Sprouted buckwheat bread

This recipe has been evolving over time and will likely continue to evolve - so make it your own. It is a fairly flexible recipe. You can switch up grains, add seeds, process more or less to change the consistency - it is fairly forgiving. Not to say that I haven’t made a mess of it from time to time, but that’s experimenting right?

Enjoy this delicious, nutritious, gluten free, whole grain activated bread!

Ingredients:

2 cups whole buckwheat

1 cup quinoa

1 cup linseeds (flaxseeds)

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup pepitas

1 cup chia seeds

1.5 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

Method:

Soak buckwheat, quinoa and linseeds in filtered water overnight. In the summer, I soak them in the fridge or else they can go mouldy :( Drain and rinse the soaked ingredients well. They can get a bit gooey and you may need to rinse in batches. Blend in a food processor, nutribullet or similar. Sometimes I blend half and leave the other half more chunky - sometimes I blend the whole lot. Add the remaining ingredients

Pour into a lined large loaf tin.

Bake at 180 for 1.5 hours in the tin

Remove from tin and bake for an additional 1-1.5 hours. When it is cooked, the bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when you knock on it. Cooking time varies due to the amount of moisture in your mixture - so be a bit flexible with this. Allow to completely cool before slicing. I like to slice and put a small piece of parchment between each slice so that it doesn’t stick together and then freeze it.

Carrot and ginger kraut

Ingredients:

6 cups grated carrot

1.5 teaspoons good quality salt

1.5-2 tablespoons finely grated ginger

Method:

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and allow to sit for half a day. The juice should come out of the carrot. Place carrot and ginger mix into a sterilised jar and squash the carrot down. the liquid should come to the top of the grated carrot. If it doesn’t, add a small amount of filtered water until the carrot is just covered. Close the lid, but leave enough wriggle room for bubbles to escape if they need to. Allow to ferment - this time will vary depending on the time of year and location. In northern NSW early summer, a ferment might only take 2 days. You can test the ferment by tasting it. It should taste a little zesty and, well, fermented. You will also know that your ferment is happening because when you push the carrot down (after a day or so), you will see bubbles rising up through the water. Once it has fermented to your liking, place in the fridge and start enjoying! I love this added to salads.

Best ever bread

This is one of the breads in rotation in my house (just for me, kids wont touch it with a ten foot pole). It requires no kneading, no rising and very little skill :) Just my style!

Ingredients:

3 cups oats

2 cups sunflower seeds

1 cup flax/linseeds

1 cup almonds

4 tablespoons chia seeds

8 tablespoons psyllium husk

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons of honey

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cups of water

Method:

Prepare a large loaf tin with greaseproof paper lining the sides. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together very quickly before tipping into loaf tin. Smooth the top and let it sit for at least 2 hours (or overnight if you prefer). Preheat the oven to 175 C. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove the bread from the tin and place back on the oven rack and bake for another 40 minutes. Allow it to cool completely before slicing it. Store in the fridge or freezer (or half/half). I love this bread toasted with avocado and goats cheese for breakfast :)

Tahlia's mum's water kefir

Ingredients:

7 cups of filtered water, boiled

1/3 cup organic raw sugar

2 prunes or a few sultanas

a slice of lemon

1/4 teaspoon egg shells

1 teaspoon molasses

1/8 teaspoon bicarb soda (aluminium free)

1 cup kefir grains

Method:

First sterilise the jars that you are going to ferment in. I use 2 approx 4 cup jars with proper seals - if you use two jars, just split the ingredients evenly between the two. Boil your water, add all ingredients except the kefir grains. Once the liquid has cooled to body temperature or lower, you can add your kefir grains and close the lids. Leave for 24 hours.

Second ferment - this is the one that makes the kefir bubbly.

Sterilise 2 bottles with stopper lids. Strain the kefir into each bottle and add a small amount of your preferred fresh fruit juice. My favourite is half a lime, passionfruit is also delicious - experiment away. Put on the stopper and leave for another 24 hours. Your kefir is now ready to be consumed :) Keep in the fridge.

Store your kefir grains in the fridge in a sugar and water blend. To do this, you will need to remove the ginger, sultanas etc from your last kefir batch. Dissolve about 1 tablespoon of sugar in enough water to cover your kefir grains. Allow to cool before pouring over grains. Refrigerate until you make your next batch. If it is a long time in between making kefir, you might want to feed them again with some fresh sugar solution.