Excellent Breads

Of all intolerances, in our opinion, wheat and yeast really are the worst. When you can’t eat bread you feel so light—whoever said bread was the staff of life wasn’t joking. If you have to give up ordinary wheat—what’s available everywhere—finding a good substitute that actually replicates wheat can be a nightmare. We eventually found spelt—flour grown at high altitudes and dating from Roman times, that hasn’t been mauled with pesticides, etc. It’s the most wonderful food and even really sensitive people can tolerate it.

By far our best bread find, however, has been Farls, the most wonderful buns/rolls/naans you could get—that is without including a yeast colony or two. If you haven’t been eating bread, they are the first thing you should try. We have also included two gluten-free breads for super-sensitive people, even though we find spelt acceptable. As the French—master bakers of the universe—would say, “Un jour sans pain c’est un jour sans soleil”

Yummy Soda Bread

WHEN you can’t eat yeast, it seems impossible to find a decent bread; this LA/gap, however, is happily filled by traditional Irish Soda Bread. If you don’t have enough time to make your own, some of the store-bought soda breads are OK if you’re not wheat intolerant; otherwise, try this tasty recipe.

3 cups wholegrain spelt or organic wheat flour

1 cup white spelt or organic wheat flour

1 teaspoon wheat-free baking powder

1 cup rice, oat, soy or buttermilk

1 tablespoon bio-live natural yogurt

• Preheat the oven to 450°F.
• Put the flours and baking powder into a mixing bowl and combine. Make a well in the center, slowly add whichever liquid you’ve picked and the yogurt, mixing with a wooden spoon. You should have a soft, not too sticky dough.
• Gently form the dough into a round ball, place on a floured baking pan, and cut 1-inch-deep parallel cuts about 1 inch apart.
• Pop into the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
• When done, remove from the oven, turn upside down on a rack, and allow to cool before serving.

MAKES 1 MEDIUM LOAF

Olive Bread

ingredients for Yummy Soda Bread

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup black kalamati olives, pitted and finely chopped

½ tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

• A savory version of Yummy Soda Bread, this is really good when you feel like something a little more sophisticated. It’s especially good with cheese. Simply add the oil, olives, and rosemary to the mix and proceed as above.

Tomato and Fennel Bread

ingredients for Yummy Soda Bread

3 tablespoons tomato passata

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ tablespoon fennel seeds

• Another version of Yummy Soda Bread, sweet with a hint of aniseed. Add the tomato passata, olive oil, and fennel seeds to the mix and proceed as above.

Doña Theresa’s Corn Tortillas

DIVINE Latin American food! Corn tortillas are fabulous if you’re eating Green, because they’re suitable for everyone, including celiac sufferers. Just fill with whatever you feel like, roll up, and enjoy. They’re also wonderful as an accompaniment to spicy dishes to scoop up excess juices. When we need Corn Tortillas, we tend to take the easy route and go straight to the experts. So we asked the people behind Sabores de Mexico, the Mexican food people, to create our Tortilla recipe so you can experience Mexico in your kitchen. Now, over to Doña Theresa.

3 cups corn flour

½ teaspoon sea salt

1½ cups tepid water

• Corn Tortillas are widely used in central and southern Mexico and have formed a pivotal part of the Mexican diet since the earliest Mixteca and Mayan peoples. Be sure to buy corn flour (verify it’s GE free), sometimes called masa harina. Avoid using polenta or cornmeal for tortillas.
• Mix the flour, salt, and water to form a ball of dough. Knead the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes. Cover it with a cloth and leave to sit for 1 hour. The dough will be brittle, so be careful.
• To make the tortillas, take a small amount of the dough and form it into a little ball in your hand. Place the ball between two pieces of plastic (use a plastic food bag cut in half, or any other suitably heavy plastic). On a floured surface, roll it out until it measures 2¼ inches (you can’t make them any bigger, or they will disintegrate) and is quite thin, about ⅛ of an inch. With practice you can make them even thinner.
• Put a dry, heavy-bottomed pan on high heat. Once the pan is hot, take the Tortilla in your hand and peel off one side of the plastic. Lightly flip the Tortilla onto the hot pan, peel off the other side of the plastic, and allow the Tortilla to cook for 30 seconds on each side or until it blisters a little. Remove to a clean dish towel and cover as you continue with the rest.
• Keep in a warm place until you are ready to eat. Tortillas freeze well, so any you don’t eat can be stored for later.

Flour Tortillas

As you may have noticed, Corn Tortillas tend to be pretty small. If you want big ones, you have to replace the corn flour with 1 cup wholegrain and 2 cups white spelt flour. If you want very light tortillas, use 3 cups white spelt flour. Continue as above, but make the Tortilla 8 or 9 inches wide and the same thickness as above. To cook, follow instructions above. Of course, these Tortillas are not gluten free.

Farls

ONE of the biggest problems with not being able to eat yeast is the lack of chewy bread or rolls to enjoy. There only ever seem to be rock-hard sourdoughs or bitter, wafer-thin rye crackers, neither of which is much use in sandwich making. These Farls, on the other hand, are gorgeous—even Luke, who is addicted to French bread, will happily munch a Farl. You’ll never have to bemoan your breadless state again. Below we’ve included a few variations on our basic Farl recipe and hopefully these will inspire you to experiment.

3 cups white spelt or wholegrain spelt or organic wheat flour

1 teaspoon wheat-free baking powder

¾ cup water or rice, oat, soy, or cow’s milk

1 tablespoon bio-live natural yogurt

• Put the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and combine. Pour in your chosen liquid and the yogurt, mixing with a knife (strange, I know, but it works), until you have a soft, dry dough.
• You can shape the Farls as you please, but the traditional way is to form the dough into a ball and roll out into a circle less than ¼-inch thick and slice into 4 quarters.
• Put a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat and sprinkle with flour. When the flour starts to brown, place a Farl onto the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes per side until lightly browned.
• Take the Farl off, sprinkle some more flour onto the pan, and continue with the rest.
• Keep in a warm place until you’re ready to eat.

MAKES 4

Olive Bread Farls

Ingredients for Farls
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼cup black kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
½tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

• A savory version of Farls, these are really good when you feel like something different and are especially good with cheese. Simply add the olive oil, olives, and rosemary to the above. Mix and cook as above.

Naan Bread farls

Ingredients for Farls

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup black kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped

½tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

• To be honest, these aren’t any different from normal Farls, they are just shaped differently! But I so adore Naans—and my version of them—that I had to include this. When you have the ball of dough, divide it into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into an oval that’s slightly bigger at one end than the other.
• Cook as above and serve with Indian foods in place of real Naan breads.

Cheese and Chive Scones

THE cheese and chives provide contrast and add a yummy taste to the scones. 1 They can be whipped together in a few moments and served with a bowl of soup as a nutritious, tasty meal or eaten as a snack at any time.

2 cups wholegrain spelt or organic wheat flour

1 teaspoon wheat-free baking powder

1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

1 lump organic sheep’s, goat’s, or cow’s cheese

¾cup water or buttermilk

1 tablespoon bio-live natural yogurt (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 450°F.
• Combine the flour and baking powder. Add the chives and cheese, then the water or buttermilk, and yogurt if using. Mix well. You should have a soft, not too sticky dough.
• Divide in half, then each half into thirds, so that you have 6 round balls of dough. Place on a baking pan dusted with flour and pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the scones sound hollow when tapped.
• Allow to cool, and serve as a savory accompaniment to soup or as a snack.

MAKES 6 SCONES

“Unwholefood” Cheese and Chive Scones

• Cheese and Chive Scones are very wholesome and would pass muster in any vegan restaurant. However, sometimes one feels like a scone that’s a little lighter. For “unwholefood” scones, replace the wholegrain spelt or organic wheat flour with an equal weight of white spelt or organic wheat flour, add another lump of cheese, and the yogurt.
• Bake as above.

Five Star Toasted Seed Scones

Ingredients for Cheese and Chive Scones (minus the cheese and chives)

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

• If your craving something a little different, how about seed scones? Prepare the scones as above up until just before you pop the scones into the oven, leaving out the cheese and chives.
• Take 2 of the uncooked scones and roll in the poppy seeds, 2 in the sesame seeds, and the remaining 2 in the sunflower seeds. Dust a baking pan with flour, put one of the scones in the center, and arrange the others around it.
• Bake as above.

Chapati

THESE are so fabulously good. Chapati are a very flat bread, like a tortilla but Indian in origin and perfect for scooping up the juices of any spicy meal. We serve Chapati with all Indian foods.

2 cups white spelt or wholegrain spelt or organic wheat flour

4/5 cup water

• Mix the ingredients together to form a softish dough. If you have the timejet it rise for half an hour.
• Break the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then flatten into a circle roughly 6 inches wide and paper thin. You may need to use more flour, as this tends to make very sticky pastry.
• Heat a frying pan over a medium flame and dust with flour. When the flour starts to brown, pop a circle on the pan and cook for 3 minutes per side or until it’s puffed up. Repeat with the remaining circles.
• Keep warm until you are ready to eat. Serve with Indian foods or use as a wrap for making sandwiches.

MAKES 8

A Green Brown Bread

THIS was our first loaf of cuttable, toastable bread, a major feat. It’s not the very 1 Greenest of breads, as we use buttermilk, although as buttermilk contains lots of good bacteria, it isn’t that bad. It’s so tasty, and normal, that I’m sure you’ll forgive us.

1 cup white spelt flour

1 cup wholegrain spelt flour

1 tablespoon wheat-free baking powder

⅓ cup pinhead oats

⅓cup oats

⅓cup spelt germ or oat germ

1 cup buttermilk or oat milk and bio-live natural yogurt mixed

1 free-range egg

1 tablespoon local organic honey

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Put the two flours and baking powder in a large bowl and mix well to distribute the baking powder. Now add the pinhead oats, oats, and germ. Stir again, make a well in the center, and pour in the milk, egg, and honey. Combine the mixture. It will be very wet and sticky, so stir really well to get the bits left at the bottom of the bowl. Let the dough stand for 5 minutes to allow the baking powder to start bubbling.
• In the meantime, oil a standard bread pan with sunflower oil. Now pour (I did say it was going to be wet!) the dough into your greased pan and pop into the preheated oven. The bread will take about 45 minutes, but check after 40 minutes. The loaf is done when it’s golden brown.
• Take out of the oven and allow to stand for a few minutes. To remove the loaf from the pan, hold the top of the loaf, turn upside down, and smack the base of the pan.
• Wrap the loaf in a dish towel and allow to cool before cutting. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, if it lasts that long!

MAKES 1 MEDIUM LOAF

Rosemary Focaccia

AS we have said before, when you’re on a diet, good breads are hard to find, so this Focaccia, which makes a beautiful olive oil flat bread, is fantastic. Have it on its own or, as we eat it, with savory goodies—“Sun”-dried Tomatoes (page 47), a few really tasty sheep’s, goat’s, and cow’s cheese (for Luke!) and a Green Salad (page 70). Our lazy roast dinner or, as Mom feels it should be, just an appetizer before the real meal!

1½ cups white spelt or organic wheat flour

½ cup wholegrain spelt flour

½ tablespoon each fresh rosemary and thyme leaves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon wheat-free baking powder

1 cup buttermilk or oat milk and bio-yogurt mixed

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly grated black pepper

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Combine the two flours, the herbs, and baking powder in a large bowl, mixing well so that the baking powder is evenly distributed. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in your chosen liquid and the olive oil. Using a blunt knife, mix until the dough just comes together. Now get your hands into the dough and turn once or twice.
• Oil a cookie sheet. Roll the dough out on a floured surface and then lay it out on the sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Take out of the oven and eat immediately while hot. Serve with “Sun”-dried Tomatoes, cheeses, or in chunks with a meal.

MAKES 1 MEDIUM LOAF

Dr. Nancy Dunne’s Gluten-Free Bread

DR. Dunne is a lifelong friend of Patricia and Michael Quinn, and a lifelong worker in the field of health. This is her bread for when you can’t take gluten in any form.

⅓ cup rice flour

⅓ cup corn flour

4 heaping teaspoons gluten-free baking powder

yolks of 2 free-range eggs

1 cup organic buttermilk or soy milk

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

whites of 2 free-range eggs, beaten till stiff

• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Mix the two flours and the baking powder together, stirring well, as gluten-free flours are very fine.
• In another bowl combine the egg yolks, milk, and oil. Slowly pour into the flour mixture, beating to prevent lumps. Fold in egg whites. The consistency should be slightly firmer than pancake batter, but not stiff like cake mix.
• Pour into an oiled pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. The bread is baked when it turns golden brown. Don’t worry if you think the bread hasn’t risen—this type of bread doesn’t! Gluten-free bread is best served toasted.

MAKES 1 SMALL LOAF