Mirror Friendly Gluten Free Bread

Last week Martina presented you with our Mirror Friendly Quinoa Muffins and those proved to be a big hit with our followers. Today I am hoping to bring you an equally useful recipe which I totally love and this time it’s going to be bread; yes bread, but not how you know it.

This recipe is very easy to do. You don’t need to have any special bread maker, mixer or even kneed the bread. All you need is an oven, the ingredients and a loaf pan. And most of all, this bread is actually healthy!

Enter the Mirror Friendly Gluten Free Bread….

This recipe is a slightly modified version of the original by Sarah Britton from her book My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season. The bread is suitable for those following a vegan and it is even a gluten free bread (provided you use gluten free oats) and packs a strong nutritional punch. It contains a great source of healthy fats from the coconut oil, almonds, chia seeds, flax seeds, and sunflower seeds, as well as protein (a complete protein thanks to the chia). The Mirror Friendly bread is also high in fibre due to the psyllium, chia, flax and oats. As a result of this nutrient combination, you end up with a moist, dense, great tasting loaf that is very satisfying – you only need a small piece.

I hope you give this recipe a try. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I do!

The following ingredients were used to make 1 bread loaf:

– 1 cup sunflower seeds

– ½ cup flax seeds

– ½ cup almonds (or you can use hazelnuts. I haven’t tried hazelnuts yet)

– 1 ½ cups gluten-free rolled oats (not instant oats)

– 2 tablespoons chia seeds

– 4 tablespoons psyllium seed husk (or 3 tablespoons of psyllium husk powder)

– 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

– 3 tablespoons coconut oil melted

NOTE: The original recipe also calls for 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup. I personally never used it. I don’t like sweet bread and I think it tastes fine the way it is so why add the sugar?

Step by step instructions in preparing the bread:

1) In a flexible silicone loaf pan (or a parchment-lined loaf pan) combine the sunflower and flax seeds, almonds, oats, chia seeds, psyllium seed husk or powder and sea salt and stir well to mix.

2) Whisk the oil (and maple syrup if you are using it) and 1 ½ cups (340ml) of water together and add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well so that everything is completely soaked and the dough becomes very thick (if the dough is too thick to stir, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of water until it is manageable).

3) Smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Let it sit out on the counter covered for about 3 hours or overnight.

4) Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)

5) Bake the loaf on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes

6) Remove the bread from the loaf pan, turn it upside down directly onto the oven rack and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped.

Let the bread cool completely before slicing. To slice it easily, use a a very sharp, smooth knife – not the serrated bread knife.

Finally store the bread in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or you can freeze it for longer. Just remember to slice it before freezing it if you want to just have a slice here and there.

Bon appetit!

To fitness with love,

Tanya