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quinoa flatbreads, vegan, vegetarian, whole food plant based, gluten free, recipe, wfpb, healthy, oil free, no refined sugar, no oil, refined sugar free, dinner, side, side dish, dairy free, dinner party, entertaining

Cornbread Quinoa Flatbread

  • Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
  • Prep Time: 7 minutes
  • Cook Time: 21 minutes
  • Total Time: 28 minutes
  • Yield: 1 Flatbread 1x

Description

This amazingly simple and easy Quinoa Flatbread is healthy and sure to be a new family favorite.  You just may never buy bread again after tasting these delicious flatbreads. It is versatile and oh so yummy! A fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Oil free, sugar free, no processed ingredients.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup quinoa – uncooked
  • ½ cup, plus 1 Tablespoon unsweetened plain plant milk
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ cup cornmeal
  • 2 Tablespoons dry maple sugar
  • Topping:
    • Sprinkle extra cornmeal

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Line a 14 x 20 baking sheet with parchment paper. Invert the parchment paper and trace an 11-inch diameter circle in the center of the parchment paper to use as a pouring guide.  Flip the parchment paper over and place onto the baking sheet. You should be able to see the circle from the other side.  Note:  This step is not required, but for some it can be helpful.
  3. Place the dry quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and rinse the quinoa really well with running water for two minutes. This removes the bitterness from the quinoa.  Shake to drain excess moisture.
  4. Add the rinsed quinoa, plant milk, baking powder, and sea salt into a high-speed blender and blend on high for one minute. When using our Vitamix, we use the tamper tool to help move the batter along until it was able to blend on its own. If you don’t help it along, then the batter doesn’t completely mix well and become smooth.  The batter should be smooth without any visible quinoa remaining. With a Vitamix, it may take a little longer to completely blend the quinoa, about 2 minutes.  Reference the photos to review the consistency.  Additionally, since this is a small amount of batter, use the smaller Vitamix container.
  5. The batter consistency is key here. Since quinoa has slight variations of “dryness” depending on how old it is, you need to pay attention to the thickness of the batter.  The batter should be somewhat thick, and pourable with the help of a rubber spatula to get it onto the parchment lined baking sheet. If the batter appears overly thick, then add a teaspoon (+) of plant milk to loosen it up. 
  6. Drop the batter into the center of the circle that you drew on the parchment paper. Once you get pretty much get ALL the batter out of the high-speed blender, take a rubber spatula and start to spread it out.  Working from the center, gently pushing the batter outwards until you reach the outline of the circle.  The batter should be spread thin.  Reference the photos on the blog post for reference.
  7. Sprinkle the top with a little cornmeal
  8. Place the quinoa flatbread into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
  9. After 15 minutes, remove the quinoa flatbread from the oven, then using a thin edged spatula, gently loosen the bread from the parchment paper, flip over, and then return to the oven for another 4 to 5 minutes for chewy.  Bake 6 to 7 minutes for crispy,  6 minutes for crispy, 7 minutes for crispy and crunchy.
  10. Enjoy!
  11. See additional recipe variations.

Notes

*Quinoa Flatbread:  This is not your typical soft flatbread. It is made from quinoa and is not soft and fluffy because it has no oil which typically gives a more fluffy and soft texture.  It is however, very tasty and satisfying.

*Batter:  The batter consistency is key.  The batter should be thick, but should spread easily with a rubber spatula.  It should look like a fudgy brownie batter, but very spreadable.

*Batter Thickness or rather thinness:  Another key element is to spread the batter very very thin.  The batter will not rise much, but since the batter is consisting of crushed quinoa you want the batter thin so it bakes thoroughly.  If it is too thick, then your quinoa bread will be gummy.

*Baking Time:  If you like your quinoa bread super crispy, follow the instructions on baking times.  It is very important that you set and USE a timer for both the 1st side and flip side of the baking.  Otherwise, you could end up with a gummy flatbread.

*Oven Preheat to 425 degrees F:  It is very important that your oven is fully preheated before you begin the baking process.

*11-inch circle guide:  The 11-inch circle guide works really well because it lets you know just how thin the batter should be when spreading it out.

*Flip side baking:  After the 1st 15 minutes of baking, remove the baking sheet from the oven, use a long thin edged spatula and gently loosen the quinoa flatbread around all the edges. The baked bread will want to stick to the parchment paper, but trust me it comes loose with just a few tugs, then slide your spatula underneath the center of the flatbread, once it is fully loose, very carefully flip it over using tongs (be careful not to tear the flatbread.)  It should flip over easily, then return the flatbread to the oven and do the flip-side baking.  Be careful, it’s HOT!

*High Speed Blender:  We use a Ninja High Speed Blender with great results.  The key is that the quinoa must be broken down into a batter consistency.  We used the “Auto IQ Ultra Blend” setting on our Ninja. Our regular food processor did not have the power to break down the quinoa.