by Sidonie Maroon

Resolution for 2020:
Write more bread recipes that I can eat. If you can’t eat wheat, or have trouble with gluten-free breads made with rice flour and potato starch. If you have trouble with any added sugar, then you’ll sympathize with my resolution.

I don’t do well with food from the botanical family ‘Poaceae’ basically all grains including wheat, oats, rice, corn (maize), barley, sorghum, rye, and millet. I also suffer when I eat processed starches like potato, tapioca and corn. I hear from people in my classes, and who read my blogs that they also need bread along these lines. When I show them how to make bread without using grains or starches—they are oh
so grateful and amazed.

I was once an artisan bread baker and teacher. I love wheat bread. I love its smells, tastes and traditions. It was hard to give up, but I have baker’s asthma and blood sugar issues. It was my health or my old way of baking. I chose my health. It’s pushed me into creativity, resourcefulness and a diversity of ingredients and techniques I would never have tried. I call this new way —Nouveau Bread.

Definition of Nouveau Bread

Breads made using nuts, seeds, pseudo-grains and legumes as their major structural components. Breads made without the addition of grains or processed starches—although they may contain whole foods with starch like sweet potatoes or potatoes with their natural fibers. Breads held together with whole seeds, that create gels and gums, ground to flours like flax, chia or psyllium.

Nouveau bread is high in fiber, protein and fats from nuts, seeds and other whole ingredients. It has
a minimum of added processed sugar, or none. It’s sweetened with whole ingredients. Dried fruits are a good example. I add extra monk fruit powder or stevia for sweet breads. It’s made without store-bought flours, instead flours are ground from the whole foods right before baking. There are exceptions, such as psyllium seed husk powder or carob powder. Fats are usually from whole nuts and seeds, but sometimes I use additional healthy fats.

What do I mean?

I take raw whole nuts, seeds, legumes… grind them together in my Vitamix to make flour. Then I add leaven and liquids to make a batter or dough. I spread this out on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake, or press into tortillas, or roll into pastry, or… This makes an incredible, fabulous daily bread, or crackers, tortillas, sweet breads…  

Think outside the loaf

I made myself nuts trying to make high rising loaves without grains or starches until my epiphany: What do we do to a loaf of bread? We cut it into slices and then lay them flat for toast or sandwiches. So, why should I try to make a loaf when I’ll slice it? Why not  make flat bread? Flatbread is perfectly suited to my new ingredients and there’s already more surface area for crust. The flavor of the crust is what I love.

Is Nouveau bread baking hard or time consuming?

No, absolutely not. Once you have the ingredients on hand, a Vitamix or coffee grinder and the recipe you’re set. These breads are straightforward and as easy as conventional baking.

How do they taste?

Delicious. Nutty, full of flavor. They hold together well and are satisfying bread without compromise.

Anything else to know?

Many of the recipes use psyllium husk powder. Read up on this ingredient. It has amazing health benefits but with some precautions. Since the fiber in psyllium husk absorbs water, drink enough water when using psyllium so your digestive tract is optimally hydrated. Sometimes consuming too much fiber without enough water can cause digestive discomfort, so water intake along with fiber intake is key.drink plenty of water with your bread.

Nouveau breads are high fiber! If you aren’t used too much fiber, then start out slow and work up.

Ingredients for Nouveau Breads— what I grind into flour

Binders — what holds the bread together

• Psyllium seed husk powder

• Flax seeds

• Chia seeds

Body of Bread

Seeds

• sunflower seeds

• sesame seeds

• pumpkin seeds
  
  
  
  

Nuts

• Walnuts

• Cashews

• Almonds

• Coconut
  
  
  
  

Pseudograins

• Quinoa

• Buckwheat

• Amaranth

Legume

• red Lentils

• lentils

• chickpea

• black-eyed peas

• yellow split peas

• mung beans

• Navy beans

• black beans

• Soy

• Carob

Liquids

• Apple cider vinegar

• Boiling water

• Vegetable and fruit pure

Other 

• Sea salt

• Herbs and spices

• Vegetables and fruits

• Healthy fats

  
  
  
  

Special Equipment for Nouveau Breads

A Vitamix is useful for grinding home flours. A coffee grinder will also work for small batches. Food processors will work but take more time and effort. I use the regular blade in my Vitamix for most of my nouveau breads.

Quinoa and Coconut Banana Flatbread

Makes one 12 inch round gluten-free flatbread

15 minutes prep and 30 minutes baking

This bread smells heavenly baking. Big banana flavor in a flatbread, with no added sugar. The cooked quinoa keeps it moist, while coconut flakes give it body. It helps to let gluten-free bread sit for several hours after baking to allow the gels (flax and xanthan gum) to set. 

Ingredients

1 cup coconut flake, unsweetened

2 tablespoons flaxmeal

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon monk fruit powder, or less to taste

½ teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)

1 cup cooked quinoa, unsalted

1 cup banana puree, from two to three ripe bananas

¼ cup avocado oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F, line a pizza tin with parchment paper, and oil the paper. Using a high-powered mixer grind all the dry ingredients into a flour. Add the cooked quinoa, plus liquid ingredients and mix until combined. Stop the mixer as needed and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides or stir to get
everything evenly mixed. Scrape batter onto parchment paper and spread it evenly to the edges. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool completely, to set the gels before eating. After it’s cooled, try it toasted with butter.

Chickpea and Red Lentil Cracker

Makes one large 12 inch round cracker

40 minutes including baking time

This unusual yet addictive flatbread/ cracker is crisp with a nutty flavor when baked for 25 minutes, or softer when baked for 20 minutes. Perfect for spreading a tapenade or hummus on.    

Ingredients

½ cup dry chickpeas

¼ cup dry red lentil

¾ cup hulled sunflower seeds

¼ cup flax meal

2 tablespoons psyllium seed husk powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a 12 to 13 inch pizza pan. Boil the water and keep hot. Measure out the vinegar.  

Using a Vitamix or high-powered blender, grind the chickpeas into a flour on high speed. Add the red lentils and continue to grind until powdery. Empty the legume flour into a large work bowl. Add the other dry ingredients to the mixer and grind together until they’re a flour, stopping before the sunflower seeds become butter! A few sunflowers seed pieces left are ok.

Add dry ingredients to the work bowl with the legumes and mix with your hands, breaking up any lumps. Measure the boiling water and add vinegar. Pour the hot liquid into the dry ingredients and stir vigorously with a rubber spatula until all the flour is mixed into the liquid.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil on parchment paper, and with oiled hands, press dough evenly to the edges of the pan, making a large flat bread. Drizzle the second tablespoon of olive oil over the top and spread around. Pierce the dough all over with a fork. Cut away the excess parchment paper with scissors. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes depending on crispness desired. Serve warm and break up into irregular pieces.

Walnut Pastry Dough

Makes enough for two 9-inch tarts or pie

15 minutes plus rolling and baking time

Amazing, a delicious pastry dough, without grain or added fats! It’s rich with all the nuts, but pastry is rich, so it’s still on the occasional treat list. Another attribute of this dough is how it rolls out and hangs together easily when baked. How does it taste? Like a good loaf of whole wheat bread right from the oven. It’s less like a flaky pie crust, and more like a brioche or yeasted crust. Use it for both sweet and savory recipes, whole pies or individual hand pies. I’m still experimenting with all its possibilities. As a gluten-free pie maker, I’m thrilled with how moldable it is, so I can create all the shapes and decorations that are sometimes difficult with gluten-free grain based doughs.      

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts

½ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup flax meal

2 tablespoons psyllium husk powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

½ cup boiling water

Directions for making the pastry

Using a Vitamix or high-powered blender, process all the dry ingredients together, on the highest speed, into a course flour. I run the machine until I hear the motor slowing down. Try to not have any large chunks of walnuts left, because they can tear the dough when you are rolling it out.

Dump the flour into a mixing bowl, using a spatula to get everything out. Break it up between your fingers until it resembles a fine meal. Add the boiling water and then the vinegar to a glass liquid measure and pour over it the flour, quickly mixing them together with the rubber spatula. Continue to mix until it comes together.
Split the dough in half and now you’re ready to roll.

Rolling

You can make any shapes, and the dough rolls out thin without tearing or splitting. Tears press together easily. There’s no need to flour while rolling, but some oil on your hands will prevent sticking. For free form tarts, I like to roll the shape I want on parchment paper, add the fillings, fold the edges in, and then cut the parchment paper around the shape, with an inch border, using the paper under the tart to move it onto a baking sheet.

Baking 

Baking will depend on individual recipes, but a rough guide is to bake in a preheated 400F oven for 25 to 30 minutes. The thicker the dough the longer the pastry should bake. Allow the pastry cooling time to help set the dough. I like to reheat the pastries before serving, the toasted walnut flavors shine that way.

Sunflower Seed Tortillas

Makes 12

30 minutes   

These are delicious, flexible, store well, are grain-free, prebiotic, high fiber and once you get the hang of them, easy to make.    

Ingredients

1¼ cup sunflower seeds

4 tablespoons psyllium seed powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 tablespoons flax meal

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 cup boiling water

Olive oil for hands and press

Special Equipment

Electric griddle or crepe pan.

High-powered blender (Vitamix)

tortilla press or rolling pin

parchment paper

liquid measuring cup

Instructions

Set out a tortilla press with a piece of parchment paper folded in half to fit inside the press. Or, fold a piece of parchment paper in half and have a rolling pin ready.

Preheat a griddle on medium high.

Have a liquid measuring cup and a rubber spatula set out. 

Have 2 cups of water ready at a boil. (I turn my electric kettle on.)  

Measure the vinegar out into a small dish and set aside. 

Add dry ingredients to a high-powered blender, blend into a flour, stopping before it becomes sunflower
butter! A few sunflower seed pieces are ok.

Dump the flour into a mixing bowl, and quickly measure the boiling water, add vinegar to the water and pour into the flour. Stir well with a rubber spatula, until the flour is mixed into the liquid. It will make a choux paste like dough.

Watch the magic here!

Using a tortilla press

Oil your hands and divide the dough evenly into 12 balls. Open the piece of parchment paper and rub oil onto it. Lay a ball between the oiled parchment paper, between the two sides of the tortilla press, and press. Open the parchment paper, flip the tortilla so it’s laying on your open hand and peel off the parchment paper from its other side. Lay on the hot griddle. Immediately press the next in the same way. Usually, a griddle will hold three at a time. Cook for 3 minutes on one side, flip and cook for  another 2 minutes. Stack them on a plate and let them firm before eating.

Using a rolling pin

Oil your hands and divide the dough evenly into 12 balls. Open the piece of parchment paper and rub oil onto it. Lay a ball between the oiled parchment paper, and roll in all directions until it’s about 6 inches in diameter. Open the parchment paper, flip the tortilla so it’s laying on your open hand and peel off the parchment paper from its other side. Lay the tortilla on the hot griddle. Immediately press the next in the same way. Usually, a griddle will hold three at a time. Cook for 3 minutes on one side, flip and cook for  another 2 minutes. Stack them on a plate and let them firm before eating.

Notes:
They keep well and are even better reheated on a griddle. When they’re  reheated, the sunflower seed taste toasted. It’s possible to pre-grind dry ingredients and refrigerate or freeze them, and then it’s just a matter of adding the liquid, pressing and cooking. Psyllium seed is a high fiber food, so it’s important to drink liquid with the tortilla.