bread Archives - Christina Najjar

Stove Top Flatbread (vegan)

November 6, 2014 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

You may be wondering why I would choose to make a flatbread on the stove top. The most frustrating thing I found when I first moved in to my current place, back in May, is that the oven is so small that none of my nice stoneware pans fit in there. The only thing that seems to fit is those disposable grocery store aluminum pans, but in nutrition school, we’ve been taught that it’s unhealthy to cook on aluminum.

I love to eat bread. I get tons of bread cravings, but when that happens, I try to make my own bread as much as possible. However, when I don’t want to take the time to let a loaf of yeast bread rise, I usually opt for flatbread. Thanks to my tiny oven, this has been a bit more difficult to manage.

On Monday, I decided I’d had enough of letting this tiny oven run my life (well, so to speak). I decided I was going to make bread on my stove top, but I couldn’t really find a recipe I liked. I’ve recently noticed that I’ve become so familiar with the vegan/gluten free chemistry that I can invent recipes and get them right on the first try. My only complaint the first time I made this flatbread is that it didn’t look pretty enough to photograph, so I made it again on Wednesday and made sure to “roll” it out in a slightly more attractive manner.

Stove Top Flatbread (vegan, refined sugar free)

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tbsp potato starch
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
sprinkle of salt
3-5 tbsp water (start with 3 and add more, 1 tbsp at a time until everything sticks together)
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp maple syrup, honey, or agave (optional)
Oil for cooking

Directions
Mix the dry ingredients together. Add in the wet ingredients and mix well. You may need to go in with your hands.

Spread a bit of oil in a frying pan. Spread the dough in the pan until it’s about 1/4 inch thick, or just over 1/2 cm.

Once the dough is shaped how you like it, turn on the heat to medium low. Check the bottom every few minutes. When it looks nice and golden brown, flip the bread and continue cooking until the other side is also nicely coloured.

This recipe makes one medium flatbread so multiply as needed, or split the dough into two smaller breads.

Dinner Rolls (vegan, yeast free)

June 16, 2014 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

If you’re wondering just how dedicated I am to following my posting schedule these days, here’s how much. I had class scheduled from 1pm to 4pm, and dinner plans for 5:30. Having not had time to cook anything in advance, between the usual demands (full time work, school, you know the gist), I had to make a decision. Was I, once again, going to post late? I missed the second half of my class in order to run home before my dinner plans to make dinner rolls for you folks.

Now, before you frown at me for missing half of my class, let me say this. Today was the first lecture for that particular course. We were only going to cover the introduction for those who had never studied the topic. I have a minor in that subject, so I figured I could miss half of the introduction. You’re probably thinking, “You’re a stranger, why would I care?” so I feel the need to mention that my mom reads my blog (or used to, at least).

Now, about the actual dinner rolls. This recipe comes from my early gluten free days. I was really badly missing bread, but I didn’t feel courageous enough to attack an actual loaf of bread (if you picture that literally, it’s actually quite a funny image). I figured dinner rolls would suit my craving, but I couldn’t find a recipe that fit all of my dietary concerns and which was also yeast free. I just didn’t want to bother with the yeast. Thus, this recipe was born. I’ve brought these rolls to many a potluck, since.

Dinner Rolls

Ingredients
3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp corn free baking powder
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water)
1 cup water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 6 cups of a standard sized muffin pan. I use the 6-muffin aluminum pans you can get at the grocery store.

In a small bowl, prepare your flax egg and set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl or a larger measuring cup, combine all the wet ingredients. Mix everything together and spoon out evenly into the muffin pan.

Cook for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and remove the rolls as soon as you can possibly handle them. Otherwise, they’ll get soggy. Makes 6 rolls so multiply recipe as needed.

Gluten free Cinnamon Raisin Bread (vegan)

May 5, 2014 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

When I was younger, when I went to Calgary with my mom, we would go to the Eau Claire market and get the best cinnamon raisin bread ever. The memory of that bread stayed with me. Since I can no longer buy amazing raisin bread, I took it upon myself to make beauty happen.

I’ve officially lived in four different apartments in the last year. I moved again last week, hopefully for the last time in a looong while. I decided to downsize because my last place was costing me more than I could afford. I found a nice roomy studio with a great kitchen. This one will save me a few hundred dollars a month. Plus, now I live in my favourite neighbourhood in town.

I finally got settled in yesterday. I spent several hours unpacking box after box. I do still have a few boxes to unpack, but all the important stuff has been taken care of. I’m glad, because I ate pre-made meals for a week straight, while all my pans and utensils were held hostage in cardboard. It was too late yesterday to make bread by the time I was done working on the apartment, but I set to it when I woke up this morning.

Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Ingredients
2 cups water (room temperature for bread machine, slightly warm for oven)
3 tbsp flax meal or chia meal – this will be part of the wet ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp maple syrup (or try honey)
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup teff flour
1/2 cup starch (tapioca, potato, arrowroot, or a combination)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
2 tbsp sorghum flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp xanthan gum
2 tsp cinnamon
1 package regular yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 cup sultana raisins

Directions
In the bread machine:
Add all the ingredients in the order listed, except for raisins. If your bread machine has a gluten free function, use that one. Otherwise, a regular function will do. This recipe will make a 2 lb loaf.

When the first mix cycle is finished, check on the dough to make sure there are no lumps left.

Remove the loaf from the bread machine immediately when it is done. Otherwise, it will become soggy. Wait at least ten minutes before cutting it.

In the oven:
In a small bowl, combine water, maple syrup, and yeast. It should take about ten minutes to proof the yeast (foam will form at the top). If the yeast doesn’t proof, it’s no longer good. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. When the yeast has proofed, add in the rest of the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and mix well.

Transfer the dough to a greased loaf pan. Cover with a towel and let the yeast rise for an hour in a warm place (try over the fridge).

Heat the oven to 350F degrees. Once it reaches that temperature, put the loaf in the oven and bake for one hour. Let the loaf cool down before cutting.