Flax Bread

 Psst...hello my gluten free friends...sooooo, when was the last time you had bread? I mean real bread...you know, the kind that has a nice crusty crust and melt in your mouth insides. Do you even remember bread?  Sometimes I think it has been too long to even know what bread is supposed to taste like.  Lucky for me, and you, I have a man in my house that eats real food every now and then.  He assures me that this bread, this one right here, tastes just like a soft, mild, honey wheat bread.  If you are gluten free, egg free, yeast free, and dairy free I bet it has been a loooooong time since you had anything like this. I know it has been a long time for me. I can't buy the gluten free breads or the bread mixes, they have too many things in them that mess with my system. And to have a bread work it seems like you need at least one thing that I can't have, like gluten, or eggs, or yeast...

But let me assure you, this bread does work even without anything in it. ;) And don't worry, not only did I work tirelessly to create this taste of art, I also tested out all the angles.  Delicious when warm and straight from the oven, check.  Yummy with or without butter, check.  Handles a little drizzle of honey, check.  Good with a nut butter, check.  Still great from the fridge the next day, check- and this was cold because I didn't want to wait to warm it! But then I did warm it- in the microwave for a few seconds, check.  In the toaster oven until it was all toasty and crunchy, check! The only thing I didn't check was freezing it, because honestly it just didn't last that long. I really couldn't stop eating this.

Isn't is beautiful! This was excellent with a bowl of soup, but it can definitely stand on its own too. And the possibilities with this are endless.  If you can have eggs, add them in place of the flax eggs. If you are looking for something a little sweeter, I would recommend replacing the flax eggs with one mashed ripe banana, and then skip the honey. I haven't tried it- I can't eat bananas, but I can definitely see it working well. You could also add-in anything dry to add to the texture if you wanted. Nuts, seeds, dry coconut, raisins,...but don't try to add anything wet like zucchini or apple because you will most likely end up with a gloppy mess that doesn't cook thoroughly.

Ok, enough about how great it is. Here is how it works. This is considered a quick bread. A quick bread is anything that is leavened without the aid of yeast or eggs- so the only thing I can eat is going to be a quick bread. What does that mean for you? That means it goes together quicker...sorry.  But it is true, there is no yeast to work with, no rise time, no kneading.  This bread is more of a batter bread, I put it in a loaf pan to keep it from spreading.  This does not really rise much after you put it in the oven, most of the expansion takes place as soon as you get the dry ingredients wet. 

The finely ground flax seed meal is the key to getting the soft texture of this bread. I do not use any other ingredients like xanthan gum, guar gum, psyllium husks, or cake enhancer-those are all guaranteed to mess with delicate tummies. I also never buy the ground flax seed, I buy the whole flax seeds and grind them myself in a coffee grinder. This does two things, 1. the seeds keep better when they are whole and 2. I can get a really, really exceptionally fine grind from the seeds which releases more oil and gives you that really awesome texture. If you look closely, there are also no brown specks of flax seed meal in here. I used the golden flax seed, which is nutritionally no different than the brown. If you cannot find the golden flax seed, the brown will work just fine, you will just have some speckling.

Flax Bread

Gluten Free

Corn Free

Allergen Free for: Egg, Soy, Nut, Peanut, Wheat, Shellfish, Fish

Dairy Free: with milk substitute

If using your own flour blend: Flour =280 grams; approximately 2 cups of a gluten free blend
(your results may be impacted with different flours)

Ingredients

2 flax eggs (2 TBSP ground flax + 6 TBSP water)

1 cup milk or non-dairy substitute

2 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP honey

112 grams sorghum flour

100 grams white rice flour

68 grams tapioca flour

2 -2 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 -1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup extra fine ground flax meal (not flax egg)

Directions

grease and flour 9 x 5 loaf pan

grind your flax seed

mix your flax eggs and let them sit

weigh the sorghum, white rice and tapioca flours.

add cream of tartar, baking soda and salt

stir in 1/2 cup of ground flax

make a well in the center of your blended flours

whip your flax eggs with a fork until they start to stiffen

drop the eggs, milk, oil and honey into the well

combine until just mixed

pour into greased and floured 9 x 5 loaf pan

let stand at room temperature 20 minutes

preheat oven to 350 degrees F

 bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 210 degrees F.