with 100% teff starters. This was the birth of Sourdough Bread #5 – Teff. Its natural sponginess meant less flour combining. The darkness of it reminded me of chocolate cake, something I haven’t eaten in a very long time. I tried a piece of experimental teff bread and was disappointed it did not taste like chocolate cake and why would it?
I wondered how I could add some sweetness to these teff breads without using any conventional sweeteners, as I cannot tolerate them. I needed something that would have no impact on blood sugar or candida. I also needed something that would not kick start another cycle of sugar addiction.
I had heard that maca root powder is naturally sweet. Maca root, from South America, is used there as a hot breakfast drink. I also thought about carob, that poor denigrated ingredient from the Mediterranean and Middle East, commonly used as a substitute for chocolate that no one really appreciates for its own natural sweet and mellow taste. I combined the maca and carob along with some stevia and created what I was looking for: mildly sweet, dark, rich and comforting with no sugary side effects.
This experiment so far, has produced Teff Carob Bread and Teff Carob Coconut Bread. Their sweetness almost makes them dessert breads but they are still neutral enough to eat with a meal.
It took about 6 months to use up my 35 pounds of teff flour and during that time I made countless Teff Carob Coconut breads, now one of my favorite breads. When I recently got to the “bottom of the barrel” I was a bit sad to have finished this unusual source of abundance. Meanwhile, I have successfully ordered whole teff grain once again and will grind it into teff flour as I need it.
Quinoa 100 – Sourdough Bread #6
A man with a highly sensitive system contacted me about making a single-flour bread for him and his son. He wanted to know if a sourdough bread could be made solely from quinoa flour. Given the importance of flour combining in gluten-free recipes, I wasn’t sure if it could be done. I gave it a try, creating first a quinoa-only starter and then a quinoa-only bread. The natural sponginess of quinoa made it possible.
Since quinoa has a natural bitterness and sourdough has a natural sourness the first loaf was extra bitter and extra sour. It took a few batches to eliminate the heavy bitterness and minimize the excessive sourness. The resulting loaf is fairly mild and very satisfying. This simple bread uses only 4 ingredients: quinoa flour, water, salt and olive oil. It has a light and spongy texture.
Coconut Flour Breads
I had heard a lot about coconut flour for baked products and finally got around to trying it. One of coconut’s beneficial properties is that it does not spike blood sugar. Since coconut flour is a high protein flour and absorbs a large amount of moisture it took some time to figure out how to use it with sourdough starter. Some wonderful products have been the result and the coconut lightens them up nicely. I am continuing to develop some sourdough dessert breads and cakes using coconut flour, coconut oil and coconut sap sugar (Coconut Nectar).
Crackers
A woman asked me to create a recipe for gluten-free sourdough crackers for her children. After a year of no success I stumbled upon an article on baking science and realized I had been going about it the wrong way. My existing technique was fine for breads and muffins but needed to be greatly adjusted for crackers and probably cookies. I learned to use a combination of sourdough starter and sprouted flour to achieve some crispiness while making sure all the flour is properly soaked for optimal digestion.
Making crackers is a new challenge in my baking and although I have offered only two cracker recipes in this book as of yet, I feel sure that the technique will continue to develop and improve, hopefully with many exciting variations.
Pizza Dough
After going gluten-free most people want to be able to continue eating pizza. When I developed my pizza recipe I was still determined to make it without yeast or baking powder. I was able to succeed using the sourdough starter plus the addition of a large amount of arrowroot flour. This is the only recipe that I use such a large proportion of starch flour.
I would like to be able to say that this pizza dough recipe is fast and easy but it really isn’t. It has a number of steps that take careful planning of one’s time. When one has the time, however, it is well worth it.
Sweets
One of my most important goals in my bread making is to use as little sweetener as possible. People regularly ask me how to use my sourdough starter for sweet breads, cakes and other treats. The challenge is balancing the “sour” of the sourdough. The added challenge for me is balancing that sour with something that has no impact on blood sugar or candida.
Sweet Buns and Sweetheart Bread were my first experiments in trying to lend a hint of sweetness without the use of sugar, honey, maple syrup or agave. Stevia powder, which registers zero on the glycemic index, makes it possible, combined with a small amount of vanilla powder or vanilla extract. Together they “imply” more sweetness than there actually is. What I like most is that I can eat these delicately sweet breads without blood sugar spikes and without the start of another round of the sugar addiction cycle.
Using mildly sweet ingredients like cinnamon, maca, carob and fennel seed work well with stevia to “sweeten” some of the breads.
Coconut Nectar
Some of my readers let me know that they were using Coconut Nectar (coconut sap sugar) in my recipes instead of stevia, with great success. I finally tried it when I was experimenting with gluten-free sourdough crackers. I tried it in a few recipes and found that a very small amount lends a hearty sweetness to the bread product. Coconut sap sugar has a low glycemic index compared with other sweeteners and doesn’t seem to activate the sugar addiction cycle.
I’m very happy to be able to tolerate small amounts of this very unusual natural sweetener. I know that no one sweetener will be right for everyone so I began to test my breads using other sweeteners. I have compiled a conversion chart to help people make the choice that’s right for them and their families.
Holiday Treats
Years ago I tasted an excellent artisanal wheat chocolate bread available only during the winter holiday season. The memory of it lingered in the back of my mind for many years. It was dark and rich but not too sweet. It had bits of fruit, nuts, and dark and white chocolate chips. Because of persistent requests for sweeter treats I decided to try a gluten-free sourdough version of it and enlisted my extended family as “testers” during the holiday season.
This is the only recipe in this book that calls for sugar for sweetening. I call it “Holiday Chocolate Bread.” It is included for all of us who give ourselves permission to cheat a bit around the holiday season. At this point in my life, I would rather “cheat” with a homemade, gluten-free sourdough, whole grain bread that has a bit of sugar in it rather than a nutrient deficient, high sugar treat that will leave me feeling awful, perhaps for a few days.
The recipe is based on the highly nutritious and easily digested sourdough starter. Because of the sourdough technique, the whole grains and modest amount of sugar, blood sugar spikes are greatly minimized.
When I brought the finished bread out to be “tested,” the testers consumed the bread with gusto, proclaimed it “awesome” and promptly became very, very quiet! I know a recipe has succeeded when there is complete silence in the room. Too busy enjoying the food to talk.
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