Gluten-Free Extreme Healthy Bread
One part buckwheat flour, two parts each of chickpea flour and flaxseed meal … can they stick together to make a bread? Does it taste any good? Absolutely! The pursuit of a gluten free, almost carb free and yet tasty bread lead me to a German baker on Youtube who seemed to have accomplished the impossible. The original recipe uses only baking powder as leavening. I experimented with different sourdough starter +yeast, yeast only, and baking soda versions. I also played with cheeses (soft and hard) and spices. See my verdict at the end.
Ingredients:
60g buckwheat flour
120g chickpea flour
120g flax meal
20g psyllium husk
400g water
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sourdough starter
2 tsp rapid yeast
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp German bread herb mix (coriander, fennel, and caraway seeds 2:1:1)
Cheeses (graded parmesan or romano, and small chucks of mozzarella)
Version 1 (added sourdough starter but no spices or cheeses, no vinegar)
Sponge: Mix sourdough starter (buckwheat preferred) with 60g of water and 60g of buckwheat flour, cover and ferment overnight until fluffy and bubbles appear
Sprinkle instant yeast over 360g of lukewarm water, let sit for 10 minutes
Stir in psyllium husk and wait for 15 minutes until gel forms, mix well
Mix chickpea flour, flax meal, baking powder, salt in medium bowl
Add buckwheat sourdough sponge, psyllium husk gel, and knead to form dough
Put dough in oiled baking pan (I used 1-pound pullman), cover, and proof in a warm place for about 1 hour
Bake at 375 for 35 minutes (internal temp over 210F)
Version 2 (with yeast + spices and cheese + vinegar)
Mix chickpea flour, flax meal, buckwheat flour, baking powder, graded cheese, spices and salt in medium bowl
Sprinkle instant yeast over 360g of lukewarm water, let sit for 10 minutes
Stir in psyllium husk and wait for 15 minutes until gel forms, mix well
Add psyllium husk/proof yeast mixture and vinegar to dry ingredients, fold in chunks of mozzarella cheese, mix well with wooden spoon first and then by hand (use water to moist hand first to prevent stickiness) to form dough
Divide into 6 dinner roll balls, and let sit on baking sheet (covered with kitchen towel), and proof in a warm place for about 1 hour
Bake at 375 for 35 minutes (internal temp over 210F)
Verdict: The first version (pictured above) held its shape well and looks like good bread but tastes a bit slimy (beany) and quite bland. The sourdough proofing made little difference. The fact that I skipped the vinegar called for in the original recipe may also have contributed to its lack of complexity. Total thumbs down from fam! My Version 2 turned out to be quite tasty, not more bean taste but quite salty. The added cheeses was quite a hit but one needs to watch the salt. One problem seems to be that while yeast promoted quite a bit of rising of the dough, the bread seemed to collapse after rising, and maybe best baked in loaf pan to hold it shape. Version 3 will be baking powder only and will find out if that will address the overproofing issue.