Cricket flour is high in protein and offers an eco-friendly alternative to large-animal farming. The flour is finely milled, toasty-smelling (with a fragrance similar to roasted almonds), and easy to work into breads, cookies, or snack bars. This no-knead bread recipe benefits from a long, hands-free, room-temperature fermentation period, so plan to start a day ahead of when you plan to serve the bread. And each slice contains a whopping 10 grams of protein! Vital wheat gluten, found on the baking aisle with the flours, helps this dense, whole-grain bread rise; without it, the bread might turn out quite dense. If you don’t have hemp seeds on hand, just top with sesame seeds.
How to Make It
Weigh or lightly spoon whole-wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine whole-wheat flour, cricket flour, vital wheat gluten, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Add water; stir well to form a soft dough. Cover loosely, and let stand at room temperature for 16 to 18 hours.
Turn dough out onto a piece of parchment paper; lightly knead dough 2 to 3 times. Shape dough into a ball on parchment, smooth side up. Cut 2 (1/2-inch-deep) slits in top of dough; sprinkle with sesame seeds and hemp seeds. Coat a large bowl with cooking spray; invert bowl, coated side down, over dough. Let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Place a large covered Dutch oven inside oven. Preheat oven to 450° (leave pan in oven as it heats).
Carefully remove Dutch oven from heated oven; remove lid. Remove inverted bowl from dough. Lift dough, on parchment paper, and carefully place dough and parchment into hot Dutch oven. Cover with lid; bake at 450° for 30 minutes.
Carefully remove lid from Dutch oven; bake bread an additional 15 minutes or until crusty on top.
Also appeared in: , April, 2017