I’m always keen to find new ways to get plant protein into my belly, so I started experimenting with adding lentils to bread. And I’m so glad I did – this loaf is delicious! Dense, seedy, hearty, nourishing, substantial, savoury…it’s everything you want in a robust healthy yeast-free bread.
It’s wonderful eaten fresh, but even better when well toasted; toasting seems to enhance the flavour of the seeds, and the crunchy crust is fantastic.
I tried various ways of making this bread – like soaking all the ingredients first and then pureeing until smooth – but I’ve found that leaving the seeds whole adds a lovely textural element as well as a hearty taste.
This isn’t a quick loaf to make – it’s very simple, but does require a little time: you’ll need to soak the rice and lentils overnight, then once everything’s mixed (one bowl!) it takes an hour to cook. Worth every minute, though. Nothing beats fresh homemade bread!
1 cup brown rice
½ cup red split lentils
¾ cup of water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
¼ cup chia seeds or flax seeds
½ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup sesame seeds
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp psyllium
2 tsp salt
oil for greasing
Put the rice and lentils in a big bowl and cover with plenty of fresh water (not the ¾ cup in the ingredients list, that comes in later) Leave to soak overnight, ideally. This not only softens them, it also increases digestibility.
The next day, drain and rinse the rice and lentils well. Place them into a high speed blender, or the large cup of a NutriBullet. Add the other wet ingredients – the measured water & the vinegar – and get a good blend going until a smooth thick paste is formed. The red lentils will make it a lovely light pink.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the wet rice/lentil blend and mix well. This thick seedy paste is your ‘dough’.
Grease a loaf tin – mine is small & silicon, 10 x 22cms.
Pour in the ‘dough’ and with clean hands or a spatula, smooth the top. I also like to add an extra teaspoon or so of olive oil on top, smoothed over with my hands.
Preheat the oven 175C and bake for 60 minutes.
Once baked, leave in the loaf tin/pan for 5 or 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Hi
Is there anything you can sub out for the rice?
Im a t2 diabetic who stays as far away from starchy carbs as possible. I can tolerate a little bit of starchyness, but always looking to consume as little as possible
Hi Fraser! Thanks for getting in touch. Hmmm, I’m wondering if you could possibly swap the rice for nuts and seeds instead? So instead of one cup of brown rice, you’d sub it for a mixed cup of, say, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews….and do the same pre-soaking process as per recipe. Or, might there be another grain that’s not so starchy that you can tolerate – I have no experience with T2 sorry, but I’m wondering if amaranth, quinoa, oats or millet might be appropriate? I haven’t tried any of these subs, but I’m guessing they would work….? (fingers crossed!) Would love to know if you try it – and I’ll let you know if I give it a whirl too! 🙂