For the bread lover with a gluten allergy, finding a tasty recipe to quell the craving for a fresh baked loaf is like searching for the holy grail. To the gluten-free raw vegan, however, that search becomes a hungry, relentless hunt.
At least it has been for me.
For the past year, I have been staying far, far away from gluten. In the couple of years leading up to that decision, I ate it on occasion but began noticing signs of a gluten sensitivity popping up in my body. I had to say bye-bye to baguettes, adios to arepas, and sayonara to sourdough. Saying goodbye was difficult and my heart ached, but not as much as my belly when I ate bread.
The art of baking bread is a tradition that spans generations and bridges cultures. The aroma of bread baking, in most minds, conjures memories of comfort and family. If you’ve ever walked into a home where there are fresh loaves in the oven, then you speak the universal language of bread. Don’t worry, there’s only one word in this language: “mmmm.”
I’ve become extra sensitive to the intoxicating aromas of cooked and baked food as I’ve eaten a purely raw vegan diet for the past few weeks. Just thinking about a fresh baked bread is making me hungry, even though I haven’t eaten it in months. Last week during the Epic Awakening Retreat, an immensely talented chef named Pedro joined our team. On the last day, he made an onion bread that almost made me cry — not from the sting of onion, but from the fact that it tasted like bread. It smelled amazing, had a crust, and it was warm! I even made a sandwich. This, my friends, is something I did not know I would be able to eat as a raw vegan. Thank God I was wrong!
With Pedro’s onion bread as my muse, I decided to try my hand at making a dehydrated raw vegan bread. This bread is actually much easier to make than a traditional loaf of whole wheat.
Rosemary Onion Bread
3 C Sunflower seeds
2 Red onions, chopped
2 C Flaxseed, freshly ground
1 1/2 Tbs Rosemary
2 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp Sea salt
1/2 C Water
To prepare:
Place the sunflower seeds and red onion in your food processor and process until it reaches a fine meal. Scoop the mixture into a large bowl, then add the ground flaxseed, rosemary, black pepper, and salt. As with most bread recipes, it helps to use your heads to incorporate the mixture. Slowly add the water continue to mix all of the ingredients evenly.
On a nonstick dehydrator sheet, spread the bread mixture into a large square about 1/2” thick. It should take up almost the entire dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate at 118 degrees for 4 hours, then flip it over to a mesh tray and score the bread into 12 pieces. Dehydrate for another 3 hours if you’d like a softer, warm bread, or leave it in longer until it is firm to your liking.
Servings: 12 pieces of bread*
*Only 10 pieces of bread made it out of the dehydrator. Sabrina (also here for the Epic Fellowship) and I were really doing the rest of the team a favor because we thought we should test out the bread for safety’s sake. I mean, we wanted to make sure it wasn’t poisonous or anything…
I’m happy to share that this bread is off the hook. If you top a slice with some avocado, tomato, a squeeze of lime, and a pinch of salt, you may just find yourself in heaven. What are your favorite open-faced sandwich toppings? We’d love to hear in the comments below!
