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Chia Bread

What you need: 

3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons black chia seeds
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast, or 2 packets
3/4 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cups flour
Vegan butter or vegetable oil to grease bread pans

What you do: 

This recipe makes 2 loaves. You can substitute 1/2 of the white flour with whole wheat flour for a nice flavor, and you can also make it in a bread mixer if you choose. It's pretty easy to make, most of the 3 hours of prep time is spent waiting for the bread to rise.
1. In a bowl, add chia seeds to warm water. Stir vigorously to ensure all seeds are wet, then let sit for 10 to 15 minutes for the seeds to gel. Chia seeds are really really good for you, and they provide a nice texture to your breads/muffins/cereal/etc.
2. In another bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Stir in yeast and allow to proof. The yeast will get foamy, and should be allowed to puff up a generous amount, but don't let it sit for too long. About 5 to 7 minutes is good. If the yeast doesn't puff at all, it's dead and you'll have to go get more.
3. In a big bowl, combine flour and salt, then add oil. Mix well, then add yeast and half of chia gel. Mix well (spoons are useless, so put some olive oil on your hands and dig in) and add more chia gel or flour as needed. I found that I didn't need the extra 1/2 cup of reserved flour, but used all of the chia gel. It really depends on where you live. If you need more liquid, just add plain water if you run out of gel. The dough should be elastic and easy to knead. If it's too sticky, add flour, if it's too hard, add water. Make sure it doesn't stick very much to the sides of your bowl.
4. Let the lump of dough sit in the bowl with a tea towel on top until the dough has almost doubled in size. Remove towel and punch down dough. Set the dough on a floured table and knead into a nice round shape. Divide into 4 little balls, and place two balls into a greased (with vegan butter or oil) bread pan. Do the same with the other two balls. Allow the loaves to rise until doubled in size. (Remember to start heating up your oven!)
5. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees C) for about 40 minutes. About 5 to 10 minutes before time is up, remove bread from pans and flip upside-down on oven rack to ensure bottom has a nice brown crust (this is an old trick my mom taught me).
6. Remove bread from oven and let cool on a rack. While still warm, brush tops of loaves with vegan butter or oil. Let loaves cool completely before wrapping up to avoid soggyness.
Source of recipe: This recipe was inspired by 50/50 Bread recipe, submitted by dbsnova

Preparation Time: 
Roughly 3 hours, Cooking time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 
40 minutes
Servings: 
2
Recipe Category: 

SO HOW'D IT GO?

Any alternatives for using sugar? Agave?

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