Nutty and moist, this almond bread is both delicious and filling. I serve it like cornbread on the side of a meal. The kids and I need only the bottom half of a square spread with butter, while my husband takes two.

Before coming up with this recipe, I tried a recipe I found on the internet. That bread was so dry we all got hiccups! Then I noticed the recipe called for no fat whatsoever. Well, that would explain it. So I played around with the ratios of ingredients and of course I added fat — and here is the final recipe. We really love these!

Grain-Free Almond Bread

• 3 to 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup barely melted butter or coconut oil
• 2 cups blanched almond flour/meal
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs well with vinegar. Add butter or coconut oil and whisk together until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine almond flour, flax seed meal, salt and baking soda. Mix with fork until well distributed.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until smooth. Press into a greased 8″ or 9″ square baking pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown or toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes. Cut into 9 squares. (Then we cut each square in half horizontally and spread with butter.)

Notes: I have used as little as two eggs and the bread is fine, but more flat. You can add sweetener and dried fruits for a sweet bread. You can double the recipe and get a thicker result (but bake longer). You can double the recipe and bake it in a loaf pan. Lots of options. Have fun!

Enjoy! Let me know how you like these. Have a great weekend!

I shared this post in Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Fight Back Friday and Fat Tuesday.

Want some pretty fun, or even kicked-up, sandwich ideas for using your homemade sourdough english muffins? Here ya go — this quick video gives you plenty. More ideas? Please share in the comments!

See more: egg salad, chicken salad, wild salmon salad, sloppy joes, and hamburgers. The video contains more mouth-watering ideas, like for personal pizzas, BLTs or tuna melts!

This is a video from inside the Sourdough eCourse — we shared it alongside Erin’s video demonstration of making the ever-so-popular homemade sourdough english muffins.

Make Them Lacto-Fermented!

Bonus! Make your sandwiches probiotic by using raw cheese or lacto-fermented mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, guacamole, or hummus.

How do you kick-up your english muffins? Please share!

Like my weekly free videos? Please subscribe to the GNOWFGLINS Channel on YouTube — and give this or any other video a thumbs-up!

We can eat oatmeal year-round, but I have to say that baked oatmeal definitely crosses seasons. You can eat it hot or cold, as breakfast, snack or lunch — and with eggs and milk baked in, you’ve got a high-quality protein boost. When my husband goes out of town (thankfully not often) I send along a tray of this and a jar of raw milk for his breakfasts on the road.

This is our apple-cinnamon baked oatmeal, and I also make a yummy 5-spice variation!

Apple-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal (Soaked)

• 6 cups thick rolled oats
• 1/2 cup acid, such as whey or raw apple cider vinegar (or sourdough starter, to improve the effectiveness of the soaking)
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped walnuts (or any other nut/seed — I often add a handful of raw sunflower seeds)
• 1/2 cup butter, lightly melted
• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup rapadura, sucanat or palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 apple, diced finely or shredded
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut (optional)

Yield: 1 9” x 13” pan or 2 8″ square pans.

Combine oats, acid (or sourdough starter*), water, and nuts/seeds in a big bowl. Cover and let soak overnight.

*Sourdough starter improves the soaking’s effectiveness by adding phytase to reduce phytic acid — which otherwise the oats lack — as well as organisms to accomplish an overnight fermentation. Don’t worry, it won’t be sour — if you rinse well the next morning!

In the morning, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Drain the oats through a fine sieve. Rinse and allow to drain again.

In a big mixing bowl, whisk together butter, milk, eggs, sweetener, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Add oats and mix well. Add the apples, raisins and coconut and mix in gently.

Transfer to a greased 9” x 13” baking dish (or two 8” square cake pans). Smooth the top. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven to a cooling rack. Allow 15 minutes to rest before cutting into bars. Eat in a bowl with yogurt, kefir, or milk. Or as a bar with maple syrup and fresh fruit. Store leftovers in refrigerator, though I usually leave them out for a day or so first.

Do you make baked oatmeal? What are your favorite add-ins and flavors?

In the Fundamentals eCourse or Fundamentals eBook, we go in depth on the topics of soaking, sprouting, and fermenting grains optimally for digestion and nutrition. Please check us out for videos, print tutorials and/or hand-holding.

Usual routine when souring flour: mix dough, let sour for 8 hours, finish dough, cook. Now, that’s not hard.

But what if I said you could skip the whole sour-for-at-least-8-hours-thing, yet put the same quality of nourishing food on the table? In other words, without the wait? You can and I just did (say it). Yes, it can be done! Easily. Deliciously. Nourishingly.

How? Use leftover sourdough starter instead of flour. You’re keeping a sourdough starter alive and fed, right? (Right?) Well, take a scoop or two of it and create any one of these four delicious recipes almost instantly. No planning!

By the way, the reason this can be done, still nourishingly, is because the flour is already done being soured in the starter. Aim to feed your starter and then use it 12 to 24 hours later in one of the following recipes.

All of the following recipes are demonstrated on in the Sourdough eCourse or in detailed print in the “Sourdough A to Z” eBook. Come on over!

1. Impossible Sourdough Pie — Endless Sweet or Savory Variations!

What you need instead of flour: 3/4 cup of leftover sourdough starter.

Find this recipe in the Sourdough eCourse or in the brand-new “Sourdough A to Z” eBook (companion book to the eCourse).

Remember those Bisquick impossible pies? You mix up bisquick into a batter and pour it over a pan full of other ingredients, bake, and voila — an impossible pie with endless variations. But not so good for you. Our impossible sourdough pie springs from that idea — and credit for this genius stroke goes to my fellow eCourse teacher and friend, Erin.

Instead of Bisquick, we use sourdough starter as the batter base, and pour it over a pan-ful of add-ins. Then bake in a hot oven and voila — instant and nourishing sweet or savory bread pies. In the Sourdough eCourse, members have come up with these variations: taco, Mexican, peas-n-tuna, broccoli-n-cheese, chili, veggie-n-cheese, and more. There are possibilities to make brownie pies, pumpkin pies, and other sweet pies — I myself am still working on those. Erin’s made a few good ones.

Last weekend, I made three savory dinner pies using the Middle Eastern spice blend za’atar with leftover meat. My husband got home from work yesterday and said, “Can we have another pie for dinner tonight?” I said, “I guess so!” and literally I made it without any planning or prep because the sourdough starter was there. We were eating dinner in less than 40 minutes — by the time the kids got in from the barn chores.

You can learn all about our impossible sourdough pie technique exclusively in the Sourdough eCourse or “Sourdough A to Z” eBook. The eCourse and eBook documents include the basic impossible sourdough pie basic recipe plus variations (plus all the other sourdough recipes from the class).

2. Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes

What you need instead of flour: 2 cups of leftover sourdough starter.

Find the recipe here on the blog, in the “Sourdough A to Z” eBook, or on video in the in the online class.

These are fluffier than any pancake you’ve ever had, thanks to Erin’s easy no-flip cooking technique! We love them. And they’re easy. Just mix up starter with eggs, oil, sweetener (I usually skip it), and baking soda and you’ll be serving a nourishing breakfast in record time.

3. Sourdough Waffles

What you need instead of flour: 2 cups of leftover sourdough starter.

Find the recipe here on the blog, in the “Sourdough A to Z” eBook, or on video in the in the online class.

Pretty much as easy as the pancakes above, you’re mixing starter, egg, oil, and a few other ingredients to delight your family with waffles in very little time.

4. Sourdough Crepes

What you need instead of flour: 1 cup of leftover sourdough starter.

Find the recipe here on the blog, in the “Sourdough A to Z” eBook, or on video in the in the online class.

We love crepes and eat them several times a week. (Check out my ideas for eating crepes here.) With this recipe, a little goes a llllooooonnnnnnggggg way. Meaning, you get alot of crepes out of 1 cup of starter. When I make crepes, I eat at least one fresh off the pan smeared with generous butter. The kids like a little peanut butter and raw honey. We dip them in soups, or make wraps or burritos. They make the world’s best tortilla chips. Do check out more ideas here.

What do you think of these? Going to give them a try? Do you know of any other quick recipes that make use of leftover sourdough starter? Please share! I’m always looking for more ideas.

Yes, I teach online classes in traditional cooking and fermentation, sourdough, cultured dairy and cheese. Yes, I’ve had lots of practice at those things! Still, I know that I am a facilitator of kitchen-transforming information, rather than an expert. I am always learning something from others here on the blog or in the classes, and I’m grateful for every bit of advice and encouragement you all share.

Brandi, an eCourse member, taught me how to fold biscuits. Her folding technique creates the most luscious layers! She sprinkles the leavenings on the dough and works them in by folding the dough over on itself about 15 times. She also cuts her biscuits much thicker than I do — yielding biscuits that are 2+ inches thick! They are a sight to behold; she shared a picture on our forums. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, Brandi. My biscuits will never be the same again.

The following recipe is for buttermilk biscuits, and the directions include Brandi’s folding method. I shared this recipe in the traditional buttermilk and sour cream lesson of the Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eCourse. These biscuits are family favorites; each time I serve them, my husband declares they’re the best biscuits ever. A declaration like that is worth its weight in gold!

As you may know, I’m partial to spelt flour, so that’s my first choice for these biscuits; whole wheat pastry flour is a close second. Feel free to use hard wheat (red or white) but the biscuits will be more dense.

Soaked Buttermilk Biscuits

• 6 to 8 tablespoons cold butter or solid coconut oil
• 2-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or 2-3/4 cups spelt flour (cannot be warm from grinding)
• 3/4 cup+ buttermilk (preferably whole milk buttermilk with active cultures)
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cut fat into flour. Mix with buttermilk to a dough that is just wet enough to hold together. Don’t overmix. Cover. Let soak for 8 to 12 hours at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Sprinkle on leavenings and salt, and fold over repeatedly to incorporate, without overmixing. Flour a cutting surface. Roll dough out to a 3/4” thick rectangle. Cut into squares. Put on baking trays. Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with butter.

Have you tried the folding technique with biscuits? If you give it a try, let me know in the comments how yours turn out!

Crepes are definitely a go-to staple in our house. Either I have extra sourdough starter sitting around to make an instant batch of sourdough crepes (or the world’s best tortilla chips ever), or I toss some flour (can be sprouted) in a bowl to soak… and we have crepes in about 8 hours. There’s really nothing to it.

And the best part is that my daughters have become crepe making pros. Very helpful because sometimes I get distracted and forget one’s cooking! No fun to fill the house with smoke. We could and do eat crepes with many meals. Here are just some ideas of how we eat crepes:

• breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs
• fried a bit crispy and a fried egg sandwiched between halves
• rolled up with lacto-fermented guacamole and sour cream, served alongside any kind of fried egg, egg salad, quiche, or salmon salad (I’ll be sharing that guacamole soon!)
• rolled up with egg salad, chicken salad, or salmon salad
• filled up with leftover refried beans and other toppings for quick burritos or wraps
• as a quesadilla, filled with any combination of yummy fillings, such as refried beans, cheese, salmon salad, leftover meats, or anything else you can dream up!
• cut and fried into tortilla chips, dipped into guacamole
• made into tortilla chips and loaded up with toppings for nachos (these are very, very good!)
• rolled up with homemade jam and nut butter, or jam and cream cheese

With all those ideas (and I’m sure you have more), what’s stopping you from giving crepes a try?

Here’s my basic crepe recipe, which is based off Erin’s sourdough crepe recipe. Whether or not you’re using sprouted flour, the soaking time really improves the texture of the crepes. If the flour is not sprouted, the soaking time improves the digestibility of the grain.

See all basic recipes.

Soaked or Sprouted Crepes

• 2 cups spelt, whole wheat pastry, or whole wheat flour (can be sprouted flour)
• 2 to 3 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons whey or raw apple cider vinegar
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• two pinches of sea salt

Makes 16 to 18 crepes.

Combine the flour, milk and acid in a mixing bowl. Whisk together well. Cover and let soak for 8 hours. If using sprouted flour, the soaking may be omitted; however, even a few hours soaking improves the texture of crepes.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brush with butter. In a bowl with a pour spout, whisk together the eggs, butter and salt. Add the soaked flour mixture and whisk well. Add milk, up to a cup or so, until you get a thin batter.

Pour 1/4 cup or so of crepe batter into the center of the skillet. Quickly pick up the skillet and roll the batter outward (aiming for a circle shape). Put the skillet back on burner and cook until edges are a bit dry and small bubbles dot the surface of the crepe. It may take less than a minute to cook each side of the crepe. Cook times depend on the skillet type, burner heat, and crepe thickness. If you try to flip your crepe and it does not seem ready, let it cook a few moments longer. Flip. The second side will take less time to cook than the first. Transfer the finished crepe to a plate that is lined with clean paper or cloth towels. Repeat making crepes until all are done. Enjoy!

How do you eat crepes? Please share in the comments!

I’m sharing this recipe in Katie’s Soaking Grains Gallery from Everywhere.

I’ve always been thankful that I grew up in a household where we read the Bible a lot. Some of my fondest memories are of my dad reading to my sister and me at bedtime. It’s no surprise, I suppose, that I took an interest in aspects of Biblical culture at a young age. I loved plants and gardening, so one of my first research papers in middle school was about the plants and herbs of the Bible.

When I discovered the website Cooking with the Bible, it sparked that old interest. Especially since learning about traditional food preparation methods, I loved the idea that I could create authentic meals eaten in Bible times! I was temporarily disappointed that the authentic food preparation methods had been left out, and some of the traditional ingredients substituted for processed, low-nutrient foods. AND, we have the added challenge of eating gluten free in our house. But, I’ve gotten lots of practice with gluten-free traditional food preparation recipe modifications.

This time, I chose Esau’s Pottage (a lentil stew) and Mouthwatering Date and Walnut Bread, to convert to a “real food” gluten-free lunch (could be dinner, too!).

Esau’s Pottage Makeover

Refer to the original recipe, while reading my notes.

I started soaking the lentils the night before we had the soap, soaking about 2 cups of them in twice the amount of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, according to the directions on the Fundamentals eCourse. Then I added the soaked and rinsed beans, along with fresh water, to the crockpot and cooked on low until they were soft.

About 30 minutes before we were ready to eat (the lentils were fully cooked), I sauteed onion, garlic, carrot, celery and bell pepper in olive oil until they softened a bit. Then I added some already cooked ground beef that we had seasoned with onion and garlic for tacos the night before. (You could also brown ground beef or lamb in the pan before adding the veggies, if you don’t have leftovers to use. This would also be delicious with game meat – venison, elk, etc. And it would definitely be more authentic! Another idea – add in some ground liver or heart for extra nutrients. No one will notice. )

Then I added the lentils and the tomatoes. I added about a cup of water. You could also use broth or the cooking liquid from the lentils. Make sure to use enough salt and pepper, and let it come to a low simmer for at least 20 to 30 minutes so the flavors can mingle. This is one of those even-better-the-second-day kinds of things, and the longer you can let it cook slowly, the better it will be. Just add extra liquid as needed!

Date and Walnut Bread Makeover

The bread recipe was a bit daunting at first, since it was originally a wheat flour and yeast recipe. I also wanted a lighter, almost dessert bread, which I find difficult to achieve using gluten-free sourdough.

I should address the walnuts and tapioca in this recipe. Ideally, nuts should be soaked and dehydrated first to neutralize enzyme inhibitors (we learned that in Fundamentals, too). But, since I was using them in a sourdough recipe, I skipped that step. My understanding is that the sourdough process does this job as well. So, either soaked or unsoaked nuts work in this recipe.

Also, some people think tapioca flour is too highly processed to be a good “real food” choice. After trying this bread, I think it would work well even with heavier flours. I might try a bit of amaranth, white buckwheat, or quinoa flour, along with brown and sweet rice flours and arrowroot. We deal with many food restrictions right now, so sometimes I make minor food choices based on what works for us, rather than worrying about the nutrient value of every ingredient. Moderation is key when it comes to these kinds of choices.

Gluten-Free Sourdough Date and Walnut Bread

• 1 cup Gluten-Free Boosted Brown Rice Starter
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 cup sweet rice flour
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
• 1 teaspoon guar gum
• 1/2 cup plain water kefir (or kombucha, or raw apple cider vinegar, or… )
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup dates, finely chopped
• 1 cup black walnuts, finely chopped
• Water, as needed

Mix together all the ingredients and add water a bit at a time (I think I needed about 1/2 cup) until you have a dough that will hold its shape, but is a bit sticky. If you prepare gluten free dough too dry, it may crumble when you roll it out. If this happens, just return it to the bowl and knead in a tiny bit more water.

Cover a cookie sheet in parchment paper. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions. Taking one portion at a time, roll into a ball as best you can, pat down on the parchment paper, then cover with another small piece of parchment and using a rolling pin, roll each “cake” until it is round and about 1/4-inch thick. Space the cakes about 1/2-inch apart. My bread cakes were about 6 to 7 inches in diameter. Cover with a dish towel and allow to rise overnight, or for at least 8 hours. I didn’t see much rise from my bread — much less than I expected. When I make this again, I may try rolling a few a little thicker, more like 1/2-inch. I think all the dates and nuts might have kept the sourdough from rising like it normally would have. It still turned out great!

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit (after all, they cooked over a fire in Bible times, right?) and bake 5 to 6 minutes or until lightly browned.

Verdict: Bible Lunch

I really enjoyed this lunch — a bowl of lentil stew with one of the cakes of bread on the side. Dipping the bread into the stew is heavenly (pun intended )! The bread is sweet, crunchy and chewy. The soup is warm, hearty and salty. The textures and flavors compliment each other perfectly. This bread would also be delicious dipped in hummus, or maybe even with a chocolate fondue for a holiday treat? Enjoy! If you get inspired to convert any other recipes from Cooking with the Bible, I’d love to hear about it!

When I was a newborn, my grandmother and namesake, Tata Wardeh, came to live with us. She taught my mom how to cook everything Arabic. That’s how traditional pocket bread became a part of my childhood and growing up. My mom, not Arabic herself, embraced the food traditions of the Middle East for her husband and her children (and I suppose for herself, too!).

I grew up on pocket bread. Pocket bread sandwiches loaded with hummus and veggies, yogurt cheese and veggies, falafel and tahini sauce, you name it… I also grew up on manqushah, Middle Eastern pizzas made from flattened pocket bread dough. Fragrant thyme from the za’atar blend and extra virgin olive oil — that’s all it takes to make scrumptious pizza! Eat it flat or folded, and unbelievably amazing when right out of the oven.

Today, in my little family, we love to eat heritage dishes year round, but especially on holidays. That’s why I’m sharing these Middle Eastern pizzas for the bread dishes course of the Whole Foods for the Holidays progressive dinner. Diana @ A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa is our hostess. Visit the bread dishes post for more whole food, healthy bread dishes to incorporate into your holiday gatherings, including Diana’s sprouted whole wheat bread.

Middle Eastern Pizza Ingredients

• pizza crust dough*
• extra virgin olive oil
• za’atar herb blend

For the dough, choose either a pocket bread dough or pizza dough, preferably sourdough for best nutrition and digestibility. Here is Erin’s sourdough pizza crust dough, and you’ll find my sourdough pocket bread dough in the Sourdough eCourse.

Middle Eastern Pizza Method

Roll out 3″ to 4″ balls of dough to 7″ to 8″ circles. Allow to rise until puffy, covered with towel to keep warm. This takes an hour to several hours, depending on room temperature.

Preheat oven to hottest temperature: 500 or 550 degrees Fahrenheit.

Press into the top of the dough with your fingertips, making little wells for the toppings to reside. Leave the edges thick.

In a small bowl, mix about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of za’atar with enough extra virgin olive oil to make a paste. You may need more or less depending on the size of your pizzas, how many pizzas you’re making, and how much you add to each.

Spoon the paste onto the top of the dough rounds, and spread it all around with the back of a spoon. Put loaves in the oven to bake for 5 to 8 minutes. Optionally, switch to the upper rack and broil for a final browning. Sometimes this isn’t necessary, so just play it by ear and according to how crispy you want your pizza.

Remove from oven. Eat flat or folded, for a delicious breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack.

In the Sourdough eCourse, I share and demonstrate my family’s traditional recipe for a triple-rise, soft, bready, chewy sourdough pocket bread. I also show you, on video, how to make the pizzas featured here. Come and join us anytime; you’re never too late.

I’m also sharing this post in the Tuesday Twister, Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Fight Back Friday.

I kid you not. These are the best tortilla chips. Ever. Here’s the secret: start with crepes instead of tortillas. Many, many thanks to my inquisitive daughter Haniya, who came up with this!

Crepes make thinner and crispier tortillas, plus they’re easier to make. Think pouring batter into a pan, rather than hand rolling. The someone I know with a rolling pin allergy should be very happy about this!

I’m going to include Erin’s sourdough crepe recipe here, as well as the technique for frying the chips. The crepes are amazingly easy and as long as you’re keeping a sourdough starter going, you don’t need to plan ahead. Starter = immediate crepes.

The following recipes are brief rephrases of the recipes included in the Sourdough eCourse, where we give more troubleshooting tips and details. We’re open any time for enrollment; come on by!

Erin’s Sourdough Crepes

We include this in our Sourdough A to Z eBook and/or on video in the Sourdough eCourse. I found Erin’s video demonstration very helpful to perfect my crepes. My previously too-thick and frequently tearing crepes are no more. And it also helps to have well seasoned cast iron!

Yield: About (9) 10-inch crepes.

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 pinches of salt
• milk to thin (1/4 cup, more or less)

Choose a skillet. (Erin uses cast iron.) Turn the burner to medium heat.

(You may want to wait with turning on your burner. You don’t want your skillet to get too hot and start to smoke before you add your batter.)

In a medium size bowl, whisk 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons melted butter, and 3 pinches of salt until combined. Add to this mixture 1 cup of sourdough starter. Stir well.

Add milk until you get a thin batter. Grease the skillet lightly.

Pour 1/4 cup or more of crepe batter into the center of your skillet. Quickly pick up the skillet and roll the batter outward (aiming for a circle shape if that is important to you). Put the skillet back on burner and cook until edges are a bit dry and small bubbles dot the surface of the crepe. It may take less than a minute to cook each side of the crepe. Cook times depend on the skillet type, burner heat, and crepe thickness. If you try to flip your crepe and it does not seem ready, let it cook a few moments longer. Flip. The second side will take less time to cook than the first.

Place your crepe on a plate. Make your second crepe. Continue stacking finished crepes until you are ready to serve. Stacking keeps the crepes soft and warm. (Not so important if you’re using them for chips, but good for other purposes.)

Now For The Tortilla Crepe Chips

Also included in our Sourdough A to Z eBook and/or demonstrated on video in the Sourdough eCourse. Even though I demonstrated with tortillas, the technique is the same!

• finished crepes
• coconut oil, tallow or lard
• coarse salt or other toppings (cinnamon-sugar, herbed seasoning salt)

By the way, don’t be afraid of saturated fat! Be sure to keep the little ones out of the kitchen when frying!

Put the fat/oil in the deep skillet to melt to about 1-inch deep. I’ve been using coconut oil lately*. Allow to melt over medium heat. Watch the heat. When you begin to see waves in the oil, you know it is getting hot. Do not allow it to smoke. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the oil hot, but not smoking. Use a grease screen over the skillet if you have one, to prevent being hot oil splatters.

Cut the crepes (however many you are using) into 8 pie-shaped wedges. Or cut rectangles if you like, which is fun, too.

Test the hot fat for readiness by dipping a wedge in it to see if it sizzles well. If the fat doesn’t react so much, it isn’t hot enough.

When the fat is ready, immerse small batches of wedges into it. Don’t crowd the pan.

Fry until you achieve the desired brownness and crispness. With thin crepes, the frying goes very quickly. Use a slotted stainless steel spoon to transfer them a waiting bowl lined with paper towels. Add salt or adding other toppings immediately. The chips will continue to cook outside of the skillet, so adjust the cooking time if they end up too browned or not browned enough.

Adjust the temperature of the burner as needed to keep the fat hot but not smoking. Frying small batches will help the fat retain its heat, ensuring better chips and better efficiency. Enjoy!

*Unrefined coconut oil is expensive, yes. But as long as you don’t let it smoke, and as long as you strain out the solids, the oil can be reused many times over.

I’m sharing this post in Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday and Fight Back Friday.

Spiced baked goods and warm tea fit the turning weather here in Oregon. Even though two weeks ago we suffered under hundred degree temps, now it is pouring down rain and overcast. I admit it — I like the cozy, sheltered feel of the clouds and enjoying warming dishes again, like this pumpkin bread.

The parent recipe, soaked pumpkin muffins from Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship, also appear in Katie’s fabulous eBook, Healthy Snacks To Go. Katie’s recipe notes (both in the ebook and the blog post) include flexible substitutions for the sweetener, a non-soaking option, and more! Katie uses white wheat flour, and here I am using spelt flour. Yes, my favorite flour, as I have said one too many times probably.

I am trying to account for the additional cup of flour I use, when compared to Katie’s recipe. You’ll always use more spelt flour than wheat in any recipe, and perhaps I like more dense muffins and breads. Or, what if my pumpkin puree is more liquidy? No matter — it shows how very flexible the recipe is.

Why soak? Soaking whole grains is one of the grains preparation methods that yield more nutritious, more digestible and more tender baked goods. We teach about it and other methods in our eCourse in the fundamentals of traditional cooking. Let us help you fit this easy routine into your life, as we transform your kitchen skills one week at a time, one task at a time!

Soaked Pumpkin Bread

• 2-2/3 cups freshly ground spelt flour (whole wheat pastry flour will yield similar results)
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin (or sweet potatoes! be sure to drip out excess water if homemade)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons kefir (or yogurt or other acid such as Kombucha, raw apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice)
• 1/2 cup softened butter or coconut oil
• 3/4 to 1 cup Rapadura
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 cup chopped crispy nuts (optional; why soak nuts?)

Combine flour, pumpkin, water, and kefir in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for a minimum of 7 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 bread loaf pans. My loaf pans are wide, so my loaves end up wide. If your pans are more narrow, you will end up with taller loaves.

Uncover the mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients (except raisins and nuts), and mix well. Then add the raisins and nuts to incorporate.

Divide the batter between the 2 loaf pans. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out pretty cleanly. It is okay with this bread to have a little goo.

Allow to cool on a rack for about 15 minutes before tipping out of the bread pan. Allow to cool fully before slicing (if you can wait) and the loaves will hold together better.

Store in an airtight container (either fridge or room temp), or freeze. Enjoy with a cup of tea!

Thanks, Katie, for a lovely and clearly popular recipe! I’m sharing this post in Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Sukkot Real Food Holiday Recipe Carnival.