Quick and Easy YoDo Quick Bread

I belong to a few Facebook groups related to InTolerant issues, and one of the Coeliac groups has long been promoting YoDo as a great alternative to traditional breads and dough


YoDo is simply a Dough made up of gf  SR Flour and Yoghurt- that's it

The amazing thing is that it just works, every single time. It's been used for pizza bases, scones, cinnamon rolls and so many other yummy things, making it a firm favourite with the online community for sure

Quick Bread is technically any bread leavened without yeast. In the case of YoDo it works with the raising agent in the Self Raising Flour, but I also like to think of it as quick bread because it's so quick to throw together and so quick to bake

Basic YoDo ratio  1:1.5

1 cup lf yoghurt to 1 1/2 cups SR gf Flour
How easy is that!

Of course you can make it just a bit more interesting by adding in extra yummies if you like, and of course I couldn't resist :)

2 tubs lactose free Yoghurt
3 tubs worth gf SR Flour
pinch Salt
3/4 cup Walnuts
1/2 cup diced lf Cheese (I used Liddells)
1 green Apple
couple sprigs Rosemary


Chop the cheese and apple into nice little chunks, crush the walnuts roughly, and finely chop the rosemary into itty-bitty bits

Simply place the flour and yoghurt in a bowl

And mix! For a flavoured dough like this one, I just give it a bit of a stir through to start with- otherwise mix until all the flour is absorbed into the flour and it comes together well

Pop all the bits and bobs in at once, and keep mixing. I really find it just so much easier to use your hands to squish it all together well and distribute the chunks nicely

The dough should still be a bit sticky

Using wet hands, pat the dough into a greased pan, then bake at 190*C for 30-35 minutes

So pretty and it smells amazing too!

I like to eat this while it's still warm- the cheese is oozing and the apple is soft. So yummy, and perfect with a nice rustic pate like this one, with a nice soup like this one, or just slathered with some butter or lf spread instead.....mmmmm.....

Just a word of caution Dear Readers, if you are making this gluten free then you should be well aware that most gluten free baked goods are at their peak on the day that they're made. I found that the best way to refresh it after that was to give it a quick flick of water, then pop it in the microwave on medium heat for just 20 or 30 seconds. But the best thing about this style of quick bread is that it's quick and easy enough to make fresh whenever you feel like a bit of yumminess!

So Dear Readers, have you made Quick Bread before, and what would you mix into yours for extra yumminess?

 

Bird Seed Bread

My Mum is into all sorts of Natural Health and Alternative Remedies

She regularly sends me emails and information about this or that herb or vitamin and recipes that she thinks will interest me and suit my InTolerances. I have to admit though, that this recipe labelled Life Changing Loaf, languished in my in-box for quite a while, and though it sounded OK, it had no photos or really enough information to tempt me to go to the effort to buy all the bitsies and bake it. It wasn't until I saw the great photos and step-by-steps on Lovely Loraine's blog Here that I woke up and realised what a gem this recipe was. I'm really not sure where this recipe originated from, but after graciously receiving both Mum and Lorraine's blessing, I just had to post it as well and share the love with you too Dear Readers
**I've found out that the owner of this yummy recipe is Sarah from My New Roots. The original post can be found here: http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2013/02/the-life-changing-loaf-of-bread/  check out her blog for lots of yumminess!**

Bird Seed Bread

1 cup Sunflower seeds
½ cup Flax seeds
½ cup Hazelnuts or Almonds
1/2 cup Sesame seeds
1 ½ cups gluten free Rolled Oats
2 tbsp Chia seeds
4 tbsp Psyllium seed husks
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Honey/Maple syrup/Agave
3 tbsp Coconut/Nut/Olive oil or Ghee
1 ½ cups Water


I was glad I was able to get all the ingredients for my seedy bread at the supermarket instead of having to hunt everywhere. I always find that easily accessible ingredients mean that I will definitely MAKE the recipe instead of ADMIRING it, and I figure that most people probably feel the same :)

Pop all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well

Mix together the  oil, honey and water stir to dissolve the honey
I used a yummy Macadamia oil to add to the nuttiness of the loaf, and that black looking stuff is a really dark candied honey that has an amazing, deep, strong flavour- delicious!

Mix the wets into the dry and stir through really well making sure there aren't any little pockets of dry mixture on the bottom

See how quickly the chia, flax and psyllium swell up and go gummy? This is what binds the loaf together and stops it from falling apart

Press the mixture into a loaf pan and leave out at room temperature for at least two hours to continue setting

Pop the loaf into a 175*C oven and bake for about 50-60 minutes
I used a silicon pan to bake mine in though and I always find that things tend to sweat in them and can become a little soggy. To make sure I got a nice toasty loaf, I turned my loaf out of the silicon and onto a baking tray after 30 minutes, then just cooked it for the rest of the time like that

Nice and golden brown! The loaf should sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom, if it's not then leave it to cook a little longer

Now comes the hardest part of the whole experience- waiting until the bread cools down totally before slicing! It will crumble into pieces if you are impatient and don't wait

 

I really, really enjoyed this bread hot and toasted, with a dab of naughty butter and a bit more of my deep, dark honey. I don't know if I would really call it Life-Changing, but it is easy, full of fibre and other healthy goodies, and most of all it is definitely delicious indeed and I will certainly be making this one regularly- yummo!

So my Dear Readers, are you into Natural Remedies and have you ever realised that you have passed up a great recipe because you didn't give it enough attention?





 

Fig and Walnut Yeast Bread

I've not had huge sucess with gluten free bread


So often it's dry or crumbly, or just plain tastes like sawdust. The best results seem to be with a quick bread style recipe, like a muffin mix- but that's not really a bread is it? I really wanted to try a yeast dough that would hold together, rise nicely, and above all taste good too! I was sure it wasn't completely impossible.
I was playing around with some ingredients lately, trying to come up with a good toasting bread that would be lovely for an easy weekend breakfast, but still nice for a sandwich too. I had a big bag of walnut flour to use, and a quick search of my baking pantry revealed a good stash of dried fruits and I had a moment of clarity: Fig and Walnut. What a perfect match indeed. Some sweetness from the fruit, with the richness and texture of the walnuts as well- yummo!

Now I've used a lovely Walnut Flour that you can order directly from Lario,
http://www.lario.com.au/nuts-walnut-flour-p-444.html?osCsid=4060f95ae61b087259e6d9eac40e4c9c  
but if you can't get your hands on any then it's fine to use another nut flour or just extra gluten free flour instead. I have to say though, that it really is a lovely ingredient and adds so much extra flavour.




Fig and Walnut Yeast Bread

250 gm Walnut Flour (if unavailable use gf flour)
250 gm Gluten Free Flour
14g dried yeast (2 foil packets)
100g castor sugar
250-350 ml luke warm lactose free milk
2/3 cup light neutral Oil
3 Eggs
250 gm plumped Dried Figs
1 cup or so Walnuts
1 tsp Psyllum Husks (optional, but it does help it 'stick' together like regular dough)
Pinch of Salt

Put the flours, sugar, psyllum and yeast into a large bowl and mix together

Whisk up the milk, eggs and oil, then mix into the dry ingredients

What you want is a nice soft, sticky dough. It will be wetter than one made of wheat flour, but gluten free doughs need that bit extra

Lightly cover the dough, and leave it somewhere warm for about an hour or until pretty much doubled in size
Mine sat outside in the 37* heat as it was a bit cooler there than in my kitchen!

While you're waiting, chop the figs and walnuts into nice little pieces

The dough will have risen, look a bit 'spongy' and smell nice and yeasty by now

Punch the dough down, then mix in the fruit and nuts

Make sure the goodies are distributed evenly, not all clumped together





















Pop the dough into a greased loaf tin, and press on some more wanlnuts for a nice topping if you like
From this:

Let the dough have a second rise for about another hour
To this:

Bake at 180*C checking after 50 mins, for up to 70 minutes or so- or until the bread is nice and crusty and sounds hollow when you tap it underneath
To this!

This mix made a really nice dense type of bread. I like to include egg as it helps bind the dough together but then it's a fine line between 'bread' and 'cake'- I think in this case it's quite nicely balanced. The texture was pretty good for gluten free, not as crumbly as usual but still just a little delicate. The most interesting about this bread though was that using the walnut flour gave it almost a pumpernickel/rye flavour that was a real surprise, and very delicious.
I just loved this bread with cheese, and it was lovely with jam, but it was at it's best simply toasted with a big swipe of butter, yummo!



So Dear Readers, what do you think of Gluten Free Bread, and do you make it at home?

Disclosure: Nuts and Nut Flour supplied by Lario International - Thanks guys!