Brown Bread

I have noticed that being "gluten free" is a big thing now. More people are finding they have a gluten intolerance or allergy, or Celiac Disease. With awareness on the rise and more people being diagnosed, I've also noticed another trend. Manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon and marketing all sorts of boxed foods with the label "gluten free." In a sense, this is good news for people who can't have gluten. But something else to consider is, this food is no different than boxed and prepared foods that do contain gluten. They are grown, produced, and packaged in the same manner as other processed foods. Just bc they are GF does not mean they are healthy. On the whole, it's processed foods and the change in the way things are grown that has caused gut issues in so many people anyway. Switching from regular processed foods to GF processed foods is not going to heal your gut or solve your health issues. It may take away the main irritant (gluten) but it won't promote healing. In the same manner, making GF food from scratch at home with processed sugar, vegetable oils, and other unhealthy ingredients is no better than the boxed foods. Healing the gut and other systems of the body requires a whole foods, natural diet and overall whole body approach.

On that note, baking at home from scratch *can* be good and healthy! When you use whole grains and organic ingredients and prepare them in a way that gets the most nutrients out of them, the result is well worth the effort. This bread recipe is adapted from the Brown Bean Bread recipe in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of "Living Without" magazine. It is sweet, and almost has a quick bread texture. We loved it!

You can mix all ingredients and bake the day of, or you can follow the instructions for soaking the flour first. Makes one loaf.

Ingredients:
3 cups GF flour mix
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
3 TB almond flour
1 cup kefir, buttermilk, or kombucha

Mix dry ingredients, then add in liquid. Mix well, cover, and let sit overnight or at least 7 hours.

After soaking, mix in the rest of the ingredients:
2 TB organic cane juice, sucunat or Heavenly Sugar
1 TB yeast
2 large eggs, or flax gel replacement
5 TB honey or maple syrup
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 TB coconut oil, softened
1 TB molasses
1 TB chia seed (optional)
1/2 TB ground flax seed (optional)

Mix on high speed for 4 minutes. Transfer dough to greased bread pan (I highly recommend a stoneware bread pan). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise 45 minutes. The recipe says to let it double in size but mine never did. It did rise once I baked it, though. After rise time, preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake 45 minutes or until center is done. You can cover the top loosely with foil if it starts to get too brown before it's done.