Essene Flat Bread with Quinoa Sprouts

By: Esther Vasa

My First Essene Bread
Thanks to my good friend, Matthew Linauer of Deflate the Mate, for inspiring me to make Essene Bread. I have discovered a new taste that I will cling to for life, Lord willing. Essene Bread is delicately sweet and savory. As quinoa seeds have a nutty taste with a mild bitter touch, I added bananas, raisins and figs to compensate for the nuttiness and bitterness. A slight spice kick with ginger and nutmeg gave it an extra flavor. For binding, I used white chia seeds because chia seeds have no flavor of their own and pick up the flavors from the other ingredients. This bread is way too delicious to be healthy and yet is super-healthy! 

Ingredients:
Quinoa Sprouts
Watch Those Tails
Quinoa (white or red or a combo) - 1/2 cup
Water (to soak, rinse and sprout quinoa)
White Chia seeds - 1/4th cup 
Soaked Raw Sunflower Seeds - 1/4th cup
Sundried Calimyrna figs - 3 (Soak and reserve the soaking liquid; about half a cup)
GF unsulphured raisins - 1tbsp
Ripe Bananas - 2
Himalayan Salt - 1/4th tsp
Nutmeg - a big pinch
Ginger Powder - 1/4th tsp

Preparation:
  • Soak quinoa for about eight hours. Sprout it. Rinse every 8 hours until the sprouting process is complete. I used Victorio's 3-Tier sprouter. For more information on sprouting, please check Sproutman. It took about 36 hours to sprout. Right now, it is about 50F in New York City. It might take a bit longer in winter months and may be a little shorter in summer months. To get an idea on how the sprouts looked like, see the picture right next to the ingredient list.
  • When you are ready to do your Essene Bread, blend all the ingredients listed in a power blender until smooth. Alternately, you could use a food processor or a juicer.
    • Ready to go into the dehydrator
  • Spread the dough on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115F for 12 hours. Dehydration time may vary depending on your dehydrator and how well you like your bread dehydrated. 
  • Alternately, you could bake Essene Bread in an oven at the lowest temperature possible (200F) for about four hours or so.
  • Makes about nine slices.

Alternate Options: 
  • You could add soaked and crushed walnuts, currants, craisins, dried berries or mango. 
  • You could also make your Essene Bread by using vegetables like grated carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and mushroom bits. 
  • You could try with different spices like garlic powder, cumin powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, clove and now you get the idea.
  • Be as creative as you can. Share with us your experiments and results. We learn together. Don't we?