healthy | little home by hand

In my quest for eating better it’s hard to abstain from certain favorite foods.
A staple in my diet has always been bread. I love german bread, the crunchy crusts and the rich taste (seriously, you have to try german bread!).
As a result of my changed diet however I’m trying to stay away from gluten, lactose (often added to bread) and empty carbs as much as possible.
I had already switched to grain/seed bread but I wanted to try and see if I could find a recipe for baking a nice grain bread at home. I love baking at home and it would give me full control over the ingredients. I looked up some recipes and found a winner quickly!

I deviated very little from the original recipe but since the source is in German, here’s my translation:

500ml lukewarm water
600g flour ( I used half whole spelt flour, half normal spelt flour)
200g seed of your choice (I use a mix of oats, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds / linseed)
1 teaspoon sugar (can be substituted with honey or other sweeteners)
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages dry yeast (in german packages that would be enough for 1000g flour)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water with the sugar. Add the flour, seeds and salt. Mix throroughly (the dough is quite wet) and let rise for 30 minutes. Form into a bread shape or fill a loaf pan with the dough and bake at 200°C (ca. 400°F) for 45-60 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
Yes, it really is that easy!

Let the bread cool before cutting and enjoy a filling homemade bread!

So why is this better than storebought bread?
a. The taste of freshly baked bread is divine
b. I used spelt flour instead of wheat flour. Spelt flour is not gluten free but it is much easier to digest than wheat for most people. I also like the taste better.
c. No additives, no added lactose
d. You get to choose the seeds you like best in your bread

The recipe resulted in quite a large bread, so I froze half of it and ate the other half within 6 days. I don’t know how long it keeps but it was fine for the week.
Ultimately I want to try making my own sourdough starter but right now this recipe feels like a great start!

What to snack on when you want to eat healthy? Quitting snacks (which used to be chocolate and pastries in my case) has been one of the hardest parts of eating better.
Until I discovered oat cakes! After a bit of experimenting I found the perfect recipe for me that is both healthy and super tasty.

Using this recipe as a base I first tried a batch with dark chocolate mixed in. It was ok, but rather bitter. For the next batch I just started adding things I thought would taste nice.

Here’s my recipe:

225g oats
ca. 200g chopped almonds
ca. 150g raisins
60g whole grain spelt flour (can be substituted by wholewheat flour if you have no spelt flour on hand)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
60g butter (melted)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey (can be substituted with agave nectar if you want no sugar at all)
60-80ml hot water
between 1/2 and 1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of cardamom

Mix together all dry ingredients, then add the honey, melted butter and hot water. Mix with a spoon until it has formed a dough, then roll out on a floured surface (I roll it out between a piece of saran wrap so it doesn’t stick).

I used glasses to cut the cakes (some of these photos are from my chocolate batch, hence the dark color)

Bake at 190°C for about 20-30 minutes, until the cakes are starting to brown.

The cakes are very filling due to the oats and the whole grain flour. The spices and almonds add a nice taste and the raisins add sweetness. I think I’ll substitute the honey with agave nectar the next time and see how that turns out.
Happy baking!