Quick Breads 101
Quick Bread Essentials
I love bread,always have,always will. It was the first thing I was taught to bake by my mum. It is, however, one of those foods where portion control is key - there isn’t anything inherently bad about bread and there is such a great selection of artisan and sourdough loads available a million miles better than a lot of the stuff masquerding as bread, its just it is too easy to eat loads and not have enough of the other essential macros. I dont really have the patience for sourdough but to make lots of quick breads so here I share a few recipes and some of my must have’s for a great loaf.
White Flour – plain flour is perfect for making quick bread, strong bread flour is best for using with a yeast recipe.
Wholemeal flour- milled with the germ and bran added back, it makes brown bread in all its various forms, can be mixed with white flour and used with yeast also. With more nutrients than it’s plain white cousin,.
Porridge Oats – I love the texture and extra fibre they add, I always throw some into my bread.
Mixed Seeds – Love the flavour and goodness they add to bread, soak some in water and add to the top of your bread before baking or add into the mixture for a lovely nutty seedy flavour and texture.
Poppy Seeds – not just for cakes, I love them in bread and scones too
Flax seeds – A nutrient powerhouse for such a tiny seed plus amazing for digestion thanks to the fibre. I always throw a spoon or 2 into my bread recipes. You can also use psyllium husk and both these are stand-ins for xanthan gum in gluten free recipes.
Butter Milk – delicious and essential and you will also need bread soda also called bicarbonate of soda. If you don’t have butter milk you can use regular milk but you will need a product called Bextartar.
Gluten Free Flour Mix for Bread
If you love to have bread but need to be gluten free there is still a way to be able to make your own. This is a great gluten free flour mix ratio which can be used for baking loads of breads. You can still add seeds and oats to your recipes as well. Gluten free bread baking will also need apple cider vinegar to help some structure to the bread.
Gluten Free Flour Mix 2211
This mix can be put together using the ratio 2211
2 cups of rice flour – you can use white or brown
2 cups of corn flour
1 cup of almond meal sometimes called almond flour
1tbsp xanthan gum - you can also use psyllium husk or ground flaxseed.
Simply mix everything together using a hand whisk to remove any lumps and evenly mix the different flours. Store in an airtight jar until needed. You then follow any GF recipe omitting additional xanthan gum but adding baking powder or bicarbonate of soda as directed in the recipe.
Traditional Brown Bread
Oven at 200c
450g Wholemeal flour
50g porridge oats
50g white flour
1 tsp salt
1heaped tsp bread soda
2 handfuls of mixed seeds (I use poppy, sesame, sunflower and pumpkin)
1 tablespoons treacle – omit if you don’t have it
400ml approx. of buttermilk
Mix dry ingredients together
Make a well in the middle and add the treacle
Pour in about 3/4s of the milk into the well and stir well to combine
The mixture should be reasonable wet (but not runny) so continue to add the rest of the milk until it is.
Spoon into a well-greased loaf tin and smooth any cracks out of the top, At this point you could also sprinkle over some more oats if you wanted.
Turn the oven down to 180 and bake for about 35-40minutes.It is cooked when sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom or a skewer comes out clean.
Wrap while still hot in a tea towel until cold.
Multi Grain Gluten Free Bread
Oven at 200C
1 tsp each Chia and Flax Seeds
2fl oz boiling water
4oz oat flour (grind up some porridge oats)
4oz Ground almonds / almond meal
2.5oz buckwheat flour
9oz Gluten free plain flour
1 tsp dried Milk powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 free range eggs
2 tbsp cider vinegar
8floz water
Stir the boiling water into the chia and flax seeds until they have formed a thick gel
Set aside
Add the flours, milk powder, sugar, salt into a bowl and whisk gently to aerate
Whisk the eggs with the vinegar gently and pour into the flour, together with the seed gel and milk. Stir to combine, it will be quite a wet dough. Tip into a well greased loaf tin.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Would you like a free weekly meal and shopping planner to make your life easier?
Click to download the planner now!