Whole grain, gluten-free happiness, with sunflower seeds!

I've been raised on whole grain bread. That's right, the brown stuff. My mom was just hippie enough to insist on me developing a taste for the breads with grain-crunch in them.  Last time I made gluten-free bread, it was definitely much closer to wonderbread than quality grown-up bread.  This time, out of lack of preparation, I mixed together 2 recipes from the gluten-free section of King Arthurs Flour website, added a little extra, and crossed my fingers.  The whole grain gluten free recipe called for a flour mix not available in stores (online order only), so I mixed up the flour blend I used last loaf, and added flaxseed meal and chopped sunflower seeds.  Then followed the directions from the new recipe.  There are a lot of variables this time, so there were high possibilities of this try ending in a disappointing brick.  I took a lot of pictures of the process, so brace yourself for several "thousand words."


The dry ingredients



Can I just say that the earthy look of this flour mix delights me?

The dry mix is then added to the wet mix one cup at a time...strange, but it worked.

Before the first rise

First rise is finished, now to scrape it and beat it(Again, it sounded strange to me!)

This is my self-appoint sous chef. She realized that occasionally, I drop things that should be devoured quickly.  Any time I stood still, she laid on my feet.  This complimentary foot warming was between risings, as I was copying down the recipe and the alterations I made, for the sake not having to make repeat mistakes in the future.

I didn't realize until reaching the point of needing a pan that my bread pan was actually larger than the recipe called for(10"x4.5" instead of 8.5"x4")...so, the dough didn't reach the rim like it was supposed to. No big deal, I hope. It will likely just be a bit wider than it is deep.

Into the oven it goes!

I am convinced heaven will smell like baking bread.

Okay, so even if this stuff winds up tasting like a brick, you have to admit, it sure looks pretty!

It is quite sliceable. It is a little squat because I used a larger pan, but I'm thinking I might like to try increasing the recipe and using the larger pan. I might just get a real sized sandwich.

Because, I'm thinking that bread this size might require multiple sandwiches to be made to equal one meal...

But hey, check out my pores!

And just look at that spreadability!  That butter, ladies and gents, was pulled straight from the fridge for this spreading.

So, all in all, I'm going to chalk this one up as a mostly success.  At the moment, it tastes great! Is that because it's still warm and wonderful, and the baker may have held off lunch so she could have bread with(...or for...) her lunch?  That is quite possible, but I have to say, I love the happy, gentle crunch of sunflower seeds, and the rough texture of the bread in general, thanks to the flax seed, and oh, it is moist!  The bread, I will admit, scared me before I cut into it, because the loaf is a bit on the heavy side...which means later, it will probably feel a little dense, but, as with all gluten free food, that can be fixed by toasting it, smothering it in cheese, or dipping it in something.  I was thrilled when I sliced it to find normal sized pores!  My last bread had huge pores that made the bread a little too spongy, and often gluten free bread has too small or no pores at all.

Changes for next time? Either more bread, or less pan!  And I might also increase the quantity of sunflower seed a little, or experiment with tossing other seeds/grains in.  For those of you who eat nasty things like raisins, this might be a very good recipe to defile with those things.  I haven't typed the recipe up yet, so let me know if you would like a copy of this recipe, and I will pass it along, when I get a copy ready.