We’ve been trying to master a gluten free bread that’s also vegan and low sugar. After experimenting with various combinations of flax “eggs”, apple sauce, almond butter, and anything and everything else we thought might make the bread hold up, it kept coming out mushy! Until this beauty.
Oat flour might be the key to creating a bread that holds up nicely, especially if you’re making it vegan (without eggs). Coconut flour and almond flour tend to absorb and hold a lot of moisture, so by using some oat and some almond flour and no flax egg, we created a recipe that tastes amazing and is dense and fluffy. Enough of all the baking talk, let's talk about CHOCOLATE & GINGERBREAD!
You could really do this bread plain or with any spices or flavor you want, but we went with chocolate and ginger to be festive for the holiday season. You'll need cacao powder and chocolate chunks for that chocolatey goodness, and ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla bean for the spicy sweet gingerbread flavor. Although you could make this bread without using all of those spices if you don't have them on hand, it is highly recommended for optimal taste! Hope you enjoy.
Ingredients:
1/3 C coconut oil (melted)
1/4 C ginger syrup (May sub for maple or coconut nectar)
3/4 C unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 C almond butter
1 Tbsp flax
1 C almond flour
1/2 C oat flour**
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp cacao powder
1 tsp ground ginger or ginger juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean powder
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4- 1/2 C semi sweet dark chocolate chunks
**To make your own oat flour, simply add a heaping 1/2 C gluten free or steel cut oats to a high quality blender or food processor and blend on high for about 1 min or until oats are completely a flour.
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut oil, ginger syrup, applesauce, almond butter, and flax.
3. Make your oat flour** (see above) or skip this step if you purchased oat flour.
4. Slowly add in and mix your almond flour and oat flour.
5. Add in baking powder, cacao powder, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla bean, and cardamom, and mix.
6. Option to fold in chocolate chunks, or add to just the top of the batter once poured into the loaf pan.
7. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in the mixture.
8. Bake for 52-55 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the loaf pan and slicing (the hardest part!). Enjoy!