Gluten-Free Quick Bread with Walnuts

Yesterday I had planned to make a quick bread recipe that a reader submitted as a comment to Whole Wheat Nutty Quick Bread post.  But when I got to the grocery store there was no whole wheat pastry flour.  Yes, I could have walked two blocks to the next grocery store or just used regular whole wheat flour, but instead I was tempted by a gluten-free garbanzo-fava flour.  PJ has considered going off gluten, and even though he has not committed fully to it yet I thought that having a really good gluten-free loaf might make it seem less scary!


I've been reading a bit about gluten-free and it seems true that most Americans, even those without a gluten-intolerance or celiac disease, are probably getting far more gluten than is necessary with all the bread, pasta, and packaged foods we consume.  An estimated three million Americans don't tolerate gluten well while only 100,000 are diagnosed.  So even if you think that you do tolerate gluten well, it's very possible that reducing the amount you eat would make you feel even better.  Usually when I see something labeled "Gluten-Free" I think that it's not for me since I've never been told to avoid gluten, but now I think that swapping pastry flour for garbanzo-fava sometimes might not be such a bad idea.

As usual, I doubled the recipe and put most of it in the freezer.

Gluten-Free Quick Bread
Inspired by Lena's comment to my 1/30 post Whole Wheat Nutty Quick Bread.

1 1/2 cups milk or soymilk
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 1/2 Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo Fava Flour (or other gluten-free flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease your loaf pan. Mix the milk and vinegar and let stand for 5 minutes. This will sour the milk and create a buttermilk.  Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and walnuts in a bowl. Mix the milk with the oil and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until blended. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 50 minutes. When the bread is cool enough to handle, remove from the pan and put to cool on a rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

Tip:  Use the same measuring cup to measure the oil and then the honey because the layer of oil left in the cup will keep the honey from sticking, saving you time and honey!