Chickpea Bread with Sunflower Seed Pesto: Gluten-free Recipe

Jan 16, 2013 Categories: Recipes, Uncategorized by Joy McCarthy 15 Comments

Chickpea bread with sunflower seed spread – Joyous Health

I’m nearing the end of my 10 day detox - yes! I’ve been totally gluten-free, sugar-free, vino-free, dairy-free for 9 days! The detox was not that difficult only because I don’t normally eat a lot of gluten/dairy to begin with and I never eat sugar (it makes me crazy, however I used to be an addict years ago). I did miss a glass of vino here and there and goat cheese would have been lovely on the beets I roasted.

My sweet man Walker did the detox too! He really missed his Pizza Libretto (our fave pizza joint) and Gragnano (Italian sparkly red served slightly chilled). There were a couple of nights he was craving (or dare I say “hangry” haha!), but he survived.

So last night, I decided to heat up some soup I made a few weeks back (froze it obviously): Chicken Soup with Cabbage instead of noodles and tons of veggies. Sorry — this recipe is not on my blog, but there is an equally as delish one below. It was VERY flavourful. I made the stock from a certified organic chicken I roasted a while ago. I am always suspicious of chicken stocks because even the organic ones use yeast extract (MSG).

I wanted bread to go with it (you know, cause I’m still SANS gluten), so after doing a little twitter/google research I came across Sondi Brunner’s blog for Chickpea Pancakes (Socca) and adapted her Chick Pea Bread recipe to make it joyous! Meghan Telpner also made a version too you might like. So many options!

Rosemary Chickpea Bread

Note: It is the texture of pancakes, light and fluffy. Not a crusty baked bread, even though I call it “bread”.

1 cup chickpea flour (or garbanzo bean flour)
1 cup water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 egg, whisked (You can omit the egg, per original recipe)
1 fresh garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp Himalayan or Celtic salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all your ingredients together in a large bowl. I actually tossed them into my Breville blender to mix really well.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round or square baking pan and pour chickpea mixture into it. Bake for 22 minutes, or until the pancake is crisp around the edges and golden brown.

Serves 2 generously.

Sunflower Seed Pesto

Sunflower Seed Pesto – Joyous Health

This sunflower pesto was incredibly flavourful and it’s a must if you make the bread.

4 sundried tomatoes
1 garlic clove (use less if you are not a garlic-lover)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (soak them for a couple of hours first if you want it creamier)
A few gluggs of extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of Himalayan or Celtic salt

Toss all your ingredients into a food processor and blend until it forms the texture of a pesto you can spread on top of your chickpea bread.

I highly encourage you to enjoy this bread and spread with a warm, energizing bowl of Curry Cabbage Chick Pea Soup! I would swap the chickpeas in the soup recipe for hemp seeds. Just top your bowl of soup with 1/4 of hemp seeds. Don’t actually cook the hemp seeds into the soup.

EnJOY