Ever since I started making lentil tortillas and quinoa flatbread, I’ve been on the hunt for a bread recipe that uses flours that are a product of the entire edible part of the plant, rather than flours that use only a portion. To this end, I experimented a bit with an earlier recipe that uses lentil, sprouted spelt, and whole-wheat flour. I replaced the spelt and whole-wheat flours with oat and chickpea flour and came up with this surprisingly good loaf. It does contain a tiny bit of flour– four TBS–because I added vital wheat gluten to act with the yeast and ensure that the result wasn’t too….ahem, brickish.

Oat-Chickpea-Lentil Bread

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Step One:

Mix together:

• 1 cup water
• 2 TBS hemp seeds
• 2 TBS quinoa flakes (or quinoa)
• 2 TBS sunflower seeds

Leave to sit for twenty minutes while you get the other steps ready.

Step Two:

Blend in the Vitamix until as smooth as pancake batter:

• 1 cup red lentils (uncooked)
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 cup water

If you don’t have a Vitamix or other high-speed blender, you’ll need to soak your lentils for several hours first.

Step Three:

Mix together in a stand mixer bowl:

• 1 cup oat flour (I made this by blending whole oats in the Vitamix)
• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1.5 tsp baker’s yeast
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 4 TBS vital wheat gluten

Step Four:

Pour the seed/water mix from step one and the lentil mix from step two into the dry mix and blend with the dough hook for a good two or three minutes.

The dough will be very shaggy–not something you can knead, so let the dough hooks do the kneading. Here’s a video so you can see the texture once mixed:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qPNU4gj8Lz7Zojgw9

Next, pour the mix into a loaf pan or a Pullman pan (my preference), cover and leave in a warm place for one hour.

Sprinkle on your loaf with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and bake for 30 minutes (until the loaf achieves an internal temperature of 207 degrees).

Wait until it cools to slice.

It’s great toasted with a schmear of vegan butter, and it’s delicious spread with peanut butter.

And the song of the day is Cat Stevens’ “Moon Shadow” because it’s currently playing on Google!