A grain-free bread and a creamy, filling soup

‘Oh ye of little faith,” that’s what I say. Or at least that’s what I said during a recent shoot with my assistant Gillian, whose impossibly raised eyebrow told me just what she thought of my latest grain-free bread’s chances of success.

But succeed it did, and I have to admit to taking some pleasure in the sky-rocketing smugometer at my end of the kitchen.

Back to the idea of grain-free bread. Observant readers will know that recently my cooking has moved away from a dependence on grains with a view to reducing carbohydrates.

But like many of us in this nation of “hang sangwidges,” I do love bread, or at least something very like it, especially with soup or even a bit of cheese on toast with a smear of hot mustard on the side. So, how to make bread without grains?

The linseed bread recipe from a few weeks back is one option that I now make regularly, but I can't stop experimenting, so this week features a recipe I've adapted from one from Natasha Corrett's, Honestly, Healthy, Cleanse.

I fiddled about to make it simpler – swapping oats for quinoa to avoid the gluten plus to reduce the carbs (a little) – and wilting the kale in the oven (already being preheated for baking the loaf) rather than faffing about with a steamer.

The list of ingredients looks a bit long, but this is more assembly than baking – no kneading or proving required – which in my book is reason enough to cook it. Because grain-free bread is a relatively new concept, not surprisingly, people fret that it won’t work or taste nice. I could tell Gillian wasn’t convinced as I watched her swirl the ingredients around the bowl – all those nutritious nuts, seeds and kale threatening to wither under her sceptical gaze.

But when the finished loaf emerged golden, delicious and surprisingly bread-like in texture, we were both very pleased (and okay, in my case, certainly a little smug).

To accompany it is a quick, easy recipe for a creamy, filling soup of cauliflower and leek with a warm hint of fennel seed.

The original recipe called for coconut oil, but the coconut flavour was more pronounced than I expected, so we decided to ditch it instead and use butter or olive oil. Supper in a bowl.