Gluten-Free Bagel Recipe (vegan, xanthan gum-free)

I have a very fun recipe for you today. One that your children will love to participate in making......gluten-free bagels! I've been making these ever since my oldest daughter asked me to create a gluten-free bagel recipe about four years ago. I had just published the first edition of Nourishing Meals, which contained plenty of amazing gluten-free, vegan bread recipes, but no bagel recipe! She encouraged me to test out my breadstick and bread recipes in bagel form and they worked great. We've had fun making these together to send on her school camping trips throughout the years.

The big difference between bagels and a roll or a breadstick is that the dough is boiled after rising. This creates the chewy bagel texture that we all know and love. I've created a photo tutorial for you below to help make the bagel-making process very easy to understand.

There are so many variations to this recipe! Cinnamon-Raisin (my Buckwheat Cinnamon-Raisin variation will be posted soon), Garlic-Herb, Sesame, Poppy Seed-Sea Salt (pictured here), and more! Please let me know in the comments what types of flavor variations you created using my recipe.

This gluten-free bagel recipe is nearly identical to the Rosemary-Sea Salt Breadstick recipe on page 121 in my Nourishing Meals book. I've just changed the way in which they are made, and switched out one of the flours for another. I hope you enjoy!

Buckwheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread (gluten-free, vegan, nut-free, xanthan gum-free)

Today I wanted to share a recipe from my Nourishing Meals cookbook with you—another kneadable gluten-free bread! Creating a recipe for kneadable gluten-free (and xanthan gum-free) bread took me years and years to develop.

I still remember walking into my oldest daughter’s first week of preschool. The smell of freshly baked spelt rolls wafting throughout the house like a sweet perfume pervades my memory. My daughter took great care in carefully kneading each ball of dough into the shapes of her desire. The warm rolls were always served with raw honey and butter. All week she looked forward to bread day.

A few years later my second daughter was entering preschool. We found out she was sensitive to gluten during her toddler years, so she could not participate in the process of bread baking in preschool or kindergarten. I was at a loss for what to do. Yes, I was able to replace the gluten with gluten-free options, but none she could knead. None where she could be part of the process of grinding the grain into flour. None that connected her to the meaningful work that the whole process of bread baking imbued.

Inspired by the very real fact that my daughter could not participate in the entire experience of bread baking, I started down a path that was years in the making. I was almost there in the spring of 2010 when I posted this gluten-free baguette and Garlic-Rosemary White Bean Dip. I had been using chia and flax already for a while to help mimic the texture of gluten, but something was still missing. Still determined to create a kneadable gluten-free bread without xanthan gum, I had a flash of inspiration one day. What would happen if I added psyllium husk to the mix? I already knew how it worked to absorb liquid and create a gel, and so I had a pretty good feeling that it might help to mimic gluten in baking recipes. And that was it. I had finally cracked the gluten-free bread code! I eventually shared my Farmhouse Seed Bread recipe here with you in 2011. After many failures and triumphs (and partially edible loaves of gluten-free bread), I finally created a recipe that actually needs to be kneaded—a delicious, chewy round loaf of bread made from whole food ingredients! That recipe eventually morphed into many more gluten-free bread recipes using the basic framework I had developed, including this Buckwheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread and more, which can all be found in my Nourishing Meals book.

Years later, my twin boys entered kindergarten. By then there were so many children who were sensitive to gluten that the class was designated a gluten-free classroom, and their teacher only used my recipes for bread baking day. They ground their own buckwheat flour using a hand crank grinder. Different combinations of teff flour, brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, and arrowroot powder were used to form the dough. My boys would come home with rolls that they had carefully crafted into different shapes, tucked inside of little napkins. “Mom do you want to try my bread?” they called out to me after pick-up. Smiling, I said "yes."

Baking gluten-free bread is quite simple, though it requires a few extra ingredients compared to wheat-based bread recipes. To replace the gluten—the protein that gives bread it’s chewy texture and what helps it to rise by allowing gas bubbles to get trapped—I use a combination of ground chia seeds and psyllium husk. These ingredients form a gel that acts like gluten, allowing gas bubbles from the yeast fermentation to get trapped so the dough can rise. They also help to hold moisture and bind everything together.

Any gluten-free flour or blend of flours can be used in this recipe, but by using raw buckwheat groats, which can be ground into a soft flour using a hand or electric grain grinder, children get to experience the whole process of bread making, from grain to loaf—connecting head, heart, and hands.

Sprouted Brown Rice Bread (gluten-free + yeast-free)

Here is the recipe you've all been waiting for! I posted a photo of this gluten-free bread to our Facebook page over a month ago and received quite a bit of excited feedback. Yeast-free bread is so simple and quick to make because there is no rising time! Just mix the ingredients together and pop it in the oven.

This bread makes excellent sandwiches. It's also delicious toasted and spread with Homemade Honey-Sweetened Jam. I now make two loaves at a time because my children go through it so quickly. I have not experimented with other flours so please leave a comment if you make changes to this recipe so I can learn from you!

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls (egg-free, vegan, refined sugar-free)

Happy Holidays! I created this yummy gluten-free, vegan cinnamon roll recipe about a month ago and have been looking forward to posting it here for you all! It makes a fun treat to share with family and friends around the holidays. This recipe uses a mix of a few gluten-free whole grain flours along with ground golden flax seeds to add structure and tenderness. It's actually a version of the gluten-free breadstick recipe in my new cookbook.

If you follow me on Instagram I am sure you've seen a few cinnamon roll photos already. So as promised, here it is...finally!

Gluten-Free Flatbread Recipe made from Soaked Whole Grains (yeast-free, vegan)

I'm very excited to share this super simple gluten-free flatbread recipe with you today. It is made entirely from soaked gluten-free whole grains....no flours! This is a guest post from the lovely Kim Wilson of Simply Natural Health. Kim has written a fabulous e-book entitled Good and Easy Eats where you can find more of her delicious gluten-free soaked whole grain recipes! When Kim emailed me her recipe yesterday I immediately made it. I actually already had the two main ingredients prepped and ready to go....a bowl of millet and brown basmati rice soaking on the counter (in the correct measurements). My children devoured it right away and are asking when I will be making more! I just want to add that it is imperative that you sort through your millet (before soaking) and pick out any gluten grains. Millet is almost always contaminated with gluten! Happy Baking! ~Ali 

It’s a thrilling opportunity to be able to offer a guest blog here as I’ve admired Ali and Tom’s delicious recipes, lovely photos, and family-approach to natural eating for years. It was fourteen years ago when our family began embracing whole foods as the solution to our health issues. It wasn’t an easy transition initially as my husband was an extremely picky eater and I didn’t like cooking. Because of this I was highly motivated to find the quickest and easiest ways to prepare the most nutritionally-dense and family-pleasing foods. When I focused on developing more gluten-free recipes in an effort to help our adopted son (non-verbal and with many characteristically autistic behaviors), I was excited to find that the whole food approach to gluten-free cooking provided much more satisfying results than any of the costly, unappetizing and nutritionally-devoid gluten-free products and mixes out there.

Most gluten-free folks would probably agree that a couple of the toughest foods to replace satisfactorily are bread and pizza. I’ve worked for several months on developing and refining the super-simple, extremely versatile flatbread recipe I’m sharing here. I particularly love this kind of recipe because it begins with whole grains in contrast to whole grain flours. The grains are soaked, which increases their digestibility and nutritional profile, blended, and then POURED onto a hot baking stones or skillets. No more wrestling with sticky dough or batter!

Gluten-Free Bread (xanthan-free, vegan)

Today I have a very unique recipe to share. A gluten-free bread recipe that needs to be kneaded! It is made of whole grain flours and is also free of xanthan gum, starches, nuts, eggs, and dairy. Last August I began creating kneadable dinner rolls and braided bread free of the above mentioned ingredients. But something was missing. You see, I grew up making whole wheat bread from scratch with my mother. When I was two years old I was at the counter kneading bread. In high school I would bake my own bread for sandwiches. I have missed the feel of bread dough.

A few months ago I decided to try adding psyllium husk to my bread to see what would happen....and wow....gluten-free bread that really kneads! I was already using ground chia seeds, which help to hold moisture and bind everything together. But the combination of psyllium husk and ground chia works wonders! Psyllium is a fiber that is used in colon cleansing. It also works wonders on lowering cholesterol levels. It can be found on amazon.com or at your local health food store. Be sure to look for "whole psyllium husk." Whole chia seeds can be found at your local health food store and online. See the tip at the bottom of the recipe for grinding them.

If you try this bread, I would love your feedback in a comment below. Or, you could even upload a photo to my Facebook Page! I have many more kneadable gluten-free, xanthan-free, vegan bread recipes in my book, Nourishing Meals. Some examples include Buckwheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Everyday Sandwich Bread, and Sourdough Teff Bread! Enjoy!

Zucchini-Almond Bread (gluten-free + dairy-free)

Well, it's August. Harvest time. I've been busy picking berries, peaches, and apples as of late. Jam-making is in full swing, our gardens are overflowing, and the energy of summer is winding down into Autumn. You can feel it in the air here.

So why not bake zucchini bread? Now that our kitchen isn't 100 degrees anymore, I feel I can bake again! This gluten-free zucchini bread recipe is easy to make, moist, and super flavorful. It does contain eggs. You'll also notice that I use something called 'coconut sugar' in this recipe. Coconut sugar is a low-glycemic granulated sweetener that can replace white sugar in any recipe. For more information on one of my favorite sweeteners please refer to my Coconut Sugar Apple Crisp post!

Garlic-Rosemary White Bean Dip on Gluten-Free Baguette

The other day a wonderful friend came to visit us from Seattle along with her children. She brought a spread of beautiful, delicious food to share. I also cooked up a lovely white bean, olive, tomato pasta sauce to go over noodles. I had plenty of leftover white beans in the pot which I wasn't sure yet what to do with. Well, my friend suggested I make a white bean dip.

And so I did.

We have been enjoying it spread over slices of a crusty whole grain, gluten-free baguette that I have been making. My kids beg me to make this recipe almost daily now. It is a kneadable, gluten-free, vegan yeast bread I developed with very little starch and only a smidgen of xanthan gum. It is moist and dense with a flavor and that resembles 100% wheat bread. Hint: it will be in my next book.

Thin Buckwheat Pizza Crust (Gluten-Free, Yeast-Free, Vegan)

I am not sure how many of you have fond memories of pizza. From what we hear, pizza is sorely missed when going gluten and dairy-free. This yeast-free, gluten-free (and xanthan gum-free) crust recipe is a newer creation of mine. I do have another yeast-risen sorghum crust that I haven't shared yet. What I like about this recipe is that it only has a few ingredients and can be prepared in a snap!

I have made this recipe several times, sometimes making a quadruple batch for large gatherings. It turns out great each time. I have replaced the tapioca flour with arrowroot powder and it works too, though I needed to add a few extra tablespoons of water to the dough.

The predominant flour in this recipe is raw buckwheat flour. Raw buckwheat flour, made from grinding raw buckwheat groats, is quite delicious and very mild in flavor. It is not gritty at all and is light in color. The raw groats are soft and can easily be ground in a coffee grinder (one preferably not used for grinding coffee beans). I use the dry container of my Vitamix now but used to use a coffee grinder before the day of the Vitamix! Just make sure you keep grinding until a soft powdery flour is formed.

Buckwheat is super nutritious! Did you know that buckwheat is not a grain but rather a seed related to rhubarb and sorrel? The nutrients in buckwheat help to control blood sugar and lower harmful LDL cholesterol.

Gluten-Free, Vegan Hemp Bread Recipe

This fantastic gluten-free yeast bread recipe utilizes high protein hemp flour along with other gluten-free flours such as teff flour and brown rice flour. It is dark and hearty, perfect for sandwiches. For a slight variation you can create a flavorful "Rye" bread by adding onion powder and caraway seeds.

Here is the feedback from my taste testers: rustic, hearty, "dessert bread," mmm, I'd like to make this!

I buy my hemp flour from our local Community Food Co-op, though here are a few other places that sell it online: Nature's Perfect Food, Essense-of-Life, and Healthy Hemp Food.

Hemp's nutrition profile is no laughing matter. This seed boasts over 33 grams of digestible protein per 100 grams. It contains all essential amino acids; is high in minerals such as iron, calcium, and magnesium; and is high in essential fats.

I won't go into much more detail about the nutritional benefits of hemp, but you can read more about it here.

Pictured below is the hemp bread with my homemade honey-sweetened blueberry jam.

Whole Grain Flatbread (gluten-free, yeast-free, vegan)

I have had a number of emails over the summer for a gluten-free flatbread recipe. I also get emails and requests for yeast-free breads. So here is is, the best of all worlds....yeast-free, gluten-free, rice-free, whole grain goodness, and quick & easy! What more could you ask for. Oh yes, it tastes great too.

I made this again for dinner last night. While it was baking, one of my 20 month old twins was standing next to the oven as I opened it to take a peek. Immediately he started to let me know that he wanted some by his grunting and fussing (they don't talk much yet)! He patiently paced back and forth next to the oven until I pulled it out. As I set it on the counter he pushed a stool over and leaned over the hot pan to take a sniff. "Mmm" he said. "Hot" I said!

I cut into the bread after a few minutes and immediately he grabbed a bit out of my hands and gobbled it up, piping hot. I continued to cut it into squares to serve with dinner. I noticed that he kept grabbing the squares, hopping down off the stool, running away, then coming back for more. Well what I found was that he was hoarding all of the bread and placing it on his plate set at the dining room table! I just had to laugh!

All of my children love the bread as do the other children I had taste test it. My plan is to make this bread often and put it in my daughter's lunchbox along with something to spread on it. Small containers of almond butter and homemade blueberry jam or hummus will be perfect.

You can refer to the post I did on Packing a Healthy School Lunch and download a handy chart while there for more tips and ideas.

Last night after dinner was done and the kids were in bed, I mixed up two more batches of the dry ingredients and put them into sealed, glass containers. It is so much easier to mix everything up while all the ingredients are already out on the counter!