New Mum’s Food Adventures

I tried making a loaf of bread with pre soaked chia seeds. I used boiled water to speed it up. But I used a paper pan liner. The dough stuck so hard to the paper that it’s impossible to remove and has ruined the loaf. The loaf is moist and not too gummy. It definitely needs problem solving. I think, next time, an over night proof and cooking in a Dutch oven then removing the lid and cooking further will yield a better result. But I was definitely on to something. I almost got my flour to work. A flour I love for everything else except bread as it can be too gummy. I’m going to try again on another day. But I have the recipe. This time I used protein powder. I’m using soy isolate as I can’t have dairy but whey isolate would work perfectly fine. Pea protein didn’t quite react the same way but it helps improve the bread. My only complaint is that it did have a particularly bland flavour. So soaking the chia in milk would be a lot nicer.

After tearing off as much of the paper liner as I could after letting it fully cool, I cut it down the middle to see if it was gummy. The crust is soft. The crumb is moist and spongey. It has a nice texture and structure. I did write down the recipe. The next test is doubling the recipe, getting it to rise and not having a flying crumb or a gummy base. It took over an hour to proof today.

Except for the paper liner sticking to it, it was a pretty good bread. The chia seeds really helped improve the texture. It also made it more bland. I didn’t add salt as I had very little faith in it working out at all. I’m glad it worked. Upset about the paper. And when I say stuck I mean it peeled off in thin spaghetti strands. It did not want to peel off at all. It was fused to the bread!

My ingredients were:

• 200 grams of Well & Good Plain GF flour
• 10 grams psyllium husk whole (5% psyllium to GF flour)
• 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in 1/4 cup of boiled water
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 sachet of instant yeast approximately 7grams yeast
• 3/4 cup of water (for better flavour, use milk or buttermilk)
• 2 tablespoons of butter. I used nuttelex vegan butter as I cannot eat dairy. You can substitute the butter for oil. You could even use ghee. But you do need a fat of some kind
• 20 grams of soy isolate. I’m using natures way unflavoured plant protein that contains 99% soy isolate. You can use pea protein or whey isolate. Results may vary
• 1 egg or 1 teaspoon of baking powder

I started with putting the chia seeds in the boiling water first. Putting cling film over the bowl and letting it come down to a warm temp that wouldn’t kill the yeast. Then in my stand mixer I combined all dry ingredients and whisked them together before adding the egg, butter and water. When it started to combine it looks too dry. Add the chia seeds and the dough should look this sticky-

If it’s not this sticky, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time.

The chia seeds and psyllium husk will continue to use that remaining moisture and form a smooth dough. I plopped mine in a bread pan. Next time I would oil the pan heavily. The dough is dense. I used wet hands to press and smooth it out and avoid holes and proofed until almost doubled in size. I didn’t aim for double as I was afraid of over proofing and I was getting impatient. Feeling the crumb and its strength, I will proof until double in size. I cooked starting from a cool oven set to 180 degrees for about 40 minutes. Next time I would do this in a preheated oven on a higher temp and for a bit longer. Next time I would like to do this how I have been baking GF sourdough just to see how it will affect the dough.

So yes it was a failure but it was worth the experiment. Next time I’m doubling the ingredients.