We've been "off" store bought bread now for months and I'll admit it's been hard! I've been making chia pudding parfaits for the kid’s lunches a couple times a week, which have been so delish! I've made chocolate, chia, and caramel. Some I added fruit and some I added coconut whip cream. I added sprouted buckwheat to all of them for some extra nutrients. We love them! Banana bread and muffins have been on the weekly rotation as well. Feeding a family of five is crazy! Food doesn't last long.
Now it's time I get into gear and make my own bread. I've been making everything else so why has it taken me this long to make bread!? It's intimidating! I was researching gluten-free, refined sugar free options and I found this recipe from Forkandbeans.com. And bonus, it's vegan! I made the recipe and followed it exactly (which was so hard for me because I am so used to modifying everything).
So, the first thing I did was make Cara's gluten-free flower blend. It's 3 cups oat flower, 3 cups millet flower, 1 1/2 cups arrowroot powder and 1 1/2 cups tapioca starch/flour. Mix it up and pour it into an air tight container. I took out 3 cups of flour mixture for the bread recipe and poured the rest into a large Ziploc bag and pushed out the excess air as much as possible.
Next I made the yeast mixture. I warmed 1 cup of homemade coconut milk (which was basically 1 can coconut milk with 3 cups water - blended and kept in a mason jar in the fridge) and added it to a bowl, along with the yeast and sugar. For the sugar I used coconut sugar. I whisked the 3 ingredients for 30 seconds until the sugar had dissolved and then set the timer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile I measured the apple cider vinegar, melted the coconut oil in a pot, ground the chia seeds and warmed 1 cup of filtered water.
Once the 10 minute timer went off I added the remaining wet ingredients to the bowl. Cara says to let it sit for 2 minutes but I think I let mine sit for 20. I was busy with Kyri and I still had to add the dry ingredients to another bowl.
The dry ingredients consisted of 3 cups of Cara's blend, buckwheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and I used 1/2 tsp. of ground celtic sea salt. Stirred it up real nice and then poured in the wet ingredients and stirred again. I greased a regular bread pan generously with coconut oil and poured in the batter and spread it out evenly.
I decided to chop 1 tsp. of pumpkin seeds and 1 tsp. of sunflower seeds and sprinkle them on the top of the bread, along with some poppy seeds and sesame seeds. Then I covered it with a tea towel and placed it in my dehydrator, set the temp for 110° and set the timer for 20 minutes. If you do not have a dehydrator you can just follow Cara's instructions.
After 20 minutes I placed the loaf in the oven and baked it for 60 minutes, just like she said and it turned out PERFECTO. I'm excited to try more of Cara's recipes! Thanks for the awesome blog and the delicious bread Cara! My family is happy!!
I'm so stoked for a veggie sandwich with toasted homemade bread.
Click here to see the recipe!
