Sarah Brighton over at My New Roots has got it going on. I was initially introduced to her blog by a friend from Toronto who went to Havergal – Sarah used to be her art teacher! She’s since gone on to write for Martha Stewart’s Meatless Monday, has an amazing blog and cookbook and advocates for a healthy, plant based diet. If you haven’t heard of her Life Changing Loaf of Bread yet – you’re probably going to want to make it, with or without my customizations.

I like this bread so much that I have about 6 zip-locs in my freezer with all the dry ingredients portioned out, so when I have a craving I’m only an hour and a half away from enjoying it however I please. I just add water, sweetener (maple syrup or honey), and a fat (coconut oil, butter, or olive oil), let sit for 20min (longer if I have time), and bake.

When I first made this in medical school, my roommates made fun of it. One because that is what they did, and two because it looked so healthy / rustic. I can’t remember exactly how this conversation went, but it was something like, “That looks like something out of [George Orwell’s] ‘1984,’” with the other crowing with laughter and responding, “Victory Bread!” Hilarious (insert eye-roll emoji). Anyway, I actually like the name and I've stuck with calling it Victory Bread.

Sarah recommends maple syrup – I’ve used it and honey, both work. She recommends coconut oil or ghee but I usually use regular butter, avocado or olive oil. I really like the flavour of it with coconut oil, but I find it restricts the bread’s use to more of a breakfast / toast situation. Lately, I’ve been making Victory Bread and Deliciously Ella’s Superfood Bread into croutons for my Caesar Salad. You do need a flexible silicon loaf pan – let me know if you have success without it, but I tried and didn’t. Its worth it though – you can get them fairly inexpensively on Amazon, and at least 3 people I’ve made this for have immediately gone out and gotten the pan so they could make it at home!

Victory Bread

Ingredients

1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 cup almonds
1 1/2 cups oats
2 Tbsp chia seeds
4 Tbsp psyllium husks (3Tbsp if psyllium husk powder)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey
3 Tbsp olive oil OR melted coconut oil OR butter
1 1/2 cups water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
Pour wet ingredients on top & stir well to combine.
Transfer to flexible silicon loaf pan & let sit for at least 20min (Sarah says at least 2 hours or overnight - the least you can get away with is 20min).
Put loaf pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Open oven, flip pan (with oven mitts), so that bread is directly on rack. Remove loaf pan from oven.
Bake for another 30-40 minutes, or until bread sounds hollow when tapped with a butter knife.
Let cool completely before slicing (difficult, but important).

Bread keeps in a sealed container for about 5 days. Freeze individual slices for toasting.