Wholemeal Buckwheat Bread

Here's my new favorite non-yeasted bread for a healthy New Year. I gave a dry mix of this to my mom for Christmas...jury is still out on weather or not she'll like it as much as I do. Some of the ingredients might be harder to come by for some, but I just love this toothsome stuff and find it well worth the trek to Whole Foods market to gather them. The first time I made the recipe from Susan Jane Murray's site, I used rolled oats in lieu of the rolled millet/barley. It resulted in a longer cooking time, but was still good. I like to cook this in a 9x13 pan and then cut into 8 planks when done. I pop them in the freezer and they're there for me whenever I want one. I've eaten them toasted with a fried egg on top or topped with some mashed avocado, lemon and sea salt (YUM), plain ol' buttered, and also toasted and broken up over my morning yogurt with fruit. All delish! Be forwarned, this opinion belongs to someone who happens to love buckwheat and is also into alternative "granola" type foods. :-) Susan Jane's site is an awesome new find for me. I hope to try out more of her recipes soon.
Jeez...typing this up has made me very sad not to have any tucked away in the freezer. Off I go to make some more!

Make sure you scroll all the way down for my alternate Banana-Almond version.

Wholemeal Buckwheat Bread:
(adapted from Susan Jane Murray)

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1 teaspoon Herbamare seasoning or celery salt (Herbamare is awesome stuff! My new fave and I've found it in several stores...no need to purchase online)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese is best)
3/4 cup rolled barley (couldn't find the rolled millet the orig. recipe called for, and barley only from Whole Foods)
1/2 cup whole buckwheat grains (I toast 'em first in a dry skillet, stirring until a nice nutty fragrance develops...4-5 min?)
3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 cups of milk or carrot juice (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
2 tablespoons of honey or agave (I found a powdered cactus flower honey and use that now, since it's easier to mix in with the dry ingredients...totally random and you don't need to search it out to make this!) ;-)

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Grease a 9x13 cake pan with a bit of oil, then line with parchment.

2. Sieve buckwheat flour, soy flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, seasoning and spices into a large bowl to introduce air and make it fluffy.

3. Add rolled barley, whole buckwheat grains, sunflower seeds and milk and sweetener. It should be of pouring consistency.

4. Bake for 30-40 minutes , or when a toothpick comes out clean.

5. Remove from oven, flip out onto a rack and allow cool. When cooled I use a pizza cutter wheel to zip through the bread to make 8 individual pieces, then slip them into a large freezer bag and store in the freezer. Better I think after it sits a bit...the buckwheat groats get a chance to soften up some.

To your good health in the New Year!!


I had 2 bananas to use up the other day, so thought I'd play around with the above recipe. Tastes great toasted and buttered!

Banana-Almond Wholemeal Buckwheat Bread:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1 teaspoon Herbamare seasoning
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese is best)
3/4 cup rolled barley (could try a sturdy rolled oat too if you can't find barley)
1/2 cup whole buckwheat grains (I toast 'em first in a dry skillet, stirring until a nice nutty fragrance develops...4-5 min?)
~1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 medium sized over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 heaping Tbs. almond butter
1 1/2 cups of milk or carrot juice (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
2 tablespoons of honey or agave

Preheat oven to 350 and line the bottom of a 9 x 13 cake pan with parchment paper and spray sides with a good canola spray.
Mix all dry ingredients together (buckwheat flour through sliced almonds)
In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas with almond butter and honey and stir well.
Add almond milk to the banana mixture and stir until combined.
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl.
Since I've only made this once, I can't remember how long I cooked it for.
Use a toothpick to check for doneness starting at around 30 min...knowing that it'll take longer than that. :-)

Bacon, Onion, and Brown Lentil Skillet with Corn Bread and Braised Collards

Total comfort food...mmmmm. So full...can't type...

Make this. Eat this. Good.

Bacon, Onion and Lentil Skillet:
(Cooking Light)

6 center-cut bacon slices
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup dried brown lentils
1 cup water
~3/4 tsp kosher salt (original recipe doesn't call for any salt)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside.
Add onion to drippings in pan; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
Add carrot, celery, thyme, and garlic; cook for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Add broth, lentils, and 1 cup water and kosher salt; bring to boil.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until lentils are just tender.
Uncover and increase heat to medium-high; cook 6 minutes (I had to cook for at least 10-15 more minutes than called for) or until liquid almost evaporates. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon.

I wanted to make a wheat-free cornbread tonight and this one is pretty chewy dense, but still very tasty. I'll make it again but in a muffin tin next time, as the center took way too long to set up. They'll also freeze nicely in muffin form. If an all cornmeal cornbread isn't for you, just mix up a batch of whatever recipe makes your particular toes wiggle with the goodness. :-)

Bob's Red Mill Basic Cornbread:

1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 Tb Sugar (I used agave nectar)
1 Egg, lightly beaten
About 2 cups Cornmeal, Medium Grind (Bob's is really nice...they grind the whole kernel so you get the germ and bran)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8" square baking pan, set aside.

Combine buttermilk, baking soda, salt, sugar and egg. Add cornmeal until batter reaches the consistency of cake batter. Spoon into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes (I cooked it much longer...)or till golden.

Organic collard greens made the perfect veggie side to go with our plates of comfort. Just used my standard braised greens recipe, with some good dashes of Tabasco (no balsamic) and then cooked for ~15 minutes.