July 2, 2015

Gluten-Free Tea Brack

Want a recipe for a gluten-free tea brack that’s made with ground almonds and no special type of flour?

couple of slices of tea brack — Go on – have a slice.

Tea brack – an odd choice for a recipe in summer, I know, but I’ve been looking for some gluten-free sweet thing for breakfast that is also quite filling. Tea brack is definitely filling and sweet but not too sweet. It’s also good with a little bit of butter.

For the past few weeks (maybe more like couple of months if I’m being honest) I’ve been making gluten-free cakes every few days just to have something nice and sweet for breakfast. I usually make either gingerbread, chocolate gingerbread or a lemon-cherry cake. They’re lovely but not exactly the healthiest option – though not the unhealthiest either. But the problem is that they’re not really filling. You have a slice of cake and then you want to eat the whole thing. Or is that just me?

This tea-brack isn’t as sweet as cake and it’s more dense. So it’s got less sugar (that’s got to be healthier, right?) and it’s more filling. After two (okay maybe three) slices you really are full up.

Although I suppose in summertime a simple fruit salad is really what I should have for a nice sweet breakfast… Maybe I’ll try that next week.

This recipe is actually dairy free – because I didn’t have any butter to hand this morning. I used olive oil instead, not the extra-virgin one because that can give things a very fudgey consistency.

One thing about this brack though – that might be a negative for some people – is that you can tell it’s made with ground almonds rather than flour, personally I like the nuttiness of it but if you’re not overly fond of nuts and you want a gluten free recipe you could maybe try a mix of millet flour and corn meal instead. By the way, if you don’t like nuts you still might like most of the cakes made with ground almonds, usually the taste is not obvious at all.

ingredients for gluten and dairy free tea brack — 300g ground almonds, 3 eggs, cup of strong hot black tea, 1 teaspoon of crude treacle, 1 tablespoon of golden syrup, 75ml of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and a good fistful of raisins – that’s what gluten and dairy free tea bracks are made of

Tea brack all ready to go in the oven — So in case you were thinking “I know that packet of ground almonds, she’s only used 200g…” No, I used one and half packets for the recipe. Honest.

tea brack on a wire tray — Bake it in the oven at 160 C for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until it is firm.

Tea Brack out of oven wrapped in tea towel as it cools. — Tea bracks are supposed to be gorgeously moist things. So normally you wrap it in a tea towel so that as it cools it keeps in the moisture. This is also a good thing to do if you over-bake bread. I overbaked this tea-brack a little bit. But it was fine after leaving it in the towel to cool.

The Way I Make Gluten-Free Tea Brack is:

Ingredients

300g ground almonds
3 medium-sized eggs
cup of strong black tea
1 tsp crude treacle
1 tbsp golden syrup
75ml olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch finely-ground salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
good fistful of raisins

Instructions

Grease and line a loaf tin (9 x 5 inch) and heat the oven to 160 C.
Make a strong cup of black tea. Grease a teaspoon and tablespoon with a little oil – this just makes getting the treacle and golden syrup off them easier. While the tea is hot stir in a teaspoon of treacle and a tablespoon of golden syrup.
Whisk up the eggs and salt. Whisk in the olive oil.
Stir the spices and the baking soda in the ground almonds and mix in well. Then whisk this into the eggs and stir in the sweet tea well.
Add in a good fistful of raisins and stir in well.
Pour into the loaf tin and then bake for 45 – 60 minutes at 160 C.
When the brack is totally firm, take out and remove from the tin. Wrap in a tea towel and leave to cool.