I used to live in Germany, and from that cherished time there I developed a particular fondness for breads packed with seeds and nuts, as well as the darkest types of flours. These breads were DENSE, they would fill you up or hours! They would taste great with anything: cream cheese, jam, fruit spreads, avocado and lachs, sausage, you name it.

This bread is my favorite breakfast companion, and my kids love it too. it is packed with nutritious seeds, that is highly nutritious and packed with healthy fats, fibers and protein because of rolled quinoa. It pairs great with fried eggs, fruit spreads, avocado and lachs… you name it. But that is even better is your slice of bread keeps together. Which I succeeded at thanks to gentle steam cooking, my favorite cooking method.

A wonderful recipe by Sarah Britton

When I started researching gluten free breads recipes, because I had to stop gluten to find the cause of my eczema I fell upon this beautiful bread Sarah Britton, author of My New Roots, published on her blog. Sarah Britton’s Life Changing Loaf of Bread will be credited for selling me on how good gluten free food can be. Sarah Britton is an amazing cook and blogger by the way ! Check her books My New Roots for beautiful, awe inspiring and healthy plant based recipes ! Even if I am neither vegan nor vegetarian, I love getting inspiration from her books as they are full of original ideas.

Awesome and wholesome Ingredients

It is made of almost every healthy seeds you can find in your pantry ! Add in sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, and I even added more! I love the crunchy hazelnuts touch, which I often replace with pumpkin seeds. Psyllium is the secret ingredient. It keeps everything together by absorbing water and healthy fats. It plays the role of the gluten for this bread. For moisture, you just need a healthy oil with saturated fats for texture, i.e. coconut oil, a natural sweetener and water. It is totally vegan, no dairy, no egg, no yeast, no need for levain. Just imagine the nutrition profile of this bread !

Very Nutritious Profile

And the best is, it is very filling, packed with healthy fats, cooked at a low heat , good, low glycemic index rising carbs, tons of trace minerals like zinc and magnesium. Like the German bread I loved, it is as good with desert or fruit spreads, or avocado and lachs, or with your fried eggs in the morning !

Water Vapor is Keeping the Seed Bread Together

I’ve been tweaking her loaf recipe for years to see how best it would be, but also because I had one major issue: my bread kept falling apart when I would cut it. I solved that problem for the day I tested how it would work in … my steam cooker ! Yes, I went that far !

How would this bread hold together if I would steam it, I could not picture it. Why? Because the crust is important for it to finish cooking and hold together in the first place. I tried steaming it, but at first it didn’t work. it was clear it needed a crust to hold together on a flat surface without sticking or collapsing. So I decided to steam it half the time, so as to allow the moisture of the water vapor to keep it moist. Meanwhile I cooked it in the oven for the other half of the time. And that solved a problem I had been struggling with for years!

Of course, I could use the crumbs to eat with fruits, fruit spread, add to a dish. But I was irritated at how much was falling apart, and how much more often I had to make bread because of it. With gentle steam cooking, I no longer have this problem!

How to improve on your gluten free bread using steam cooking

How did Gentle steam cooking help solve my problem?

Gentle steam cooking is a cooking method by which you cook your food; produce meat fish grain or legumes, even cake and bread, in a steam cooker that does not cook with pressure. It is the ideal cooking method because it does not damage vitamins, trace minerals, plant hormones nor destroy fibers. It also detoxifies our food by giving it a steam bath and getting it to sweat out toxins and inflammatory fats. To learn more, check my “Tools” page.

It is the ideal cooking for bread too ! It helps improve this recipe because as I explained before, water is the main ingredient that keeps ingredients together. My previous problem was after cooking, water had pretty much evaporated. Therefore, when I cut it after cooling it down completely, it would often fall apart. I found some better knives, but it was only good to keep damage levels low.

First step: Cooking in the steam cooker

Gentle steaming, which cooks with steam at 202°F (95°C), is great because the steam penetrates the food! What best than steam to cook a cake so it does cook the deep layers of a bread ! This allows the bread to keep moist and not to try out.

However, for this recipe, it only works halfway. I could not cook the bread completely in the steam cooker because it would fall apart from too much moisture and no structure. However the main goal was reached: the bread was fully moist and cooked ! I needed to keep the structure.

Second step: Cooking in the oven

Sarah Britton’s recipe was advising to cook it in two steps. The first 20 minutes, the seed bread would cook in the mold normally. Then for the next 40 minutes, the bread would be turned upside down and cook that way on a metal sheet.

New Steam Cuisine Cooking Steps and cooking times

Mixing before transferring into the mold

First, I have to specify that unlike Sarah Britton, I do not mix the ingredients in the mold directly. In my experience, everything mixes much better with water, oils and syrup especially with rolled quinoa, in a bowl before transferring the pasty mixture into the mold.

Steam as long as you cook in the oven

When it comes to cooking times, I had best outcomes when steaming the bread 30 minutes in the mold, then 30 additional minutes in the oven at 375°F / 190°C). The only disadvantage is that I used to make my bread in bulk and cook three breads at a time in the oven. My steam cooker does not allow me to do that: there is only one spot for a bread at one time in the sieve! However, the process of making this bread is now much faster because it keeps together so well. I’ll just make a bread fast, and i’ll have it ready in a few hours for the next day. My kids love this bread, so it’s a big win.

The crust is built very nicely with 30 minutes in the oven. The result is perfect to me!

New ingredients

Over the years, this recipe has changed. Here is the one I follow for best results.

I use rolled quinoa rather than oats, since some gluten free sensitive people are also sensitive to oats, and because quinoa has higher amounts of protein. It was not easy to find, but I finally did. I do not recommend buying this item from Foods to Live because their quinoa is almost a flour by the time it gets to you. But I ordered from Azure Standard now and I am quite satisfied.

Bon appétit !

Try the Gentle Steam Cooking, the Ideal Cooking Method, For Other Bread or Desserts!

Some recipes for sweet treats are available on this blog !

• In the Gluten free section, try Lemon and Olive oil almond cake
• Gourmet and gluten free chocolate lovers will enjoy Chocolate & Olive Oil Almond Cake
• Hazelnut and nut-chocolate lovers will love Chocolate Hazelnuts Einkorn Steamed Bites !
• Orange season is approaching, add this gluten free dessert to your list: Orange & Almond Steamed Bites !
• My einkorn banana bread recipe is coming up ! Stay tuned and