Seeded Buckwheat and Chia Loaf
Recipe: Beatrice Schilling and team
This bread is made without yeast or sourdough. Baking powder makes it rise, while soaked chia seeds bind the dough and keep the crumb moist. Buckwheat flour and chia seeds are both low FODMAP, and the flour gives the bread a robust, slightly nutty flavour.
The photo shows two versions: the top one baked with wheat gluten, the bottom one without. Gluten makes the crumb more elastic and helps the loaf hold together. Wheat gluten is mostly protein, and there’s about 2.5 g in each slice. If you leave it out, the bread is gluten-free, but also denser.
Method
- Stir the chia seeds into 240 ml water and leave to swell for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan) and grease a loaf tin about 25 cm long or line it with baking paper.
- Mix the buckwheat flour, wheat gluten, baking powder and salt thoroughly in a bowl.
- Add the 160 ml water, the rapeseed oil and the chia gel and work everything into an even dough with the dough hooks of a hand mixer or in a stand mixer. The dough stays wet and sticky; don’t add more flour.
- Transfer the dough to the tin and smooth the surface with a wet spoon. Scatter over the sunflower seeds and press them in lightly.
- Bake on the middle shelf for about 70 minutes. If the seeds are browning too much, cover the loaf with baking paper after about 45 minutes.
- Leave to rest in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack. If you cut it while it’s still warm, the crumb will be sticky.
Tips
- For the gluten-free version, leave out the wheat gluten and use gluten-free baking powder. The dough will be slightly softer and the bread more crumbly, so it’s best to cut thicker slices.
- Our FODMAP list counts sunflower seeds among the foods to keep to small amounts. With about 16 slices per loaf, that’s just over 2 g a slice. If you want to be completely safe, use pumpkin seeds, which are low FODMAP.
- Because the bread is so moist, keep it well wrapped in the fridge, where it lasts about 4 days. If you freeze it in slices, you can toast them straight from the freezer.
