Tuesday, April 5

Gluten-Free Flatbread to the rescue!

My relationship with bread?...Let's just say it's complicated.


I like bread.
I want bread.
On occasion, I need bread.


The relationship is not reciprocal.


Bread could care less about me.
Bread might even hate me.
Bread lures me into its snares with its promises of toasty, chewy, whole-grain goodness.
It entices me with options: "Toast and butter me!" it cries. "Put your favorite foods between 2 pieces of me and take me somewhere!"  On occasion, it even whispers:"Hey, baby. Don't you want to dip me in some eggy batter and fry me?" 98.9% of the time I just ignore bread's unwanted advances and put on a pot of rice instead.


But man, is that other 1.1% a doozy. Then, bread gets in my belly and transforms itself into a gaseous, headache-making mass of evil.


So the other day, as the weak but warmish April sun slanted across a bowl of ripening avocados in my dining room, and bread demanded "Slather me with mashed avocado!" and I felt myself about to buckle, I decided to try making some gluten-free flatbread. That way, I could have the toasty, chewy, whole-grainy experience I longed for without all that pesky waiting around for yeast to rise. I really liked the garlic/dill/onion powder combo, but feel free to add or substitute any herbs you like.




GF Flatbread or Crackers
Ingredients
1.5 C cooked brown rice
1 C cooked quinoa
2-4 T ground flax
1 tsp tahini
½ T water
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tsp dill
½ tsp onion
2 T whole flax
1 T sesame seeds
salt, to taste

To Make Flatbread:
Blend rice, quinoa, ground flax, tahini, water, garlic and herbs in a food processor. Stir in sesame and flax seeds, and add salt to taste. Turn mixture out onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten the mixture to about 1/8 inch using wet hands (or a rolling pin…or both). Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 3x3 squares and bake in a preheated 300F oven for 35 mins. Let cool 15 mins then use a spatula to carefully remove your ‘bread’ slices from the pan. Wrap tightly and store in the fridge.

To Make Crackers:
Same instructions as above, except you can cut the dough into whatever shapes/sizes you want. Bake 45-50 minutes, until the crackers are golden-brown, being careful not to burn. Let cool 15 mins before carefully breaking them apart. Store in an airtight container (in the fridge if it’ll take you more than 2-3 days to eat them…which I highly doubt. 

...Sadly, the sun went in just before the bread was done. Happily, that didn't affect its deliciousness -- or my ability to slather it with smashed avocado mixed with diced tomato, salt, and pepper -- one bit.





You may have noticed there are no pictures of the crackers here. That's because they all went straight from the baking sheet to my mouth (ok, a couple of them may have stopped briefly in a container of hummus--but that's beside the point).



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