High Protein Vegan Gluten Free Chickpea Flour Bread

Chickpea Flour Bread ~ High Protein

Vegan and Gluten Free

My family loves bread. My husband especially will sneak slices of toasted bread and butter before bed. I agree, it is good, who can really disagree…bread and butter are warming and comforting. I do try to avoid gluten because of the wheat being so badly sprayed with glyphosate. When you think about what you’re biting into, a loaf of glyphosate it’s just not as appealing. Thus, trying to seek alternatives that are hopefully less toxic and still warming and comforting. Also, my kids (including my husband) are always hungry, so making a protein rich bread to keep them going for longer without snacking is a win-win. Buying alternative flour in the Seychelles is not easy. I used to love making buckwheat bread, but a bag of buckwheat is pushing over 95 rupees which is a tad expensive. Enter: Chickpea flour. It’s about 40 rupees for a huge bag and is readily available at most Indian Convenience stores. It also touts some impressive health benefits, for example, one cup has more than your daily recommended dose of folate. It is also is high in fiber, affects blood sugars less than wheat flour, it’s an excellent source of several minerals, including iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and manganese.

My top tip on making this bread more digestible as we all know beans are a magical fruit:

• Combine the chickpea flour with any or several of the following herbs: turmeric, mint, fennel, cumin, anise and caraway. These herbs are known as carminative plants and they help to relax the intestinal muscles which helps eliminate gas. Plus, they are medicinal plants with lots of health benefits and taste good too!

• Try not to pair this bread with hard to digest animal proteins.

• The fact that the chickpea flour is ground makes it more digestible than eating chickpeas whole

• Pair the bread with extra virgin olive oil, ghee or coconut oil to help balance the drying effect of the bread. Otherwise if you're avoiding oil then use avocado slices.

Ingredients:

· 2 and 1/2 cups (300 g) chickpea flour

· 1 and 1/2 tablespoons stevia

· 1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

· 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

· 1 12-ounce (355 mL) can seltzer, club soda, Perrier ( you can use a flavoured one for a little flavour)

· 2 tablespoons olive oil (or oil of choice)

· Your choice of one or a combination of carminative herbs mentioned above: turmeric, mint, fennel, cumin, anise and caraway

· Optional: 1-2 tablespoons of flax meal or ground chia ( to make the bread stronger and your family  )

Method:

• Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Line a 9×5-inch (22.5 x 12.5 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper; or oil the inside of the tin. You will notice I did not use a loaf pan, at the moment that is coming in our shipment box so I used what I had and it was fine in a circular dish too!

• In a large bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, carminative herbs and chia or flax meal.

• Add the sparkling water to the dry ingredients.

• Add the olive oil (or alternative) and stir until combined.

• Immediately pour into prepared baking pan as the bubbles in the sparkling water are what help to rise this loaf. Try not to over stir.

• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted near the centre comes out clean.

• Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; remove from pan. Let it cool completely before slicing. We usually fail at this point and have it warm which means it's a bit more crumbly - but it is still good though! Drizzle with your favourite oil or slices of avocado.