The day after the party and a loaf

What a perfect winter morning we had in Auckland today. Bright sun and a clear sky. Mondays should always be so pretty.The house felt strangely quiet after a very busy day yesterday. There were still balloons bouncing around and lovely birthday cards scattered around. Yesterday was our Bonnie's 1st birthday party. Her first year has flown by and it was fun to celebrate reaching the milestone with some of our favourite people. My partner and I been blessed to have a wonderful gang of family and friends support us the past year while we've tried to master this parenting business.

Her party was a morning tea. Foolishly I got too caught up in hosting to take a picture of the pretty table We enjoyed lots of delicious homemade food, bubbles and strong stovetop coffee.

At the end of the party I had lots of requests for one recipe in particular. It's not one of mine. I'm just spreading the good word. The much requested recipe was the "Life Changing Loaf" from mynewroots.org. I served it lightly toasted alongside smoked salmon and my roasted pumpkin & garlic cream.

This recipe is ridiculously easy to make. A clever mixture of nuts, seeds and oats. Naturally gluten free and vegan. It's basically combine, soak and bake. Make sure you use a silicon loaf pan. It's essential that you're able to turn the loaf out halfway through cooking.

Thank you to Lucy for reminding me about this recipe.

The Life Changing Loaf of Bread by My New Roots

1 cup / 135g sunflower seeds 

½ cup / 90g flax seeds 

½ cup / 65g hazelnuts or almonds 

1 ½ cups / 145g rolled oats 

2 Tbsp. chia seeds

3 Tbsp. psyllium seed husks 

1 tsp. fine grain sea salt 

1 Tbsp. maple syrup or honey

3 Tbsp. melted coconut oil or ghee

1 ½ cups / 350ml water

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.

Place all dry ingredients into a flexible silicon loaf pan and stir well.

Whisk together the oil, maple syrup and water. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix until really well combined. The dough should be very thick. Smooth the top and then let sit on the bench for at least two hours. Overnight is fine. You'll know the dough is ready if it retains it's shape even when you pull the sides of the loaf pan away from it.

Place the loaf into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the loaf from the pan and place it upside down directly onto the oven rack and bake for another 30-40 minutes.

The bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped.Allow the bread to cool entirely before slicing.

Store in an airtight container for up to five days or pre slice and freeze for easy toasting. (I think this bread is best as toast)

(Vegan, wheat free)

If you've never checked out Sarah Britton's My New Roots blog- quick. Do it now! It's inspiring and uplifting. I'm so appreciative to the lovely Rachel who passed it on to me. 

www.mynewroots.org