This is vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free. It does contain nuts (almond flour and walnut pieces), so adjust accordingly if you have a nut allergy.
Ingredients:
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup almond meal/flour (you could substitute millet or amaranth or oat flour here)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
3/4 cup “Just Like Sugar”
1 cup applesauce
1/8 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 -2 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest
1/3 cup canola oil
Energ-G egg replacer for 1 egg (to equal about 1/8 cup of liquid)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh cranberries (see notes below), chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a loaf pan — it is best to use a glass or ceramic pan, because a metal pan will cause the outside of the bread to get overdone, while the inside will not be cooked enough. The easiest way to prepare the pan is to line it with a large sheet of parchment paper. Leave some extra hanging over the edges so that when the bread is done, you can grab onto the edges and simply lift the bread up out of the loaf pan to cool on a wire rack. It works really well, and there is no need to oil the pan or worry about sticking.
Mix together dry ingredients – through the “Just Like Sugar”. I like to do this in a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, and mix on a low speed to combine and to get rid of any lumps.
Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well. You can also combine the cranberries and walnuts in a separate bowl to have them ready to mix in.
With the mixer on a low speed, add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until you get a smooth batter. If it is too dry, add a splash of orange juice or apple cider.
Fold in the cranberries and walnuts. For those with nut allergies, just leave out the walnuts. It still tastes great without them.
Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top.
Bake for 55- 70 minutes. The baking time depends on the type of pan you use and how hot your oven is. I start checking mine at 45 minutes, but find that it usually takes 65 minutes to get truly done. Done-ness is determined by sticking in a wooden skewer and having it come out clean. Once done, remove the pan from the oven and lift your loaf out of the pan to let it cool on a wire rack. The parchment paper will slip right off.
A note on cranberries: the first time I made this bread, I used dried cranberries (“Craisins”) and didn’t add any sugar. It turned out fantastically well. The loaf was thoroughly cooked through and had a nice crumb. You would hardly know it was a gluten-free product! Today I used fresh cranberries, roughly chopped, and the loaf is much denser and moister than last time. I would not recommend using frozen cranberries in this recipe unless you have thawed them and they are at room temperature when you mix them into your batter. If they are cold, they will cause your loaf to take a much longer time to bake.
