What’s the Brocha? Gluten Free Bread

Gluten Free Bread¹

The Gemara² says that every food item that contains any of the five types of grain (wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt) is always considered the ikar (primary part) of the product. The Shulchan Oruch HaRav maintains that this rule applies even if the amount is almost insignificant, and one requires only a kezayis to be consumed to require al hamichya or birkas hamazon.³

When a product is made from any of the five grains, but not in the form in which they are optimally consumed (for example, whole wheat berries still in the bran), the grain is no longer the ikar and the proper brocha is ha’adamah.⁴ When the ingredients are not in their optimal form,  the bread loses its status as a choshuv food.

Usually, flour consists of two parts: starch and gluten. What about bread made from starch, without gluten? Is it considered proper bread or is the flour no longer considered in its optimal form and considered something else? Practically, the flour is considered lower quality for typical bread, because the gluten-free product does not look as good as regular bread and does not rise properly.

Indeed, some Halachic authorities⁵ rule that bread made only from starch cannot be classified as bread, since it does not rise, and the brocha becomes shehakol.

However, according to the Shulchan Oruch HaRav⁶, even when dough cannot rise, the bread is still considered regular bread. Additionally, the poor quality of the bread does not change the status of the flour. For this reason, even if a loaf of bread was baked with “two left hands” and does not turn out well, it is still hamotzi and requires birkas hamazon.

Another good argument for making hamotzi on grain starch products is that they are filling, which is the main reason for the blessing of hamotzi in the first place⁷. This might be a reason that the proper blessing for gluten only products, such as seitan, is shehakol.⁸

1 For more information, please refer to the publication מבית הוראה כפר חב”ד כסליו תשפ’’ד, גליון 18
ברכות לו ע”ב 2
סב”ה פ’’ג הל’ ב 3 . Though he adds that it is better to eat a proper total כזית of grain.
סב”ה פ’’א הל’ ח 4
שו”ת אבני ישפה 5
סב”ה פ’ א’ הל’ ט 6
שו”ע אדמו”ר סי’ קס”ז א 7
8 Additionally, one may correctly argue that wheat was not grown על דעת of the gluten and it is a byproduct which doesn’t resemble the original vegetation. see (’שו”ע אדמו”ר ר’’ב ט’)