helpful in case you want to try other GF recipes from cookbooks or the Internet.
The user manual doesn’t feature that many.
The design is nothing special, it’s definitely not the prettiest machine out there but what can you expect for the money?
On the plus side, the control panel is easy to use, literally anyone can figure it out without any instructions, it just has a few buttons.
All in all, the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982 promises ease of use, delicious GF breads and an overall top-notch quality for one of the most affordable prices at the moment. It’s pretty great.
3. Cuisinart CBK-110: Best Value for Money
This bread maker from Cuisinart would be considered middle-priced. It’s still pretty affordable compared to other models but almost double the price of the Hamilton Beach.
This unit has a pretty interestingly look. You’re either going to love the design or not. Personally, I love it. It will fit very well in a modern kitchen.
The Cuisinart CBK-110 is a pretty amazing bread machine, it’s a bit on the expensive side but so good.
There are 3 loaf sizes: 1 pound, 1.5, and 2 pounds. It’s perfect for those who live alone and for families.
There are the usual 3 crust settings: light, medium, and dark.
Plus there’s a 13-hour delay timer, which is standard for these machines that make loaves and dough and jam.
The Cuisinart CBK-110 is also the only best gluten free bread maker that comes with a 3-year warranty, all the others have just 1-year warranty.
There are 12 cycles:
- basic
- French/Italian
- whole wheat
- sweet
- gluten free
- packaged mix
- cake
- dough
- pasta dough
- jam
- bake-only
- rapid bake
The 4 GF recipes included in the Cuisinart recipe booklet are only for 1.5-pound loaves.
It’s a very fast cycle, it only takes 2 hrs. 30 min until it’s all done but you are advised to use a rubber spatula to incorporate all the ingredients when the dough is being mixed.
The time seems a bit short, some users have mentioned additional baking being needed.
You can do that by selecting the bake-only cycle once the GF cycle is complete.
The order of adding the ingredients is: liquid, dry ingredients, and yeast at the end.
Remember, it’s very important to add the ingredients in that exact order.
Removing the paddle
Once the mixing/kneading is complete, you will hear 6 beeps that let you know that it’s safe to remove the dough from the pan so that you can remove the kneading paddle and then place the dough back in.
The kneading paddle may be hot.
The kneading paddle is no longer needed since the rise and bake phases will commence.
If the loaf is baked without the kneading paddle in, there won’t be such a big hole left at the base of the loaf.
I’ve never removed it.
Once I press the Start button, I go about my day until the final beeps let me know that I can remove the loaf or the dough.
I only watch out for the beeps that let me know that I can add nuts or anything else, even chocolate chips.
The control panel is easy to use, it’s intuitive.
How make gluten free bread with Cuisinart CBK 110
In the recipe booklet, we get GF recipes for: sandwich bread, multigrain bread, cinnamon swirl bread, and pizza dough.
That’s a really nice array of recipes.
The ingredients for the gluten free sandwich bread are: water room temperature, unsalted butter, eggs, salt, sugar, gluten-free all purpose flour blend, psyllium husk powder, active dry yeast.
All we have to do is to add the ingredients in the pan in the order listed and the select the Gluten Free program.
The FG multigrain bread is made with: water room temperature, unsalted butter, eggs, salt, sugar, gluten-free all purpose flour blend, oat flour, ground flax seed, psyllium husk powder, active dry yeast.
The same instructions apply.
For the cinnamon swirl bread we need: water room temperature, unsalted butter, eggs, salt, sugar, gluten-free all purpose flour blend, psyllium husk powder, active dry yeast.
Once the ingredients are added to the pan and the Gluten Free program is selected, we can take care of the rest of the ingredients.
Put the cinnamon swirl ingredients into a bowl. These are: granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. Whisk them in a bowl.
When the paddle signal sounds we need to remove the dough from the machine.
Put the dough onto a counter heavily dusted with GF flour.
Roll the dough away from you into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick and 16 inches long with short sides facing away from you. Sprinkle the cinnamon swirl mixture over the entire dough.
Tightly roll from one short end to the other and then tuck the ends underneath the dough.
Place the rolled dough into the baking pan of the machine. Leave the kneading paddle out. Press Start/Stop to continue.
Or you can bake the dough into a loaf pan if you don’t want the bread maker to bake it for you.
4. Zojirushi Maestro BB-SSC10: 1 Pound Gluten Free Bread Maker
This is a compact bread machine that also makes GF loaves. Besides that, it’s also one of the most complex machines on the market.
However, there is one important thing you must pay attention to: it only bakes 1 pound loaves. Thus, if you’re only making GF bread for yourself, this is a nice pick.
The loaves baked are vertical.
Even if it only bakes such small loaves, the price is definitely expensive. It’s not for those who are looking to spend under $100 on a bread machine. In that case, check out the first Hamilton Beach bread machine that I reviewed above and the Cuisinart CBK-110. Those two are some the cheapest and some of the best gluten free bread machines that you can buy.
Design
You’re either going to love it or not. This machine is narrow and tall.
It only weighs 16 pounds so you can put it in a cupboard or somewhere else if you’re not going to use it often or if you don’t have space on the countertop.
It even comes with a handle at the top so that you can carry it without straining yourself.
14 cycles
- white
- European
- quick white
- whole wheat
- quick whole wheat
- multigrain
- gluten free
- salt free
- sugar free
- vegan
- bread/pizza dough
- pasta dough
- cake
- jam
As you can see, even if it only bakes 1-pound loaves, it manages to bake a whole range of them. We also get the option to make all kinds of dough.
This machine is indeed complex.
There’s also a Homemade course where you can store 3 of your favorite recipes.
We can only select between 2 crusts: medium and dark. That’s a bit of a con because some might prefer their breads with a light crust.
There’s a 13-hour delay timer.
Auto add dispenser
It can be an exciting addition if you plan on baking loaves with additional ingredients like nuts, fruits, chocolate chips, etc.
5. Breville Custom Loaf Bread Maker: Expensive Gluten Free Bread Machine
The Breville Custom Loaf Bread Maker is the second most expensive bread machine for gluten free bread.
And it looks amazing.
It’s also one of the smartest. It will definitely take a while getting used to its smart panel and all its functions. If you’re not into technology too much, this is definitely not the option for you.
Even I would have to read the manual more than a few times to understand everything it can do.
There are 4 loaf sizes from 1 pound to 2.5 pounds.
However, for the gluten-free cycle only the 2 and 2.5 pounds sizes are available.
The loaves baked are horizontal.
With the modify button you can adjust the temperature and the duration of each phase.
For example, if you feel that the dough is not baked enough you can increase the duration or the temperature for the bake phase.
The usual 3 crusts and the 13-hour delay timer are also featured.
The kneading paddle is collapsible so that the loaf doesn’t bake with the paddle inside, meaning that the hole at the base is smaller.
There’s also an automatic fruit & nut dispenser that’s not common among bread machines.
The 14 cycles are:
- custom (you can record 9 of your favorite recipes and transform them into cycles so they are accessible to you with just a few buttons, it’s a pretty interesting function if you plan on expanding your GF repertoire)
- basic
- basic rapid
- whole wheat
- whole wheat rapid
- gluten free
- crusty loaf
- sweet
- yeast free
- dough-bread
- dough-pizza
- dough-pasta
- bake only
- jam for which a fixed paddle is provided
That’s definitely an impressive list.
There are 3 recipes for the GF cycle but you can make so much more. The recipes are nothing extraordinary but they’re a good start.
You can easily find replacement parts, pan included, which is not that expensive.
All in all,
The Breville Custom Loaf can be a pretty perfect bread machine for GF bread as long as you can afford it because it’s a bit too expensive for most of us.
How to make gluten free bread with Breville Custom Loaf
The recipe for this cycle are: gluten free banana walnut bread, gluten free mock pumpernickel bread, and gluten free chestnut bread.
The ingredients for the GF banana walnut bread are: eggs, milk, apple cider vinegar, mashed ripe banana, brown sugar, salt, unsalted butter, chickpea/garbanzo bean flour, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, active dry yeast.
To the automatic fruit and nut dispenser we need to add the chopped walnuts. The machine will add them automatically to the dough once the dough is kneaded.
Once we insert the collapsible paddle in the baking pan, we need to slightly beat the eggs and place them in the pan followed by the remaining wet ingredients, then the banana and brown sugar.
Sif together the salt, chickpea/garbanzo bean flour, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum in a bowl. Or just mix them together if you’re not into using a sifter. Add them on top of the ingredients that we already placed in the pan.
Sprinkle the top with he yeast.
Secure the pan inside the baking chamber.
Add the chopped walnuts to the automatic fruit and nut dispenser.
Select the Gluten Free setting, the desired crust color, and the loaf size which can be either 2 or 2.5 pounds. We get ingredients for both sizes.
6. Cuisinart Convection Bread Maker CBK-210
This is the more expensive version of the CBK 100. It can also be regarded as a horizontal bread machine but I say that’s something in between a true horizontal maker, like the Zojirushi Virtuoso, and a vertical bread machine, like Hamilton Beach and Oster.
It’s significantly more expensive than the CBK 100 or CBK 110 and I think it brings enough to the table to justify the price increase.
I will also admit that the design is very pretty and the large viewing window is a wonderful innovation in the world of bread machine.
16 settings
- white
- whole wheat
- French/Italian
- sweet
- low carb
- gluten free
- rapid
- package mix
- dough/pizza dough
- artisan dough
- sourdough starter
- bake only
- jam
- cake
- last minute loaf
- custom memory
These 16 settings are pretty impressive and they cover a wide range of capabilities and a wide range of recipes that we can make.
What I find interesting is the artisan dough cycle. This setting only makes the dough in 5 hours so you can imagine what a loaf we can bake in the oven once the 5 hours are up. I recommend baking it in a Dutch oven for the tastiest results.
Thus, the artisan dough is certainly one the most interesting settings for the CBK 210.
The other interesting setting is the sourdough starter. It’s a thing that the Zojirushi Virtuoso also offers. Although, the Virtuoso is significantly more expensive than the Cuisinart Convection Bread Maker CBK-210.
The custom feature allows us to manually adjust programs to preference.
Features
Another thing we should notice is that it bakes 1, 1.5 and 2 pounds loaves, which is great.
It also comes with an automatic nut & fruit dispenser, which is a another fantastic feature.
The recipes book that comes with this Cuisinart is quite interesting.
Under the gluten-free cycle, we’ll find the following recipes: cheesy gluten-free loaf, gluten-free apple, gluten-free hazelnut bread, gluten-free molasses walnut bread, gluten-free nut and seed bread, gluten-free rye bread.
The artisan dough cycle has the following recipes: rustic baguette, artisan focaccia/pizza, buttermilk whole wheat walnut boule, cranberry pistachio boule, hazelnut and apricot artisan loaf, seminola loaf.
7. West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker Programmable Horizontal Dual Blade
What this West Bend bread machine is trying to do is pretty obvious for some of us.
This manufacturer is trying to offer the much cheaper alternative to the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso BB-PDC20 that I recommended as my top pick for the best gluten free bread maker.
The West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker is almost 3 times cheaper than the machine the Virtuoso from Zojirushi.
On the other hand, even if it’s so much cheaper, it’s not nearly as popular as the Zojirushi Virtuoso.
However, the fact that it’s not highly popular is not my main problem.
The problem with the West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker is the fact that it has received a pretty high percentage of negative reviews. And that’s why it’s so far down my list of recommendations for the best gluten free bread machines.
I so wanted to love the West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker because it’s affordable and it has dual kneading paddles and it bakes a horizontal bread machine. But I don’t love it. So, if you’re thinking of buying it because it has dual kneading blades and it’s quite cheap, I highly recommend checking out the negative reviews first.
There are plenty of people who love it so it’s definitely not all bad.
12 settings
- basic
- French
- whole wheat
- sweet
- super rapid
- sandwich
- gluten free
- mix
- dough
- cake
- custom
- bake
The settings sound great.
3 loaf sizes: 2, 2.5, and 3 pounds.
That 3 pound loaf size is a total surprise. Most bread machines only bake up to 2 pound loaves and some go as far as baking 2.5 pounds loaves. So it’s quite unbelievable to come across a 3 pound loaf.
Here we can check out the user manual for the West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker.
We will find the 3 pound loaf under the following setting: Basic (white bread) and that’s it.
Thus, the 3 pound loaf size is totally limited to white bread making.
The rest of the settings that bake breads only go up to 2.5 pounds or 2 pounds.
The 2 recipes under the Gluten Free setting is only for 2 pound loaf. Thus, I definitely don’t think that we could bake a 3 pound gluten-free loaf with the West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker.
We also get 3 crusts: light, medium, dark.
Features
As I’ve mentioned, the main thing that attracted me to the West Bend Hi-Rise Bread Maker is that is kneads the dough with 2 knead blades. These 2 kneading blades can provide thorough dough kneading for a lighter taste and higher rise.
At first glance, this machine from West Bend sounds amazing and wonderful. However, check out those negative reviews to understand exactly what you should potentially expect.
If you buy it, test it as soon as you get it and then you can decide if it’s a keeper. I like it a lot but I’m also cautious about its overall performance.
8. Hamilton Beach Premium Dough & Bread Maker Machine 29888
It seems that my second choice for the best gluten-free bread machine ended up being another Hamilton Beach.
There are a few reasons for that: their machines are pretty affordable, highly popular among users, and they work just as they should. They’re delivering what they promise and that’s pretty amazing, from my point of view.
So, what does the Hamilton Beach Premium Dough & Bread Maker Machine 29888 have extra to warrant the more expensive price?
It is, after all, almost twice as expensive as the above bread maker.
14 settings
- basic
- French
- gluten free
- whole grain
- 1.5 LB Express
- 2 LB Express
- quick bread
- sweet
- dough
- cake
- jam
- rise
- bake
- artisan dough
As it turns out, the artisan dough cycle is the one that’s truly different. Otherwise, they pretty much share the same cycles.
What is artisan dough? It’s an interesting feature that makes dough that you then have to bake in an oven, preferably by using a Dutch oven. What so special about this dough? It’s risen at a lower temperature, which means that the dough will be ready in approximately 5 hours.
Artisan breads are indeed delicious but if you’re interested in a bread maker for its GF setting, it might be a cycle that has no function for you therefore the extra money paid for this machine wouldn’t exactly be justifiable.
The bigger difference is that this machine has 3 loaf sizes: 1, 1.5, and 2 pounds. The 1 pound is a nice option for those who live alone.
Nut & fruit dispenser
The other noticeable difference is that the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29888 has a nut & fruit dispenser. It will release the nuts & fruits automatically when it’s time for them to be added to the dough so that they can be baked together with the bread.
If there is no nut & fruit dispenser you simple have to add them manually when the machine beeps. It’s not that big of a work if you’re around the machine when it beeps.
What is this not? It’s not the prettiest of bread makers and the bulky silver metallic design is not the most attractive.
Other than that, there’s nothing to complain about really. Now you see why I had to review it immediately after the above Hamilton Beach, it was also easier to compare them.
It turns out that they’re both awesome choices as the best gluten-free bread makers, it depends on what your budget allows you to choose.
9. Oster Expressbake Bread Maker CKSTBR9050
It should not be confused with the other Oster Expressbake CKSTBRTW20, more easily remembered as the Oster Expressbake 2-Pound Loaf.
For one, the CKSTBRTW20 is basically half the price of the CKSTBR9050.
The CKSTBRTW20 doesn’t have a gluten free cycle but there are still people who use it successfully to make GF breads because there are plenty of recipes for bread machines to be found either in cookbooks or online.
So, you can try it that way, too.
It will save you some money.
Obviously, it’s easier with a bread machine that includes the gluten free setting.
It’s very similar to the Oster CKSTBRTW20 just that it has the additional gluten free cycle but it’s a bit expensive just for that.
You can read my Oster CKSTBRTW20 review here. It’s also featured in my reviews for the best small bread machine.
Best Gluten Free Bread Maker Buying Guide
In order to pick the best GF bread maker for you, you should be aware of the main features that you should be looking for.
Price
Let’s start with the price because it will make things much easier if you have a budget in mind.
For example, if you want a gluten free bread machine under $100, then your first choice should be the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982. That is also my first recommendation because it combines quality with a very accessible price tag.
Next on my list of favorites is the Cuisinart CBK-110. It’s also a very affordable machine. It’s just a bit more expensive than the cheap Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982 so it’s another amazing choice if you’re on a budget when shopping for the best gluten free bread machine.
On the expensive side, we have the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso. It’s impressive both in terms of price and quality. I consider it to be the overall best gluten free bread maker but I only recommend it if you can afford it easily and without straining your finances.
Breville Custom Loaf Bread Maker is another expensive bread machine that has a GF setting. It’s awesome but I wouldn’t say that it’s the perfect machine for everyone.
Zojirushi Maestro BB-SSC10 is another interesting option because it bakes delicious GF loaves. However, it’s only perfect if you only want to bake 1 pound loaves. That’s the only available loaf size so it’s not good for big families.
Settings (cycles)
Even if you buy a bread machine that doesn’t have a dedicated gluten-free setting, you can still make GF bread. I gave you the example of the CKSTBRTW20, which is used by people to bake GF breads even if it doesn’t have a dedicated setting.
It’s just easier if the gluten-free setting is included. And we’re guaranteed that we can make delicious loaves every single time we add the ingredients to the pan. Once you’ve selected the GF setting, we’re free to do whatever we want. The machine will take care of mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough, and then baking the bread.
All the machines that I reviewed above include the gluten-free setting but they also feature many other settings for a whole variety of breads and dough.
You can pretty much bake anything you’d like. Some recipes will have to be finished in a home oven but some will be baked by the machine.
Bread machines are incredibly versatile and can be amazingly useful kitchen appliances, including for those following a GF diet.
All bread machines with a GF setting will also include a few GF bread recipes but if you want to truly expand your horizons, you’ll try various recipes. You can find many only or you can buy a cookbook with gluten free recipes for bread machines.
Gluten Free Bread Machine Recipes
There isn’t really a universal GF bread recipe that can be made in a bread machine. Each bread machine that comes with a gluten-free bread maker cycle will also include at least 2 reviews for their machine.
Thus, the first thing you should do is experiment with the recipes included by the machine cookbook.
After that, once you get completely comfortable with your machine, you can search online for many other GF bread machine recipes. Or you can buy a cookbook, like The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook by Jane Bonacci.
A cookbook like that will teach you everything you need to know not only about how bread makers can be used for successful baking but also about GF flours, starches, gums and emulsifiers, flour blends, etc.
Their recipes also cover everything you might want to bake: basic sandwich breads, shaped breads, rolls, specialty breads, sourdough breads, pizza, focaccia, and flatbread, fruits breads, sweet breads, and things to make with GF breads.
There recipes don’t include only the GF cycle but also the dough cycle for recipes that are finished in the oven. They also address how you should use a machine that doesn’t have a dedicated cycle for GF. It’s all great.
Gluten-free sandwich bread recipe for bread machine
Since Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29982 is one of my favorite machines because it’s cheap and makes really delicious loaves, let’s check out one of their recipes so that you better understand what’s involved when using a GF bread maker.
You can find the complete recipe with instructions here.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups warm milk (cow, rice, soy, or nut)
- 3/4 cup whole egg (must measure 3/4 cups)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 Tablespoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon guar gum
- 3/4 teaspoon lecithin granules (plain soy)
- 1 Tablespoon potato flour
- 3 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Directions:
Make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature.
Whisk liquid ingredients until very smooth. Then add them to the bread pan. Don’t forget about adding the kneading paddle to the pan before adding all your ingredients.
In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients, except yeast. Now, pour the dry ingredients over the liquid ones that are already in the pan.
Make a small well on the top middle of the dry ingredients and add the yeast.
Select the gluten free cycle and press Start. Let it cool on a cooling rack before slicing. This recipe serves 12.
If you want the classic sandwich loaf look, you can remove the dough and let it rise in a loaf pan and bake it in the oven. However, letting the machine do all the work from start to finish is so much better.
Gluten-free pizza dough for bread machine
This recipe is from the recipe booklet that comes with Cuisinart CBK-110. This is one of my favorite machines. For the gluten-free setting, they also have recipes for multigrain bread, sandwich bread and cinnamon swirl bread. The GF pizza dough one seems the most interesting.
The recipes makes a 2-pound dough, which is enough for 2 12-inch pizzas or 4 6-inch pizzas.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups water (room temperature)
- ¼ cup olive oi
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1 cup white rice flour
- ½ cup arrowroot flour
- 1/3cup ground flax seeds
- 1/3cup quinoa flour
- ¼ cup tapioca flour
- 3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon yeast
Directions:
Add the ingredients in the specified order in the bread pan. Don’t forget about the kneading paddle, otherwise the ingredients don’t get mixed and kneaded.
Just change the order if your machine first starts with adding the yeast, then the dry ingredients, and the liquids on top. The ingredients order will be specified by your machine manual.
Select the gluten-free setting and press start.
Once the dough is kneaded properly, you can remove it and let it rise in a bowl. Once the bulk fermentation is done, divide the dough into balls and let them go through the second rise (proofing).
The other option is to use the dough cycle for this GF pizza dough recipe. If you’re using that one, the dough will also rise inside the bread pan. Once the program beeps that it’s complete, you just remove the dough, divide it and roll into the desired pizza size.
The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook by Jane Bonacci & Shannon Kinsella
Each of the best gluten free bread makers that I recommended above will include at least one or two recipes for GF loaves.
Moreover, we can find a bunch of recipes online.
However, we also get the option to buy a cookbook created for gluten free bread machines.
The authors also mention that their recipes can also be adapted for models that don’t include a GF cycle. However, things are a definitely more complicated if we don’t own a machine with a dedicated cycle for kneading and baking gluten free loaves.
Their tips for making successful GF loaves are:
- resist the urge to add more flour, the point is to get a sticky batter that is much different from making kneaded dough
- buy a kitchen scale for measuring dry ingredients
- get a glass liquid measuring cup – any bread machine will include a liquid measuring cup so just use that but get a glass liquid measuring cup if you don’t like using plastic
- place the cup on the counter and bend tend to be at eye level – that’s the best way to ensure that you get the precise amount of liquid you need to add
- whisk the dry ingredients in a separate bowl to ensure that the leaveners, gums, and seasonings are evenly distributed
- blend the liquids in a separate bowl – especially beat the eggs to help the machine with the mixing, if the recipe calls for eggs
Usually, the liquids go in first. Then we add the dry ingredients.
The yeast is added last on top of all the dry ingredients.
Make a small well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour the yeast into the well and you’re done. The machine will do all the work. You can measure the yeast with the teaspoon included among accessories.
Using distilled water, especially when making sourdough, can be a good tip. The chlorine and other additives in regular tap water can interfere with the leavening action, which can make loaves shorter and denser.
Chapters
It’s quite a complex cookbook. Frankly, it’s awesome for beginners because it concentrates everything you need to know in a couple hundred pages.
If you feel overwhelmed with the amount of info you find online, maybe The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook can guide you.
I love the introduction chapter. And the next one about flours and the authors’ two master flour blends.
Then, we get to the recipes. There are 175 recipes in total.
They’re structured under the following subchapters:
- basic sandwich breads
- shaped breads, rolls, and more
- specialty breads
- sourdough breads
- pizza, focaccia, and flatbread
- fruit breads
- sweet breads
- condiments from the bread machine (jams, ketchup, BBQ sauce, chutney, marmalade)
- things to make with gluten-free breads (crumbs, croutons, stuffing, crostini, bruschetta, sandwiches, tortas, panini, bread soup, meatballs, meatloaf, savory bread pudding, breakfast eggs in a net, French toast, bread pudding)
How to Use a Gluten Free Bread Maker
Whichever model you end up choosing, please read the user manual properly. All of it, not just the words for the gluten-free cycle.
Usually the liquids go first, then the dry ingredients, and then you make a small well on the top middle of the dry ingredients and add the yeast. Most machines work in this order of ingredients but it’s still important to check out that it is indeed so.
It’s highly important because there are things that differ from machine to machine. It will teach you how to properly use your bread maker.
And always add the ingredients in the order stated in the user manual.
Properly measuring the ingredients is just as important. I recommend getting a scale, as well.
Once you’ve taken care of that you’re ready to test your best gluten free bread machine.
You should definitely get a cookbook with GF recipes for bread machines and try a bunch. It’s going to make your day.
Having a disease or deciding that a certain diet is best for you is not easy but there are some things that can make it a bit better – like smelling and eating a freshly baked loaf. The best gluten free bread maker can do that for you.
