Cracker Bread

I was first served this bread by a radio personality who is the neighbour of a friend of mine. It was AMAZING. She served it with the words, ‘don’t ask me for the recipe, because I am not going to share it.’  I found this as strange of a thing to say as the bread was delicious. Equal measure of strange and delicious make a really good loaf. As luck would have it, I got home, turned on facebook, and a friend completely unrelated to the others in the story had coincidently just shared the recipe on their page and there it was at the top of my news feed. So I shall match your greed and raise you generosity, Selfish Radio Personality. (And thanks for the introduction as I probably wouldn’t have made the recipe otherwise!)

This isn’t your normal spongy sandwich bread. It is more of a cracker, but then it’s not your normal crunchy cracker either. It sits somewhere comfortably in the middle of the two.  I make double the loaf at a time, as it freezes well and I eat it fast anyway. Slice before freezing to save your sanity.

As with most of my recipes, amounts are pretty flexible, as long as you adjust equally (ie if you put in less ‘dry’, use less ‘liquid’ too). I often add thread coconut and dried fruit as well, and a little extra psyllium, chia and water. You can find all the ingredients at your local supermarket bulk bins or health food store.

1 cup sunflower seeds (or a mix, I often use pumpkin seeds as well)

1/2 cup flaxseeds (linseeds)

1/2c hazelnuts (or other nuts)

1 1/2 cups wholegrain oats

2 tablespoons chia seeds

4 tablespoons psyllium

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon sugar (or maple syrup etc)

1 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt (but not if you only have table salt) 

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the melted coconut oil and water. Stir to a stiff mixture then fill the loaf pan you want to bake it in. Leave for 2 hours or more, until all the water has been absorbed and the loaf holds its shape when the side of the pan is pulled away (either because it’s silicon or because you’ve lined it and can pull the lining back)

Bake in a moderate oven for 20 – 30 minutes, then tip out and bake directly on the rack for 40 – 50 minutes more. As for normal bread, the loaf will sound hollow when tapped once ready.

The original recipe is here