If you were at the last Fresh Network open day you may have seen me demonstrating how to make herb bread and how to use the bread to make a sandwich.  Well, I’ve come up with a new bread recipe and I have to say, it’s even better!  You are the first to know about this recipe as I only took the first batch out of the dehydrator this morning and I’m feeling particularly satisfied now as I’ve just polished off a sandwich fit for Scooby Doo!!!

Before I go into the bread recipe, I’d just like to remind you of the next Fresh Network Open Day.  These really are a fantastic day for members and guests alike.  As well as coming to the beautiful riverside location Ely and getting your hands on all the equipment and raw food you can handle, there’ll be a range of food demos going on, some with free tasters!  You can come from 10am and stay until 4pm, having lunch with us, or you can just drop in to say hi!  If you time it right, you might even get some chocolate torte!  Seeing as it’s Easter coming up, not only will I be demonstrating how to make my chocolate torte, I’ll also be showing you how to make raw chocolate Easter eggs.  So now you won’t have to worry about what to do when everyone else is eating their eggs this year, just join in!  Brilliant!

So on with the bread recipe…

I love making this bread as it’s so satisfying to create and eat.  You can make a batch of this on Sunday and be set up for some fantastic lunchtime sarnies for the week, instead of just taking the salad option!  I like to make a sandwich with avocado, lambs lettuce, tomato and cashew mayonnaise.  If you like mushrooms then some chunky slices of portabello mushrooms marinated in Nama Shoyu or Tamari make an excellent addition too.

So here’s the recipe…

Mediterranean Almond Bread

1/2c olive oil
1c sun dried tomatoes, loosely packed
3c almond flour*
1c flax meal
3 medium courgettes (zucchini), peeled & roughly chopped
2 apples, cored and roughly chopped
3T lemon juice
1t salt
3T Herbs De Provence or herbs of your choice
2T marjoram or herbs of your choice

*You can make almond flour a number of ways.  My favourite is to save the pulp from any almond milk I make and dehydrate it so I can keep it in a glass jar until needed.  You could also use the almond pulp wet.  Another way would be just to grind some almonds into flour in a high powered blender or coffee mill.

- Process the olive oil, sun dried toms, courgette, apple, lemon juice, salt and dried herbs until thoroughly mixed.

- Add the almond flour and process again until a batter is formed.

- In a bowl mix the batter with the flax meal by hand.  The reason you do this separately (not in the processor) is that you are likely to have too much mixture for the size if the processor at this point, and when you add the flax meal it will become quite heavy and sticky and overwork your machine.

- When mixed, process the whole batter in the machine again in small batches to achieve a light fluffy texture.

- Divide the mixture in 2 and place on Paraflexx sheets, on dehydrator trays.

- Use an offset spatula (aka offset palette knife or cranked palette knife) to spread the mixture evenly to all 4 sides and corners of the Paraflexx sheet.  If mixture is too sticky you can wet the spatula to make things easier.  With a knife score the whole thing into 9 squares.

- Dehydrate for 2 hours and then remove the Paraflexx sheets by placing another dehydrator tray and mesh on top and invert so that your original sheet of bread is upside down.  That will allow you to peel the Paralexx sheet off and continue to dehydrate the underside of the bread.

- Dehydrate for approx 8 hours more at 105 degrees F (do this overnight so you’re not tempted to eat it before it’s ready) or until bread feels light in your hand.  If the pieces don’t fully come apart where you scored, use a knife to cut them.

So there you have it.  Once you have this bread, the only limit you have is your imagination.  I have made bread before and used lasagna leftovers to create ‘cheese and tomato’ sarnies, one of my all-time childhood faves!

Let me know your favorite fillings!!! :-)