Gluten Free bread that’s a winner!

I’ve recently removed wheat and dairy from my diet in a bid to sort out my skin and hormone related issues. And while it is working miracles (for me) and my body is feeling so much better, I’m not going to lie – I miss bread. And don’t even mention cheese on toast! I am a HUGE fan of The Life-Changing loaf of Bread as a fab wheat free option packed full of goodness, fibre and good fats, BUT it’s just not the same for making sandwiches or a special weekend soft poached egg and wilted spinach on toast.

After a bit of searching, I came across this recipe with the bold title “GLUTEN-FREE, VEGAN HOMEMADE BREAD (THAT DOESN’T SUCK)”  (original recipe source from Nourishingmeals.com). An added bonus is the recipe doesn’t have an ingredient list as long as your arm, but I must admit some of the ingredients may take a bit of hunting in Dubai (hint-I found most of what I need at the Organic Store). The two ingredients I didn’t have were Teff flour and Sorghum flour. I’ve been reading some good things about Teff recently – not knowing much about it, the ladies at One Handed Cooks sing it’s praises and make me want to find the whole grain to try cooking with.

Although this bread hasn’t been kid approved (yet) – I can report back that it IS husband approved! And that is saying a lot since Mr Kurth is the hardcore bread baker in the family having earnt his high school pocket money baking 300+ loaves of bread each weekend from his family kitchen. As one of the reviews of the original recipe mentions, it looks like real bread, feels like real bread and tastes like real bread 🙂

However if you are not in a baking mood – you can head over to Limetree Cafe who have just opened a gluten free pop up bakery in their Sheikh Zayed Road location and they sell a phenomenal seeded bread that even puts ‘normal’ wheat bread to shame. Check out my Instagram account @kurthkitchen for some of the amazing gluten-free treats we couldn’t pass on today.

Gluten-Free Farmhouse Seeded Bread

• Servings: 1 loaf
• Time: 2hr 30mins including rising time
• Difficulty: moderate (working with yeast)
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Original recipe source from nourisingmeals.com

WET INGREDIENTS

• 2 ½ cups warm water (40 – 43 degrees C / 105 – 110 degrees F)
• 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup or organic cane sugar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/3 cup ground chia seeds
• 1/3 cup whole psyllium husks (or 1/4 cup of psyllium husk powder worked fine)

DRY INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup teff flour
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• ½ cup sweet rice flour
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

TOPPINGS

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Assorted seeds like Chia, Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sesame seeds

METHOD

Place the warm water in a bowl or 4-cup liquid glass measure. Add the yeast and teaspoon of maple syrup, whisk together. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes to activate the yeast. The mixture should get foamy or bubbly. If not, dump it out and start over.

While the yeast is activating, mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
After the yeast is activated whisk in the olive oil, maple syrup, ground chia seeds, and psyllium husks into the water-yeast mixture. Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes (not any longer) to let the chia and psyllium release their gelatinous substances. Whisk again.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a large wooden spoon until thick. Then knead the dough on a floured wooden board to incorporate the flour [side note: Kneading dough is something you can teach children and get them involved with from a young age, and although they won’t have the muscle strength to fully knead it – it’s great practice!]. Add more teff and sorghum flours if needed, a little at a time, until the dough holds together and isn’t too sticky (maximum ¼ to ½ cup total). Don’t add too much flour, otherwise the dough will become very dense; it should still be slightly sticky. Form dough into a ball, place back into the large bowl, and cover with a damp towel. Place in a warm spot to rise. Let dough rise for an hour or until doubled in size. Rising time will depend on the temperature of the environment around the dough.

After the dough has risen, place a pizza stone in your oven. [Side note: if you don’t have a pizza stone – preheat a baking tray or cast iron frying pan in the oven – but the bread may need a few minutes at the end just on the oven rack to finish cooking the bottom] Preheat the oven to 205 degrees C / 400 degrees F. Place a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven (beneath the pizza stone). I used an old baking dish and filled it ¾ of the way full.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured wooden board. Knead the dough for about a minute. Then form into a round ball. Place on a square of parchment paper and use a sharp knife to cut a shallow “tic-tac-toe” pattern or slashes on the top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with assorted seeds and sesame seeds. Let rise for about 30 minutes in a warm place while the oven and stone are preheating.

Using a cookie baking sheet with a flat side or a pizza peel, carefully but quickly transfer the bread with parchment paper to the stone in the oven. Bake for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 30 to 60 minutes before cutting into it. The bread will be very gummy hot out of the oven. The texture is perfect once cooled. It reminds me of a hearty whole wheat bread.

Tip: If you buy whole chia seeds, you can then grind them yourself into a very fine powder in a coffee grinder, Nutribullet (with seed grinding blade) or the dry container of your Vita-Mix.

Note: You can make this bread into a myriad of different variations like Olive-Rosemary bread using 1 cup pitted kalamata olive sliced thin and 2 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary.  Or you could also try a Garlic-Seed bread by adding in chopped fresh garlic and seeds. Or play around with the sweetener and try molasses for a darker malty loaf. There are lots of other ideas I’m going to try also! If you have a corn allergy, try replacing the cornmeal with almond meal. If you are adding anything like garlic or olives to this bread, add them in when you are kneading the dough the first time.

From our nourished kitchen to yours xx