Three Bears Bread and Goldilocks' Biscuits

I was inspired to make these little fellows for our New Roots 25th Birthday party, and thought that bread and biscuits would be a nice balance to bring..something savoury and something sweet, and it turned out that the savoury - the bread - had a little bit of sweet in it, and the sweet - the biscuits - had a little bit of savoury in them..yin a yang..good balance, ja?

So, here's the bread recipe, unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the fresh out of the oven loaf, as I was in a bit of a mad rush to get there on time, but it came out rather quite well, and ended up being a lovely compliment to the soup that was made at the party..(which was a warm and hearty lentil and veg creation) and people liked it too..yay!

And the name, Three Bears Bread, represents the three different flours (and it fits nicely well with the name of the last recipe! ;)  )

Ingredients

1 cup chesnut flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup gluten free flour mix

2tsp dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fruit sugar

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2 tsp ground coriander

50g chopped dates

2 tbsp olive oil

200ml hand-hot water

2tbsp linseeds covered in warm water in a small bowl and left to set for 20mins (this makes an egg like texture and is a great binding buddy for breads and cakes)

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, yeast, salt, sugar, spices and dates.

Add the oil and water and mix to a stiff paste.

Turn into a greased loaf pan, cover loosely with cling film, or a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes. Then remove cling film and bake in oven for 20-25 minutes at 200oC until firm.

The loaf may not rise much, as gluten-free breads are quite tricky to rise, at least mine are anyway! But it still comes out rather tasty.

The sweetness of the dates together with the cumin and coriander spices was just loverly!

And it was quite a light bread too, not too heavy on ye tum..but just right..and seemed to leave me feeling rather nice and floaty and comfortably contented..ahhhh.

And here's the biscuit recipe..I was inspired by this chewy molasses cookies recipe, found here...http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/10/08/chewy-molasses-cookies/ a great vegan recipe blog..I just tweaked the recipe a little...

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1 tsp xantham gum

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinammon

6 tbsp margarine

1/2 cup fruit sugar

2 tbsp malt syrup

handful of walnuts, for topping

and a little jam of your choice, also for topping, I use pear and apple

In a small pan, slowy heat the malt syrup until melted. In a large bowl, mix together flours, baking powder and spices. In a separate bowl, beat together the margarine and fruit sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and mix to combine, and in several batched add the dry ingredients until a dough begins to form, adding a little soya milk if mix is too dry, and being careful not to over mix.

Pinch of about 1 tbsp of dough and roll into balls and place two inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes, then remove from oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Then top with jam and nuts..or you can use whatever your creative mood is fancying! :)

These came out nice and chewy and tasty, a little bit like a scone and had that nice sweet/savoury vibe, more sweet than savoury, not overly sweet..but just right..I think Goldilocks would like em..I shall name these biscuits..Goldilocks biscuits..because they're just right :)

xx