Gluten Free 4-Seed (and some nuts) Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 cup / 135g sunflower seeds
• ½ cup / 90g flax seeds
• ½ cup / 65g hazelnuts or almonds
• 1 ½ cups / 145g rolled oats
• 2 Tbsp. chia seeds
• 4 Tbsp. psyllium seed husks (3 Tbsp. if using psyllium husk powder)
• 1 tsp. fine grain sea salt (add ½ tsp. if using coarse salt)
• 1 Tbsp. maple syrup (for sugar-free diets, use a pinch of stevia)
• 3 Tbsp. melted coconut oil or ghee
• 1 ½ cups / 350ml water

Directions:

1. In a flexible, silicon loaf pan combine all dry ingredients, stirring well. Whisk maple syrup, oil and water together in a measuring cup. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix very well until everything is completely soaked and dough becomes very thick (if the dough is too thick to stir, add one or two teaspoons of water until the dough is manageable). Smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Let sit out on the counter for at least 2 hours, or all day or overnight. To ensure the dough is ready, it should retain its shape even when you pull the sides of the loaf pan away from it it.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. 3. Place loaf pan in the oven on the middle rack, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove bread from loaf pan, place it upside down directly on the rack and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool completely before slicing (difficult, but important). 4. Store bread in a tightly sealed container for up to five days. Freezes well too – slice before freezing for quick and easy toast!

Recipe and Q & A Courtesy of www.mynewroots.org

Q & A:

To answer the number of questions about substitutions coming into the comments section, I will answer some here. Please be advised that I cannot guarantee any results beyond the recipe above. To help out, if you do make a successful substitution, let me know in the comments! Thanks!

1. There is no substitute for the psyllium husks. Whenever I write an entire article about a specific ingredient, it is because THAT is the point of the recipe, as it highlights one way you can use it. For those of you who can’t find psyllium, buy it online. It’s cheap.
2. For nut substitutions, the bulk of this bread is nuts and seeds so you’ll have to skip the recipe. If it is JUST a nut allergy and seeds are okay, replace the nuts with seeds.
3. You can use ground flax seeds instead of whole, but you’re going to need a lot more water as the ground flax seed is highly absorbent.
4. Substituting the oats with quinoa flakes may work, but again, they absorb a lot more water than oats do. Add more water accordingly.
5. Oats are inherently gluten-free, but if you have an allergy to gluten, make sure to purchase certified gluten-free oats.
6. For sugar-free or low-sugar diets, use a pinch stevia to replace the maple syrup.
7. A flexible, silicon loaf pan is best because you can test to see if the dough is holding together, and it’s easy to remove the loaf from the pan, BUT, a regular pan should be fine.
8. This bread is not raw. I haven’t tried drying it out. If you want to make it raw I suggest *trying* to slice it before you bake it and dehydrating the slices individually.