Sundried Tomato & Sultana Focaccia (GF) (DF)

Bread is one of those things that becomes a pain in the back-side when you enter the gluten-free world. Slice-pan has definitely come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years and there are some Irish companies producing tasty stuff that is perfect for sandwiches, toast or for making breadcrumbs. We use Purebred or Genius bread in my house for making stuffing for the Sunday roast and gluten-loving folk have never complained!

Personally though, I've never really been a big fan of slice-pan. I don't really eat sandwiches and I find toast without real butter to be a futile exercise that only ever ends in disappointment. I have, however, always had an affinity for picking up unusual, fresh breads like focaccia, fougasse and Indian flat breads. They're perfect for scooping up sauces or dipping into soup. As a bonus, a lot of these breads lend themselves far easier to being robbed of their gluten than a springy batch loaf or a hearty Irish brown bread.

The fact that this bread doesn't look like a traditional loaf of bread means that you're taste buds aren't expecting bread, therefor you avoid the usual, "ah it's nice for gluten-free bread" issue! It's also dairy-free and absolutely jam-packed with fibre and essential nutrients! 

I've made this countless times since discovering the recipe and I make a few trays at a time, wrapping a few in cling film once they've cooled and freezing them. To defrost, I take the loaf out of the freezer the night before and leave to defrost in the cling. In the morning, give it a blast in a hot oven for 10 minutes and it's as if you just took it out of the oven! Delicious! 

Ingredients

240g Ground Golden Linseed
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 Teaspoon Dried Basil
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
2 Teaspoons Gluten-free Baking Powder
4 Eggs
120ml Dairy-free Milk (I use unsweetened Coconut Milk)
2 Tablespoons Honey
80g Sultanas
10 Sliced Sun dried Tomatoes
4 Tablespoons of Oil from the jar of Sun dried Tomatoes (or just use Extra-virgin Olive Oil)

Preheat the oven to 180'C and line a 10" squared tin with parchment paper.

Mix the linseeds, dried herbs and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients and then pour these into the dry mix. Give this a good mix until it's well combined and then pour into the prepared tin.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool slightly and then enjoy either on it's own, sliced up for sandwiches or, my favourite, for soaking up the sauce from whatever we've concocted for dinner!