Here’s an unusual vegan and gluten-free bread recipe I have devised using no additives and yet creating a springy loaf with a lovely crunchy crust. There’s no cakiness – instead the texture is thanks to the super seed gel made of chia and flaxseed. There’s also some quinoa for protein.
This is a bit of a project, the process takes about 24 hours in total, but it is satisfying to make, tastes good and keeps well.
Makes 1 small loaf in a 20cm x 10cm x 6cm loaf tin.
300ml water + 2 tbsp
2 tbsp brown flaxseeds (linseeds)
2 tbsp chia seeds
220g gluten-free plain flour blend (without xanthan gum or other additives)
½ tsp salt
30g quinoa flour
1 tsp gluten-free fast action yeast
1 tsp olive/sunflower oil
1. Measure the 300ml of water into a measuring jug.
2. Add the flaxseeds and chia seeds. Give it a stir. Leave for 12 hours, stirring well from time to time.
3. You will now have a your super seed gel. Give it a good stir and pour into a medium sized saucepan.
4. Bring to the boil, stirring (don’t use too high a heat or the seeds can burn). 5. Measure out the dry ingredients ready for use.
5. Keep stirring and boiling for 5 minutes. This thickens the mixture and changes it to become more slimy. Stir in the 2tbsp water.
6. Take the pan off the heat. Immediately pour in the flour and salt and mix well. You will have a fairly dry, crumbly mixture.
7. Tip the mixture onto a clean worktop and leave to cool for a few minutes.
8. Now add the quinoa flour and yeast. Knead everything together for about 5 minutes. You can use the dough to clean up any spare flour in your saucepan.
9. When everything is well kneaded you will have a springy dough. Fashion it into a fat rounded sausage the same length as your loaf tin.
10. Add the oil to the tin and roll your dough sausage to get it nicely covered in oil (this stops the top surface drying out and becoming hard and white when cooked).
11. Cut diagonal lines down the length of the loaf. Loosely add a sheet of cling film. Leave the dough to rise on your worktop for at least 6 hours (I do it for 12) until about 75% larger, obviously puffy and touching the sides of your loaf tin.
12. Place in an oven preheated to 220°C. Bake for 30 mins. After this time, turn the heat down to 180°C and bake for a further 20 mins. Cool on a wire rack.
You can watch the method in my video at: https://youtu.be/Kh04kz6Weso