Quinoa Bread

Making bread without yeast or flour seems like an impossible task, but in our kitchen, this was a task that we wanted to take on. And we were pretty pleased with the result.

The key part to making a bread without wheat is that you need an element that will serve as a glue to bind the ingredients together. For this we used chia seeds, soaked for 15 minutes in water. After soaking, they turn into a gel and work well to keep all the ingredients together.

For the main body of the bread we used quinoa; this gives a light and slightly crunchy texture with a lovely nutty flavor. Together, quinoa and chia seeds are a protein power house so this bread is the perfect energising lunch.

Ingredients

Make 12 slices

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Line a small loaf tin with baking paper.

Place the chia seeds in a bowl with 100ml water, stir well and leave for 15 minutes. This should then form into a gel.

Place the quinoa in a saucepan and cover with three times the amount of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes; this will only be part-cooked which is what you want. Drain with a sieve and run under cold water until completely cool. Leave to drain for a few minutes. This is important because if it is too wet your bread will be stodgy.

Place the chia gel and the quinoa into a blender and blitz to combine, then add 150ml water with the rapeseed oil, bi carb, salt and lemon juice. Whizz for 5 minutes. You want the consistency to be quite wet, similar to a muffin batter. Add in the sesame seeds and blitz to combine. Pour this into the loaf tin, cover with the sunflower seeds and bake in the oven for 1 hour. It should be firm and slightly golden on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge, ready to slice when needed. It is delicious toasted too!