I haven’t really eaten bread for a long time and don’t tend to miss it much at all… except when I’m at work and someone is making a ham, cheese and tomato toastie in the lunch room. The smell is just amazing!

So I embarked on a mission to find a grain-free, paleo bread recipe that I like – so often I find them too much like a cake and not really like a bread.

Well, it’s taken a long time to perfect something I like, trying many different flour combinations, oil combinations, flavours and so on. But I’ve finally got something I’m happy with! I hope you like it too!

Ham, cheese and tomato ‘toastie’. Complete with the excess melted cheese from the sandwich press drizzled on top.

I love making the bread with steamed pureed pumpkin (as listed in the recipe) as it gives a lovely flavour, but if you just want a quick and easy version, just substitute it with 1/2 cup of your favourite nut milk.

I love that this bread works for both sweet and savoury toppings. I had it with ricotta, fresh figs and honey for morning tea one day!

Serves: 16

Time: 90 min
Other info: GF, DF, Vg, SF, Paleo

Ingredients:

• 400g Steamed or roasted pumpkin, pureed (you can use ½ cup Almond milk here if you don’t have pumpkin but the pumpkin gives a great flavour)
• 1.5 cup Almond Meal
• 1.5 cup Buckwheat flour (I’ve been buying this from the health-food store but have recently just come across it at my local Indian Grocery store as well)
• 4 eggs
• 50g Coconut Oil
• pinch salt
• [2 tsp. Bicarb soda + 2 tsp Cream of Tartar] OR [3 tsp Baking Powder]

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160degC
2. Blend pumpkin (or almond milk), eggs, oil and salt in food processor until smooth.
3. Add flours and baking powder and whiz again until smooth.
4. *If adding flavours/spices then transfer batter to a bowl and stir these through here. See below for flavour ideas*
5. Pour batter into a loaf tin lined with parchment paper and bake for 60-70min or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 1 hour before using a sharp knife to slice and serve.
7. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Slice and freeze if necessary.

Mini-pizzas! Top a slice of bread with some homemade tomato sauce, ham, sun-dried tomato and cheese then pop under the grill. YUM!

The simple, Aussie tradition of butter and Vegemite on bread or toast (in this case I’ve used OmegaMite – see link below).

OmegaMite is made by Nature’s Blend and is a delicious, gluten-free, low sodium, omega-3 boosted version of Vegemite. Check out their website to order or find your closest stockist.

* Flavour Additions:

• Use Olive Oil instead of Coconut Oil and stir through come chopped olives, sun-dried tomato and Feta. Absolutely divine topped with hommus or capsicum dip!
  

  Hot Cross Buns I made at Easter using both the Chocolate and Fruit/Cinnamon variations!

• Add some herbs and spices like rosemary, thyme, basil, pepper, even cumin, coriander, sumac for some interesting flavour variations.
• For a sweet version, stir through 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1-2 tbsp honey and your favourite chopped, dried fruit (my favourites would be dried apricot, dried figs and dried apple)! Separate into a muffin tray to make individual portions if you like
• For Chocolate bread/muffins. Add 1/2 cup raw cacao or cocoa powder, 3-4 tbsp honey and even some dark choc-chips!

Macronutrients Per Serve (Using Pumpkin):