I have poor blood-sugar control so I was not surprised to see that almost all grains score very low for me in the ZOE app. This means that in anything other than very small quantities, they cause big glucose spikes, which we all need to avoid really. A lot of grains (especially highly processed and refined versions) also suppress the growth of the good bugs that we need for a healthy gut microbiome. 
I've lived pretty-much grain free for a long time now because they just make me feel bad, so I've done my share of experimenting with grain-free bread recipes. This recipe is my winner and ZOE agrees (see the score of 98 below). It's packed full of almond and coconut flour, and lots of seeds (including pumpkin, flax, sesame, and chia). It's not a "light" bread, so it's really satisfying. It freezes and toasts beautifully, and thanks to the sesame seeds, it smells heavenly when it's baking and if it smells like bread... well, it's bread! Oh, and it's gluten-free, vegan, and keto approved if those things matter to you. 


So let's get to the making of it!


Step 1: Grind up your shelled pumpkin seeds into a course meal. I'm showing you a picture of what I use because to get a course meal, you need to be using shelled seeds, usually called "pepitas" in the US. They are nutritional superheroes so it's worth the step of getting them into this bread: they're rich in protein, fibre, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iron. And studies show that they may support blood-sugar balance, improve cholesterol levels in postmenopausal women, help regulate blood pressure, and benefit bladder health.  
This is what a cup of ground pepitas should look like. You want some course bits in there because they add to the bite of the bread. 
A note on psyllium husk: many recipes for this kind of bread depend on a LOT of psyllium, which can result in a lot of time on the loo for some people. For others, like me, it simply creates enough tummy discomfort that I don't love it. For this recipe, you'll see that I advise you to play with ratios of ground flax to psyllium. They both serve the purpose of quickly absorbing the warm water and binding the bread dough. So you're aiming for 1/3 of a cup of psyllium and flax combined. I bet using only ground flax would work just fine too. 
All the ingredients together are really pretty! And yes, that's pink Himalayan rock salt in there because it's another one of those small but mighty changes we can all make to our diets. In this case, we're exchanging the micro-plastics now found too often in commercial sea salt for the thousands of beneficial minerals found in rock and desert salt. 
Once you've added the liquid ingredients, it'll look loose like this. Just give it a couple of mins and then go in with your hands. 
The warm water quickly activates the flours (and flax and psyllium) and you should be able to gently pull the dough into a ball like this. It does NOT NEED TO BE KNEADED.
Then you pop it into a paper-lined pan and decide how to shape it. If you want a loaf that's rounded, then form that shape in the bowl before popping it into the pan. I like to spread it out in the pan and so I end up with slices that are even and rectangular (easier to store in the freezer). 
After approx. 50 mins, your loaf will be golden like this. And yes, I'm lazy and buy loaf-tin liners versus measuring out pieces of parchment paper every time.
You need to let the loaf rest for a few hours before you cut it. But if you can't resist lopping off an end slice to eat hot, I won't tell anyone.
Finally, here's my storage tip: I'm the only one eating this bread and I need it to last. So once it's cool, I slice it up and lay the pieces out on a cutting board. Then I freeze them like this. Once they're frozen, I pack them all into a container or bag and it stores easily in the freezer for weeks. I pop a frozen slice straight into the toaster on it's maximum setting (7 mins) and that's usually enough to get it from frozen to toasted. 

How to eat this?? Any way you like! But I love to use it for Avocado Toast because it works beautifully with creamy avo. It's also delicious with almond butter and/or Choc Zero raspberry or strawberry jam. 

HOW TO MAKE NUTTY SEED BREAD


PREP TIME: 15 mins
COOK TIME: 50 mins
SERVINGS: about 16 slices

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup of almond flour
  • 1 cup of lightly ground pumpkin seeds (must be shelled seeds - see above for how to make this)
  • 1/2 cup of coconut flour
  • 1/3 cup mix of psyllium husk and ground flax (depending on your tolerance for psyllium)
  • 1/4 cup of chia seeds
  • 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons of grape seed oil (or olive or almond)
  • 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
  • 2 cups of warm water (40C/105F) - think hot bath temp which is what comes out of most hot-water taps 

STEP BY STEP


- Preheat the oven to 400F/200C and line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Lightly oil the paper and set aside.

- Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl - you may need to work some lumps out of the almond flour. 

- Stir in the liquid ingredients, making sure the water is warm otherwise the flours won't activate as well or as fast. 

- Stir with a spatula or a fork first until the ingredients are well combined and let it sit for just a couple of mins. Then you should be able to use your hands to pull the dough into a ball (see the pictures above). It it's too sticky to do this, give it another few minutes and the consider sprinkling in a little more ground flax. 

- Once you're able to form the dough into a clean-ish ball (or cylinder) you can drop it into the lined loaf tin. Whatever shape it has going into the oven is the shape it will keep - it doesn't rise or expand. So you decide what works for you. I generally flatten is down so I end up with pretty even rectangular slices. It doesn't look as pretty, but it's practical! 
- Bake for 50 minutes then insert a skewer in the middle of the bread. If it doesn't come out clean, bake for another 10 mins then check again. And if it looks like it might burn on top during these extra mins, pop a piece of foil over the top.
- Cool on a rack for at least a couple of hours before slicing, although if you slice off one end to eat warm, I won't tell anyone. 
- Store for up to a week in a pantry, wrapped in a kitchen towel. Or slice the whole loaf and freeze the slices so they're ready to toast (see the picture in the blog post). The max time on my toaster is 7 mins and that's what it takes to defrost the slice and also toast it a little. 

Adapted from a recipe by Sweet as Honey