I’ve recently been trialling my hand at baking some bread- that’s something that I never imagined myself saying! No, I’m not talking about a sweet bread, like a banana bread (for once i’m actually not sharing a cake recipe!) .. but an actual savoury loaf of bread! I still can’t believe it.. I made an actual loaf of bread! This probably sounds like a bit of a simple thing to be getting this excited about, but baking was never really a strong point of mine until recently! I was pretty surprised at how much of a success it was first time around as well! If I’d have known just how easy baking your own bread can be, I think I would have given it a try a lot sooner! One of the main things that I love about this bread recipe is that it’s made of wholesome, natural ingredients and I know exactly what’s gone in there. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of great brands and products on the market now that make really lovely breads with good quality ingredients.. however, In my opinion, nothing beats a nice bit of freshly home-baked bread straight outta’ the oven.
One of the main ingredients in this recipe is something that I’ve been absolutely loving lately, which is ground flaxseed. This is something that I’ve been having in my diet since I was a child, as my mum used to sprinkle it over my fruit & yoghurt and porridges of a morning. It’s a great way to get in some extra fibre and healthy fats- plus these blends are really quite tasty as well! The brand that I’ve been loving recently is Linwoods and they have an amazing selection of different flax blends; I’ve used the one with added pumpkin, sesame seeds and goji berries. You may or may not know this already, but ground flaxseed is also a great addition to baking, as it helps to bind the other ingredients together if you mix it with water to create a gel like mixture. This can also be used as a kind of egg replacement in vegan baking as well.
Although this is a savoury bread, I’ve added in a good handful of raisins to add a hint of fruity sweetness and extra moisture into each bite. I’ve been loving adding raisins into baking recently, as they add a really delicious gooey texture when the bread’s still warm! I’ve used gluten free oats in this recipe, so the bread is actually gluten free as well! My diet does include some gluten from time to time, but it’s not something that I like to have a lot of, as it doesn’t tend to leave me feeling my best. But I don’t believe that you should have to cut lots of things out, if you don’t really have to- so I try and find a balance that makes me feel good both inside and out. Obviously diet and lifestyle is something that is personal to everyone, but for me, my body feels happiest when I eat a diet consisting of lots of fruits and veggies and mainly wholefoods, but obviously I will have a few treats here and there!
Another wonderful little ingredient that I’ve snuck into this loaf is hemp seeds! Hemp has a really nice, nutty flavour and you can sprinkle the seeds on breakfast cereals, salads or even add them into your smoothies. Hemp is also a good source of plant based protein and you can get vegan hemp protein powders in lots of health stores as well. They add an extra dimension of flavour into this loaf and also gives the protein content a little boost as well!
I couldn’t decide how to top mine, so went for a combination of three different things instead! Here we have.. nut butter and berries, honey and tahini and raspberry jam, berries and coconut!
