recipe by Saskia Gregson-Williams

Quinoa is one of my favourite foods, and when cooked properly it is so delicious! It’s also seriously good for you, hence it’s superfood status! Quinoa is a gluten-free grain, containing all nine essential amino acids making it a complete protein. A fantastic way to boost your protein intake. Chia seeds are a great source of skin-loving omega-3 as well as fibre and bone building calcium. Chia seeds in this recipe act as the binder, they really make the thickness of the loaf and add to the bountiful amounts of goodness a slice of this bread delivers.

When experimenting with different gluten-free loaves of bread I decided I wanted to make something simple, full of flavour, incredibly nutritious and bursting with plant protein… so the idea for this loaf was born. I have often in the past blended quinoa and chia seeds as ingredients to make flat breads, which have always been a great success, so i decided to use this as the base of my bread.

This Quinoa bread, is not your normal loaf, because it’s gluten-free it doesn’t rise quite as much so don’t be dismayed when you take it out of the oven. However, the fluffiness of the quinoa gives the bread a lovely lightness whilst being wonderfully dense in nutrients!
Although you need to soak the chia seeds and quinoa the night before, it’s easy to make, and has very little ingredients.

Ingredients: 
2 cups quinoa
3/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup mixed pumpkin, sunflower & linseeds
3 tbsp lemon Juice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp agave syrup
60 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Step 1: The night before you plan on baking the bread you need to soak the quinoa & chia seeds. Measure out the quinoa and chia seeds and place in two separate bowls. Cover the chia seeds with 1 cup of water, and the quinoa with enough water to cover well. Place both in the fridge overnight.

Step 2: Preheat the oven to 160 degrees-Celsius. In a blender, add all ingredients other than the mixed seeds. Blend until the mixture is smooth, but you can still see lots of whole quinoa. (It is very important not to over blend as you will get a very sticky bread!). Then add the mixed seeds. Pour the mixture into a bread tin lined with parchment paper. Bake for 70 minutes.

Tip: 
This bread is best either toasted, or sliced and baked in the oven. The ways of eating this bread are endless, my favourite topping combinations include:

* Almond butter, frozen banana slices and chopped medjool dates
* Almond butter with crushed raspberries and bee pollen
* Crushed raspberries, coconut yoghurt and chia seeds
* Hummus, avocado, pomegranate seeds and lemon juice
* Avocado, minced red onion, chopped tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and lemon juice