If you love lemon, then you’ll love the bright and zesty recipe from this week’s episode of Alt Baking Bootcamp. In the episode, baker and nutrition coach Sasha Handal demos how to make a delicious gut-healthy lemon chia bread recipe. Bonus: it’s also gluten-free (but you wouldn’t know that by the taste).
Two things that make these breads so good for your gut: gluten-free all-purpose flour and chia seeds. “The association of flours [called for] are already nice and high in fiber, and they’re full of good carbs,” says Handal, explaining that high-fiber flours both boost your digestive system and help keep you energized. She uses Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour in the recipe, which is a mixture of rice flours, potato starch, whole grain sorghum flour and tapioca flour. “They did all the painstaking work to find what ratios of gluten-free flowers work best together,” Handal says. And since it already contains xanthan gum, which acts as a binder for gluten-free flours, all you have to do is measure and add to your recipe. That’s it: zero guesswork, experimentation or difficult ingredients required.
But the nutritional value of this dream bread recipe doesn’t stop there. “The benefits of chia seeds go on and on,” says Handal. For starters, they’re packed with longevity-boosting omega-3s, as well as protein and fiber. Chia seeds also bring important textural components to the table; they both add a slight crunch to bread and help bind wet and dry dough ingredients together. “Chia seeds are so cool. They can absorb nine times their weight,” adds Handal. “So every time you get a chia seed pudding or put it in your smoothie, it becomes like that extra filler in the best way possible.”
Ready to bake? Hit play on the video for the full recipe, and follow below.
Gut-healthy, gluten-free lemon chia bread recipe
Ingredients
For the bread :
1 3/4 cup gluten-free 1:1 flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 lemons, zested
1 cup cane sugar
1/3 cup cashew yogurt
1/3 cup oat milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 eggs
2/3 cup olive oil
2-3 tablespoons of chia seeds
For the icing:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1. Start by preheating your oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch loaf pan with parchment paper and coat with neutral oil or cooking spray.
2. Combine gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt in a medium bowl and sift well.
3. In another bowl, mix lemon zest and sugar until it looks like wet sand. Add the yogurt, milk, lemon juice and eggs to the sugar mixture and whisk well. Finally, stir in the olive oil and chia seeds, and gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
5. Bake for about an hour or until center is completely set.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze by whisking together the remaining lemon juice and sifted powdered sugar until a thick glaze forms.
7. Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Drizzle the glaze over your still-warm bread and allow your bread to cool completely before slicing.
Oh hi! You sound like someone who loves free workouts, discounts on top wellness brands, and exclusive Well+Good content. Subscribe to Well+our online community of Wellness Insiders, and unlock your rewards instantly.
