Another extraordinary bread, made from exceptional ingredients for bread baking. Quinoa, rich in proteins and minerals. Chia, rich in unsaturated fatty acids and also minerals. The leavening agent in this bread is sodium bicarbonate with lemon juice because there is no glucose for yeast to feed on.

Quinoa is said to be gluten free, but according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations there are at least 2 types which contain gluten:

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4042e/i4042e19.pdf

The tri-coloured quinoa may contain one of these types but I cannot tell. People affected by coeliac disease can probably tell them apart or know the right suppliers. Therefor I still declare this a gluten free bread. It is a very easy made bread, only the draining of the quinoa can be tricky because of the amount.

Step 1: What You Need:

Ingredients:

350 grams tricoloured quinoa
250 ml water
70 ml olive oil
30 grams chia seeds
1/2 Lemon
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonat
1/2 teaspoon salt
a twig of thyme

For the toppings use pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or pistacchios.

Equipment:

Casserole
Jar
Parchment paper
Plastic wrap
Sifter

You need a big fine-meshed sifter for all the quinoa or draining them takes some effort.

Step 2: Soaking:

The chia seeds need to be soaked in water. Take 100 ml water with 30 grams chia seeds and put into a jar. Mix well with a spoon so all seeds are under water. The soaking procedure takes 30 minutes.

When chia seeds are soaked they produce mucilage and can absorb 12 times their weight in water. We will use this effect in our bread to glue everything together. The seeds are used as a replacement in baking for eggs, butter and even flour.

Step 3: Precooking Quinoa:

Meanwhile precook the 350 grams quinoa seeds for 7 minutes. Usually quinoa is cooked for 15 minutes which is necessary to destroy the saponins that haven't been washed out right after the harvest. The rest will be done in the hot stove during the baking. After the 7 minutes you need to drain the quinoa in a sifter, ideally rinsed with cold water previously. This draining is necessary or the bread will fall apart. If your sifter is not big enough to drain all 350 grams in one batch, you can hold a lid onto the bowl and skilfully let the water out. If that doesn't work well, you should reduce the 150 ml water of the final mix. Optionally you can also mix an egg into the dough to increase the stability.

Step 4: Fitting the Parchment Paper:

Prepare the parchment paper. Place the casserole in the mid of the parchment paper. Take a scissor and cut from the edges of the paper to the corners of the casserole. Place paper in the casserole and cut off overlaying excess.

Step 5: Meanwhile:

During the cooking of the quinoa, measure the 70 ml oil, crush the pistacchios, defoliate the thyme, mix 1/2 teaspoon salt with 150ml water and squeeze half a lemon. You can even abrade a bit of the zest to add more aroma to your bread.

Step 6: Mixing:

After 30 minutes the chia seeds are soaked and the whole content in the jar should be gel. Take the bowl with the drained quinoa seeds, add soaked chia seeds, add 70ml olive oil, add thyme, add a half teaspoon of salt, add the juice of a half lemon and a half spoon of sodium bicarbonate as leavening agent.

Sodium bicarbonate produces carbon dioxide above 80°C (180°F), the lemon juice prevents the production of bitter tasting alkalines.

Step 7: Baking:

Fill the mix in the casserole, smooth the surface with a spoon and sprinkle the top with pistacchios, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. The toppings protect the top a bit from the heat of the stove and are a perfect colour indicator to know when you are baking the bread for too long. Bake 1 hour at 180°C (360°F) fan-assisted or convection setting because of all the moisture in the mixture. If you think the bread is too wet put it back into the stove with the power off.

Step 8: Cooling:

After 1 hour take the casserole out of the stove and put it on a heat-proof surface. Look at the internal side of the casserole, the bread should have shrunk and a little gap between the bread and the parchment paper should be visible. Pull the bread out cautiously with the parchment paper and let it cool down on a plate.

Step 9: Wrapping:

After the bread has cooled down, take plastic wrap and enwrap it tightly. Put it in the fridge and let it rest for at least 12 hours to let the moisture spread evenly between all the substances of your bread. After you sliced off the desired amount of the bread, wrap the rest again and put it back into the fridge.

Step 10: Degustation:

The bread is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and therefor needs no butter or margarine. Inside your mouth the structure collapses easily between your tongue and palate. It has a nutty flavour and because of the rich ingredients one slice satisfies well. It supports a healthy lifestyle and is tasty. Can you ask for more?

Hopefully the instructable was comprehensible and complete, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Enjoy your meal!