Photo: Ann Pittman
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
Step 1
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.
Step 2
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.
Step 3
Place a large covered Dutch oven inside oven. Preheat oven to 450° (leave pan in oven as it heats).
Step 4
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.
Step 5
Carefully remove lid from Dutch oven; bake bread an additional 15 minutes or until crusty on top.
Also appeared in: , April, 2017
