The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Resting Time 2

Total Time 3 10

Servings slices (1 loaf)

Calories 177

Author Margaret Bose Johnson

Ingredients

1½ cups (150gms) rolled oats (large-flake, old-fashioned kind), gluten-free if necessary
1 cup (145gms) sunflower seeds
½ cup (75gms) hemp hearts (or flax seeds, roughly ground or cracked)
½ cup (65gms) pecans or walnuts, large halves broken into pieces*
4 tablespoons psyllium seed husks or 3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1½ cups (360ml) warm water
3 tablespoons melted coconut oil or ghee
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey, but it won't be vegan

Instructions

In a medium bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients.
In another bowl or a large measuring cup, stir together the warm water, coconut oil, and honey. Pour this into the dry ingredients and stir until everything is moistened. Let sit for a minute or two until all the water is absorbed.
Spray a non-stick medium-sized loaf pan (4½ x 8½ inches/11 x 21 cm measured at the top of the pan) with cooking oil spray or wipe it with coconut oil or ghee. Stir the bread mixture again and dump it into the loaf pan. Pat it down with a spatula and smooth the top so it is completely flat (this will become the bottom later).
Leave the bread to sit on the counter at room temperature for a minimum of two hours, up to twenty-four hours.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Bake the bread for 30 minutes.
Then remove the pan from the oven, and place a cake cooling rack on top of the pan. Use pot holders or oven mitts to invert the pan, tipping the loaf of bread upside-down onto the cooling rack. Remove the pan, and place the rack with the loaf on it back into the oven. Continue baking the bread for another 30 to 35 minutes, until it starts browning at the edges and is slightly puffed up in the middle.
Using oven mitts or pot holders, carefully lift the cooling rack with the loaf on it, out of the oven. Allow the loaf to cool completely before slicing (very important).
Store bread in a sealed container or heavy duty plastic bag in the refrigerator. This bread freezes well. Simply slice it before freezing, for easy removal of individual slices for toasting or serving.
Makes one loaf.

Notes

*For nut-free bread, replace the pecans or walnuts with pumpkin seeds

Use a small to medium sized loaf pan for baking this bread. If your pan is too wide, your bread slices will be narrow and long, rather than nicely rectangular. My pan is 4½ x 8½ inches (11x21cm), measured at the top of the pan, and gets narrower at the bottom.

Use a metal cake cooling rack for inverting the bread onto, one with wires that are about ½ inch (1cm) apart.

Nutrition facts are calculated for 1 slice if you cut 16 slices per loaf (½-inch thick). If you cut more or less slices, the values will change accordingly.

Nutrition