Even if I don’t have much time for cooking lately, I still have that urge to sneak into the kitchen and do my cooking therapy and get away from all the stress of the daily life tasks. It is my way of relaxing. Spending some extra few minutes in the kitchen and coming up with something more complicated than just a salad!
This homemade loaf is one of my latest creations from the cooking therapy sessions I do in the kitchen. And it is perfect!
First let me tell you how perfect this loaf is! Just look at it!
It a dairy free, egg free, gluten free vegan and very healthy bread.
Its taste is just perfect that you can eat it without even any spreadings.
The mixture of gluten free flours I made gives it a very exotic and delicious taste.
The interesting thing when cooking with gluten free flour that you can mix and play till you get the taste that pleased you the most.
I did many loaves before, but it did not work very well. So, I kept on trying till I reached the flavor I want.
You may think: No eggs! No butter! No wheat! How does this bread rise and have texture?
Just try it, it works!
Just look at the picture how risen and spongy those bread slices are.
It may have some weird ingredients if you are not used to gluten free cooking and ingredients, but if I found it that easily in our local stores, then so you can!
They are very silly ingredients that we stumble upon every time we visit the grocery store but we never stop and think about where or how we can use them!
About the chickpea flour: it is simply grounded chickpeas that can be found in the grain section.
It is used in a lot of our traditional dishes, you can find it easily and at cheap prices.
Oat flour is also grounded oat, you can find it in some stores or you can just simply ground some oats in a high speed blender.
Same for the brown rice but because it had a more hard composition to break, it needs some few extra steps to transform into flour.
▪Just wash the rice and soak with cold water for around 3hours (6 hours max.). ▪ Drain the rice well. ▪ spread on triple layer of paper towel for around an hour till it slightly dump but not wet. ▪ Pour into the blender and start from the lowest speed when the rice has broken down into small granules, start your way up to high speed until the texture is powder-fine. ▪ Repeat the process until all the rice has been finely ground. ▪ Heat a large skillet over medium heat. ▪ Add the rice flour to the pan. Stir constantly until all the steam has evaporated. ▪ let it sit for a while to get cold so you can use it.
For those of you who love experimenting in the kitchen like me , those few extra steps once a week in order to make a delicious homemade bread won’t be a problem, maybe this way when you work in preparing your bread you will eat more carefully. 😛
So let’s bake some bread! Even the words “homemade loaf of bread ” seem fancy and sophisticated…. just like this great recipe! 😛
Healthy homemade bread:
Ingredients:
Wet ingredients:
- 2 ¼ tsp. instant yeast
- 1 cup warm almond milk
- 2 tsp. brown sugar
- 1 cup warm water
- 5 Tbsp. ground chia seeds
- 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 1 cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup brown rice flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 190 ◦C
- Combine warm milk, yeast and sugar. Set aside allow to proof (approx. 10 minutes)
- Add water, oil, vinegar and chia seed to the yeast mixture and mix until combine and allow to sit for 2 minutes so the chia seeds expand.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.
- Spoon the batter into a loaf pan (approx. 20x10cm)
- Allow to rice until the loaf rise just to the top of the pan (approx. 30-45 minutes) in a dark, dry , warm area of your kitchen (microwave or not heated oven would be great !)
- Place the loaf in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 60 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan and transfer to a wire rack. Don’t cut the loaf until completely cool ( 2 hours)
- Enjoy!
Nutritional information:
Serving Size: 1 slice • Calories: 107 • Fat: 4 g • Carbs: 15 g • Fiber: 2 g • Protein: 4 g