Have just had prodigal son home from University for the weekend and you can imagine that the fridge is now bare.  He even managed a rifle through the cupboards before setting off this morning for some last minute goodies to add to the already large bag of swag.  You might think that the food cupboards of a nutritionist and the food interests of a teenage boy would be a little at odds with one and other, and in many respects you’d be right but I was pleasantly surprised to hear his latest supper incarnation is quinoa (cooked, interestingly in a microwave), a can of mixed beans and some chicken breast.  Now, where is the pot noodle in that?

Seed Bread doesn’t really feature on his radar though it should given that it’s ridiculously high in protein, a dietary concern that no teenage boy with muscle ignores.  It’s also packed with essential fats in the form of omega 3 (found in nuts and seeds).  I can’t tell you how much better for you this is than a hunk of bread on the side of your plate.  Once it’s cooked and cooled I slice it and put it in the freezer so I can take out a couple of slices as and when.  It’s delicious, worryingly moreish when spread with coconut oil, but hummus, nut butters, avocado etc are all magical.   It’s good as it comes but toasted it gets even better.

The psyllium husk can be bought in a health food shop.  As it normally comes in ridiculously large tubs the next recipe I’m going to post will use a little too.  Don’t say I’m not thinking of you.

Firstly you want to put the oven on to 180C and toast the sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds which you will have spread out on to a large baking tray.  They’ll take about 10-15 minutes and I can guarantee that someone out there will forget and burn them.  Don’t let it be you.  When they’re out turn the oven down to 175C. Meanwhile grind your almonds – they don’t have to be dust but equally not too rubbly.  If you have a high speed blender then you can make your own chickpea flour – just put the requisite amount of chickpeas in the blender and turn it on -they will be flour-like in no time at all.  I actually used some split peas for these photographs because, very annoyingly, I’d run out of chickpeas but thought the bread no different from before, so feel free to experiment with other pulses if you like, though for aesthetic purposes I might draw the line at black beans.

Put these two ingredients in a large bowl and when you’ve taken your nicely toasted seeds out of the oven give half of them a whizz in the blender too.  Leave the other half whole and add to the almonds and chickpeas.  Now add all the other dry ingredients (including the other half of the seeds) and give it all a good mix.  Add the melted coconut oil, mix again.  Now add the water and mix and mix until it’s absorbed and you’re left with a thick dough.  You need to leave this mixture for about an hour during which time it will stiffen considerably.  When an hour or so is up line a loaf tin with baking parchment and press the mixture in.  You’ll need to be quite brutal so it goes down in to the corners and edges.  Flatten it off and put it in the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes – at which point you need to do a little bit of manoeuvering.  Take the loaf out of the tin, peel off the parchment and bake upside down on a rack for another 45 minutes – keeping an eye on it.

Cool completely before slicing.