The ‘easy’ food that I miss the most since dodging the gluten and grains is bread. I once heard someone say that there’s no food they can think of that isn’t improved when served between 2 slices of bread; and I tend to agree with them.

So when I first tried this recipe which is adapted from one of my favourite recipe blogs, My New Roots, I was very excited at the possibility of making my own fresh grain-free bread loaf, without any fuss at all.

To compensate for the lack of grains, this is packed full of nuts and seeds – which means the end result is so full of flavour and texture and crunch and health. And PERFECT for toasting. The psyllium husks hold the loaf together (and are an excellent source of fibre).

While the whole process of making traditional bread from scratch does appeal to me (and am currently building up my own sourdough starter which I’m looking forward to dabble with soon for gluten-friendly guests), the process of making this bread really couldn’t be much simpler – No preparation, no kneading, no delicate proofing time, no mixing bowl. Because it doesn’t rise, it ends up only about 2 inches thick; but because it’s so dense, you’ll find smaller slices will fill you up anyway. 

You can replace the seeds and nuts with the same quantities of any other similar raw seeds and nuts you fancy; but if you don’t like heavy, seeded bread, this one’s not for you. 

Makes 1 loaf

ingredients

  • 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
  • ½ cup raw flaxseeds/linseeds
  • 2 Tbsp chia seeds
  • ½ cup whole, raw hazelnuts
  • 1½ cups quinoa flakes (can use oats if OK with gluten)
  • 4 Tbsp psyllium husks
  • 1 tsp sea salt flakes
  • 1 Tbsp rice bran syrup (or honey/maple syrup/agave syrup… you get the idea…)
  • 3 Tbsp melted coconut oil (or good quality extra virgin olive oil / macadamia oil
  • 1½ cups water

method

  1. Heat oven to 175°C.
  2. Add all the dry ingredients into a flexible non-stick silicon* loaf pan and stir them well to combine them evenly.
  3. Whisk together the rice bran syrup (or alternative) and water in a small bowl until combined, then add the liquid into loaf pan.
  4. Mix everything with a wooden spoon until all the dry ingredients are soaked and mixed together really well, and smooth out the top with the wooden spoon. (If you don’t mix it really well, the mixture is more likely to stick to the bottom of the pan when turning it out.)
  5. Let it sit on the bench lightly covered with a tea towel for at least 2 hours (overnight is fine if you want to bake it first thing)
  6. To ensure it is ready to bake, the ‘dough’ should retain its shape when you pull the sides of the loaf pan away from it.
  7. Bake on middle rack for 30 minutes.
  8. Remove the loaf from the pan and place it upside-down directly onto the middle rack and bake for a further 40-60 minutes (depending on your oven). Keep checking – the bread is done when it sounds hollow when you thwack it with the wooden spoon.
  9. Let it cool before slicing.
  10. Store in tightly sealed container on cool bench or in fridge for up to a week – freezes well too (slice before you freeze!)

*If you don’t have a silicon loaf pan – fear not! Just use a regular loaf tin but be sure to line it with baking paper which will allow you to easily remove the loaf from the tin.