Need a change from regular bread? This seed and nut loaf is surprisingly versatile! Toast it, use it for sandwiches, or enjoy a slice on the side. It's naturally gluten-free and packed with wholesome ingredients. Tweak the spices to your liking!
½cuphazelnuts or almondsor any nut you prefer, finely chopped
1 ½cupsgluten-free rolled oatsor try buckwheat flakes, or rolled spelt
2Tbsp.chia seeds
4Tbsp.psyllium seed husks3 Tbsp. if using psyllium husk powder
1tsp.fine grain sea saltuse less if you prefer
1Tbsp.maple syrupor honey, or for sugar-free diets, use a pinch of stevia
3Tbsp.coconut oil or gheemelted
1 ½cupswater
Instructions
Lightly grease a regular sized silicone or non-stick loaf pan (or lightly grease and line your pan with baking paper).
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk maple syrup, oil and water together in a separate bowl.
Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and combine thoroughly until everything is completely soaked (though there should be no excess liquid lying in the bowl).
Smooth top with a spatula, cover lightly with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or overnight (during this time it will firm up).
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
Bake bread for 20 minutes, then remove the bread from the oven and carefully remove it from the loaf pan, (remove baking paper if using), place it upside down directly on a rack, and bake for another 30-40 minutes (it should sound hollow when tapped). The loaf should just be browning on the outside – this gives a lovely nutty crunch to the finished loaf.
Let the loaf cool completely before slicing – I found using a fine serrated knife for slicing worked better than a typical bread knife with its more exaggerated serrated edge, which made for a very crumbly slice (as evidenced by my photos!).
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. It also freezes well.
Notes
The psyllium hulls is the ingredient that binds the loaf together in the absence of flour. Psyllium hulls is plant fibre and therefore totally natural. While it commonly used as a natural laxative, it also promotes digestive health, lowers cholesterol, curbs your appetite, and controls blood sugar.
If you have a nut allergy, you could make the loaf exclusively with seeds.
If you use ground flax seeds instead of whole, you will need to add more water to the mix.
Oats are inherently gluten-free, however they can be cross-contaminated with wheat products. If you are gluten-sensitive, ensure your oats are certified ‘gluten-free’. Buckwheat or spelt flakes make a good alternative.
While you can use any nut you prefer, it’s best to chop them fairly finely; if the nuts are too big, it’s harder for the loaf to hold together around them and you might end up with a very crumbly loaf. I find sliced almonds work really well.
A silicon loaf pan is ideal for this recipe, as it makes it easier to remove the loaf during the baking process. While I have used a non-stick pan successfully, once or twice some of the mixture has stuck in the pan when I’ve inverted the loaf – as such, if you don’t own a silicon pan, I recommend you line the pan with baking paper, then peel the paper off once you extract the loaf from the pan prior to baking it further.
The pan size is not indicated in the original recipe. However, I’ve cooked the loaf in both a 23 x 12 cm (8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch) and a 20 x 9.5cm (7-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch) sized pan and it cooked perfectly in the time stated. A wider pan will simply give you more of a ‘bar’ type slice (which you can see from the photos in this post) which I find perfect, as even a small slice is incredibly filling.
While the original recipe suggests you mix all the ingredients in the loaf pan itself, I found it easier (and less messy) to combine the wet and dry ingredients in a large bowl, before transferring it to the loaf pan.
While you can ‘rest’ the mixture for a minimum of 2 hours, I recommend resting it overnight as it sets up much more firmly and is easier to extract from the pan during baking. All that soaking also ensures optimal nutrition and digestion.