Broccoli and Onion Flax Crackers/Bread

Why should you make flax bread instead of eating whole wheat bread? This was a tough issue for me. I really love baking bread. I love the smell, the feel, and of course I love eating warm fresh bread. I suppose you could say I have always had a love affair with things made with flour. However, if you are concerned about cancer and trying to keep your blood glucose levels in check (since cancer is a sugar feeder), things made with flour need to be an occasional treat. Darn it!

The store bought varieties of bread can be much worse than homemade. Check the label of the bread you buy it may well contain high fructose corn syrup and/or carrageenan. We all know about high fructose corn syrup so I am only going to discuss the carrageenan. This is commonly used in baked goods, ice cream and soy milk and has been linked to both the promotion and spread of cancer. You will see this used in raw foods as well, it is also known as Irish moss. Dr. Weil recommended you reduce your consumption of carrageenan as far back as 2005. This is something that we have been avoiding. For these reasons commercial bread has been out at our house for a while. To satisfy our bread cravings I have starting making flax bread.

This is my favorite flax bread. I love that it uses raw broccoli, onions and garlic which keeps more of the nutrition intact. We use this in place of bread, crackers and pizza crust. It is simple and nutritious. I keep these on hand so that we can make a quick slice of raw pizza. They are also great with nut cheese or okara miso pate. Once you have them around you will find they are very versatile. Here is how I make them.

Broccoli and Onion Flax Crackers/Bread
Makes 1 tray in the Excalibur which I cut into 16 pieces

Ingredients:

4 cups broccoli florets
½ yellow onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 2/3 cups flax seeds, ground
1 cup water
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
Freshly ground black pepper to taste (probably a ¼ teaspoon)
Kosher salt to sprinkle on top

Directions:

Place the broccoli in your food processor and pulse until has been obliterated. You don’t want many obvious pieces of broccoli, add the onion and do the same thing. Place the broccoli and garlic in a large mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients through black pepper. Stir to thoroughly distribute everything. The mixture should be fairly cohesive.

Using your hands spread this on a teflex sheet. It will cover it corner to corner. I try to make certain the edges are reasonably square but this isn’t necessary. Place the “dough” in your dehydrator and “cook” at 105 degrees for four hours and then check it. If it isn’t too humid you should be able to flip the dough off the sheet (it will still be sticky on the back) and cut it into serving pieces. Return the crackers, sticky side up, to the dehydrator and “cook” until the top is dry (about an hour). I like mine a little undercooked so they are more like bread than crackers. But it you want yours more crisp the only change is to “cook” them longer.

I store mine in a covered container in the refrigerator. They seem to last a very long time, weeks in fact.

Nutritional Information (per 1/16th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 105.79
Calories From Fat (57%) - 60.24

Total Fat-  6.91g
Saturated Fat - 0.68g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 70.9mg
Potassium - 66.89mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.16g
Fiber - 5.12g
Sugar - 0.17g
Protein - 3.94g

Comments:

This is something that I try to keep in the refrigerator at all times since we use it like bread or crackers. I like that it contains raw broccoli, onions and garlic. I also like knowing we are getting omega 3 fatty acids from the flax seeds. Inflammation is something that I feel is important to keep in check. If you like this recipe you may want to make two trays at once since this keeps for weeks in the refrigerator. We also eat this with our salad in place of crackers. It really is very versatile.

Unrelated Note:

I am going to run for now. I want to make my hubby some healthy raw cookie dough truffles which I am going to cover in melted dark chocolate. This recipe has been on my to-do list for too long so I want to cross this off. Assuming all goes well I will be back later today with the recipe. After that I need to get back to my research for a few hours this afternoon.