When embarking on a healthier diet, people rapidly abandon traditional white bread. Indeed it is high in calories and low in essential nutrients. If you add some gluten and yeast sensitivities to the equation, bread quickly falls out of favor altogether. Almost a decade ago my friend sent me the link to “The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread” by Sarah Britton. Along with flaxseed and psyllium seed husk crackers, it became a mainstay for me and inspired many nutty, seedy and healthy bread-making experiments.
Making this buckwheat bread was the second time I had to recall “The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread”. It genuinely changes your life. This healthy and delicious bread requires no proofing, and no kneading, is yeast- and gluten-free, and it comes together in a flash. Prepared in under 15 minutes and ready to eat in 45. Truly miraculous!
I have a special bond with buckwheat. After all, my mum named me after this wonderous plant (buckwheat is called ajda in Slovenian, which is a common female name). Buckwheat has a long tradition in Slovenian history and our ancestors utilized it to make a variety of foods, including bread, porridge, pancakes, spoon bread, pudding, different types of cakes, rolled dumplings, and pastry. As more restaurants begin to serve classic buckwheat dishes as gourmet specialties, the ancestral diet of our forefathers is making a comeback today.
Despite its name, buckwheat is not related to wheat and is not even a member of the grass family. It is a so-called pseudo-grain related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb. Buckwheat is a short-season crop as it has a growing period of only 10-12 weeks, with delicate pink or white flowers that attract pollinators. Buckwheat flowers' nectar yields dark-colored honey.
Buckwheat is of great importance to Slovenian beekeepers as they bloom at a time when nectar and pollen are scarce, helping to preserve bees and, inadvertently, the life of the entire ecosystem. It is hardly surprising that buckwheat is used as a metaphor for life in Slovenian art.
Buckwheat is a food source with high nutritional and medicinal value, rich in fiber, B vitamins, potassium, manganese, and phosphates. It is great for people with allergies as it is naturally alkaline and gluten-free. Its fiber content promotes weight loss, assists digestion, and guards against constipation. According to studies, those who consistently consume buckwheat products have lower blood sugar, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels.
It is said to improve and prevent varicose veins due to rutin and quercetin content, the main antioxidants in buckwheat. These active substances improve capillary wall flexibility, strengthen veins, seal broken blood vessel walls, promote microcirculation, and decrease venous insufficiency.
As far back as the 16th century, Paracelsus knew that impaired water balance in the body slows down circulation and made a connection between the red stems of this wondrous plant and our circulatory system. He advised patients to follow an alkaline diet, consume potassium-rich foods (such as bananas, buckwheat, dried apricots, squash, dried prunes, oranges, potatoes, etc.), and drink buckwheat tea and lots of water. After just six weeks, patients' circulatory systems had significantly improved. Our forefathers obviously knew how healthy buckwheat is, as they had it on their menus regularly.
This bread is made only out of buckwheat flour. You can easily make buckwheat flour at home, which is more affordable and nutritious because it is freshly ground. Simply use a coffee grinder to grind the grains (the same goes for rolled oats, for example). Put raw grain in a grinder and make flour by finely grinding it. Always measure the flour after grinding.
This is nutritious soda bread, a type of quick bread made without yeast that has a distinctively soft texture from the reaction of baking soda with acidic sour milk (yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir). While soda bread is traditionally attributed to Ireland, it was first created by Native Americans by using a natural form of soda formed from the ashes of wood.
It is indeed one of the easiest loaves of bread you will ever make.
Ingredients:
280g buckwheat flour
50g walnuts (coarsely chopped)
500ml yogurt or kefir
1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons seed mix of your choice (I used extra walnuts, white and black sesame) for the topping
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 180 °C ventilation (or 356 F) and arrange the oven rack to the middle position. Grease a non-stick metal loaf pan (mine is 25x11 cm or 9x4 inch).
In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients (except walnuts and seed mix) together until you get a unified (it will be pretty runny) dough. Add the walnuts now, if you want, and mix them into the dough evenly. Pour the dough into the loaf pan, even the dough, sprinkle with the seed mix of your choice and extra walnuts and bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes (verify by poking a toothpick through the bread; if it comes out clean, the bread is done.) Let the buckwheat bread cool for a few minutes in the pan, before removing it and cooling fully on a wire rack. Keep the bread wrapped in a clean kitchen towel, which should not be washed with fabric softener, and use in a few days (or freeze for later). Easy, healthy, and so delicious!