I got a bit bored of the staple winter breakfasts that I alternate between – porridge or cinnamon bagels – and decided to shake things up a bit and make a super seedy and slightly sweet loaf of bread instead. I’m rather pleased with the end result and thought you might appreciate the recipe.
It’s studded with a selection of oh-so-good-for-you (especially for your hormones) seeds, some nuts and a small amount of cranberries. It reminds me of the nut-packed dark bread my gran used to buy in her favourite bakery in Krakow. It was the kind of loaf that was crunchy with nuts and slightly sweet with added honey and we would have some more honey on top usually. I used to love that bread! I definitely inherited my love for nuts, coffee and a general sweet tooth from my late grandma.
This bread is so easy to throw together, you’ll be laughing. It requires no yeast, kneading or proofing! Thanks to buckwheat flour it’s naturally gluten-free, yet there is no need for xanthan gum (or other gums typically added to make gluten-free dough possible) either. Ground up flax (or chia) seeds hold it together just fine. If you can throw a few ingredients into a bowl and give them a good stir, you will manage on your first go, promise.
Dry-toasting nuts and seeds isn’t necessary, but it doesn’t take that much extra effort and gives the bread a deeper flavour so it’s worth it, in my opinion.
This bread is an ideal vehicle for open sandwiches, which are a thing in my native Poland (Germany and Scandinavia too, as far as I know). Both sweet and savoury toppings work well and I can personally think of a few dozen different combinations which I am going to try out in the course of the next few weeks. I hope you’ll love this recipe as much as I do!
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 140 g / 1 heaped cup buckwheat flour*
- ¾ tsp baking soda*
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 2 tbsp ground chia seeds or flax seeds
- 85 g / heaped ½ cup almonds (walnuts or hazelnuts)
- 40 g / ¼ cup flax seeds (I used golden flax seeds), more to decorate
- 35 g / ¼ cup sesame seeds, more to decorate
- 65 g / ½ cup pumpkin seeds, more to decorate
- 70 g / ½ cup sunflower seeds, more to decorate
- 30 g / ¼ cup dried cranberries (dates, prunes or apricots)
- ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves (optional)*
WET INGREDIENTS
- 45 ml / 3 tbsp oil (I used mild olive oil) + more to grease the pan
- 15 ml / 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1½ tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 360 ml / 1½ cups water
- Mix the first four dry ingredients (use BAKING SODA not baking powder – video caption is incorrect!) in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Set the oven to 150° C / 300° F fan forced (or 170° C / 340° F no fan) and grease a 1kg / 2lb baking tin with a bit of oil. I also recommend lining the tin with a piece of baking paper as this bread tends to stick.
- This is an optional step, but recommended! Heat up a medium size pan on a low-medium heat. Once hot, add almonds to it. Dry roast the almonds for a few minutes until fragrant and lightly browned on both sides – move them around the pan frequently so that they don’t burn. Remove the almonds from the pan and place them on a chopping board. Add pumpkin and sunflower seeds to the pan and dry roast them together, stirring frequently.
- Chop toasted almonds up roughly and if using dates, prunes or apricots rather than cranberries, remove the stones (dates) and chop them into smaller pieces too.
- In a small mixing bowl combine all the wet ingredients.
- Add cooled-down nuts, seeds and dried fruit to the dry ingredients.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix well to combine. Let the batter rest for about 30-60 minutes so that ground chia or flax seeds (also known as a flax egg) have had a chance to activate (become jelly-like) in the added moisture.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and decorate the top with extra seeds before putting the bread in the oven.
- Bake for about 60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Let the bread cool down completely before cutting into it and use a serrated knife to cut it.
*BAKING SODA: Please ignore the fact that the video calls for baking powder (instead of baking soda). It’s a typo that we didn’t spot in time. Baking soda is the correct ingredient.
*SPICES: If you intend to have this bread with sweet toppings, adding some ground spices and optionally increasing the amount of sweetness (to 2 tbsp maple syrup) is a nice idea. I would start with ½ tsp cinnamon and ¼ tsp ground ginger and nutmeg and a good pinch of cloves. For a savoury take on this bread, nigella seeds make a nice topping and olives a great substitute for dried fruit.
Yes, it's a typo we made and do not spot it until too late. As explained in the recipe's notes, it's baking soda that's needed. Sorry for the confusion! Ania
All the best, J
The only change I made was that I didn’t have any maple syrup so I substitute for organic dark molasses instead so the bread turned out very much like the European dark bread.
I am in love wirh this bread. Thank you!!
Next time I will make 2 loaves at a time and freeze one.
I've never made it without nuts or seeds so I'm not sure, to be honest - I fear that without them you may end up with a really dense loaf. You'll need to experiment to achieve the perfect rations, I'm afraid. Ania
Yes, that's correct - it's supposed to be still fairly moist inside after baking (see my cross-section photo at the beginning of the post for reference) so it feels like it all went to plan. Ania
I'm sorry to hear you had issues with crumbliness. Did you make any alterations to the recipe at all, removing or reducing the amount of oil, for example would be one reason why this might be happening. Or swapping flour. I use chia seeds and it comes out really well, like in my photos, so it's not chia seeds that would have caused it. Other than that, it might have been simply baked for too long and it dried out too much as a result, all ovens are different and perhaps yours runs hotter than mine. Ania
The chestnut flour worked really well. I'm delighted with the results. Finally a recipe for gluten/grain free bread that works! Thank you SO much. I've never used chestnut flour before either but I'm so impressed with it. (Next on the list is green banana baking flour!) I substituted honey for maple syrup as I didn't have any maple syrup and have always thought honey and seeds work really well together... This recipe has made my day. Thanks again :) xx
Yes, I realised that only after we shot the video so there is a disclaimer at the bottom of the post to make sure that someone doesn't assume that particular Doves Farm flour is gluten-free. Hope you'll enjoy it if you decide to make it! Ania
That is a beautiful bread and I am so tempted to try it. I am thinking of replacing this with Rye Flour, Do you think it will work.
Thanks,
Renu
Thanks, I am glad to hear that you like it! Yes, I should think so although I have not tried myself - it may be that the bread will need a bit less or more (depending on rye's flour absorbency) water, but I would start off with following the recipe to begin with and then tweaking if necessary during subsequent bakes. Hope that helps! Ania
I have try this bread , is ghe best
A question please , because I am the inly one in the family who eat seeds , how can I store this bread for more days ?
Thank you
I'm glad to hear that you like my recipe. With regards to your question what I would suggest is to slice it and freeze it in small portions so that you could defrost only as much as you'll need. I recommend toasting after defrosting. Hope that helps! Ania
I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure as I haven't tried using this particular flour, but I would imagine it should be similar. Sorry, I cannot be of more help! Ania
I'm not sure, I cannot comment on other recipes, but my guess would be that maybe there is too much baking soda in the recipes you've tried. BTW, out of curiosity, I have just opened a jar of baking soda and sniffed it and I must say I cannot detect any smell (and I have a pretty sensitive nose, I have been told). Not sure about the smell, but too much baking soda can certainly result in a bitter taste so that's something to avoid. Hope that helps, Ania
Thank you so much for this recipe; it's a keeper!
time because I am definitely going to make it again.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! As for crumbling, I have not had that issue during any of my bakes, but a couple of other people did judging from questions I got on Facebook. I am unsure as to why. If no changes or substitutions have been made, my only guess is that perhaps the bread was slightly overbaked (for example, your oven may be running hotter than mine) and therefore the inside dried out too much. Was it dry inside? Perhaps add a touch more water next time. Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other ideas. Ania
Milka
I'm glad to hear that you made this bread. Yes, it should be quite moist (certainly not dry) in the middle - like in the close up photo in my post. It needs to be sliced when completely cool and I found that a serrated knife and a proper cutting technique (what I call 'gentle sawing motion' ;) ) gives you very neat slices. Did you let the batter rest before sticking it into the oven - maybe what had happened is that your ground flax didn't have enough time to activate (i.e. become jelly-like and bind the bread together). Could that be it? If you prefer drier slices, they are also delicious toasted until golden around the edges. Finally, even though I provide cup measurements for convenience, when it comes to baking, I highly recommend weighing your dry ingredients and cup measurement system is inherently inaccurate and does not yield itself that well to baking, which calls for precision. Hope that helps! Ania
I have not tried it myself, but I am pretty confident that it will work just fine. The only point of difference may be different flour absorbency so you may find that wholewheat version requires a bit more water. I am not 100% sure that's the case, but my instinct telling me that it is. I would do a direct swap first time round and see how it comes out. Hope that helps! Ania
While you can substitute flax seeds with pretty much any other seeds (more sunflower, pumpkin or sesame for example) in this recipe and use ground up chia seeds as a binder, I am not sure why you think they would be harmful to your mum. According to what I have been able to find, flax seeds have the potential to reduce tumour growth, especially for breast and prostate cancers as per this materiel by Dr Greger. Ania
Thank you for the recipe, it looks amazing.
I've never used soy flour so I cannot advise with any degree of certainty, I'm afraid. I would say it's worth trying, maybe on a smaller amount of batter (one quarter) in a muffin tin first so you don't waste ingredients if it's a flop. Hope that helps! Ania
I will make this recipe next time it sounds yummy
Just one question, will the loaf remain fairly moist for 3 or 4 days ? Or do you recommend slicing and freezing ?
strictly Gluten free Mum !! ( coeliac)
I am pretty sure it will be fine for 3 days, especially if you wrap it up in a piece of breathable fabric (like a linen kitchen towel) so that it doesn't dry up. Hope that helps! Ania