This is a cute, light, vegan loaf, speckled with sunflower seeds. While I do love the ritual & slow art of yeasted breads, I equally love the quick simplicity of a soda-based loaf. In this recipe, all the ingredients are loaded into a bowl, mixed well, then baked until wonderfully golden.
This makes a smallish loaf, so feel free to double the recipe for your big loaf tin. For this smaller version, I use a 11 x 23cm silicon loaf tin.
Fun fact: You may find that when you slice into your loaf, the sunflower seeds have stained it green inside – perfectly normal! This is because sunflower seeds contain chlorophyll (another reason why they’re so darn good for you) and the acid content reacts with the baking soda. The green effect only happens once the loaf cools. Think of it as Shrek bread. Or Hulk loaf.
This bread is best when served fresh, otherwise it slices & freezes well, ready to be greeted by your toaster.
½ cup rice milk (or almond or soy)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
½ cup almond flour
½ cup sorghum flour (buckwheat works well too)
¼ cup tapioca starch
1 tsp salt
2 tsp gf baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1.5 Tbsp psyllium husk
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup chia seeds or flax seeds or a mixture of both, ground (* see note below)
1 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 extra Tbsp of seeds to sprinkle on top (I used sunflower & pumpkin)
* to grind the seeds, use a bullet or high speed blender – a food processor might not cut it
Start by adding the vinegar to the milk – set aside. Preheat your oven to 200C. Grab a mixing bowl and add the dry ingredients: almond flour, sorghum & tapioca flour, ground chia, salt, sunflower seeds, psyllium, baking powder & soda. Mix super-well, or even use a whisk to ease out any tapioca lumps. Make a well in the centre and beat in the vinegary milk, oil & cup of water.
Mix well until you’ve got a lovely damp mixture, then transfer to your loaf tin, either greased or lined with parchment.
Sprinkle with seeds of your choice then bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for five or ten minutes before cooling on a rack.
Slice before freezing. Enjoy! (This is a variation on my other little loaf – if you want a grain-free version that includes one egg, click here)
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