Cherry Chocolate Crisp Raw Bread

If first impressions are everything, I wouldn’t have given myself a chance in hell of embracing raw food once I’d been introduced to raw bread. Needless to say, once upon a time I really thought all raw bread was like the earth of the ancient world: flat. And it was the kind of flat you couldn’t fix because – on top of everything else – it was virtually tasteless and gummy too. If there was a taste, it was underscored with the slight bitterness of flax which I’ve always thought tasted like Burpee seeds gone bad. Raw bread and I were far from a match made in heaven.

I am happy to say, that since that time, I’ve come to find that 1. Raw bread is not condemned to flatness but 2. If you really want it to a. not be flat or b. taste like anything you’re going to love to eat, you’ve got to make it yourself. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

A better (raw) bread…

Way back then, my only motivation was to make something palatable and tone down the flax which honestly seemed to be the glue that held everything together in the raw world. I was going to have to find a different glue. A tall order, if there ever was one.

This recipe was born of a lot of experimentation and many failed attempts. But when it comes right down to it, I have this canine quality of ‘never letting go of a bone’. I was just not going to give up. The dehydrator was literally going for weeks around the clock; it was like the background music to our lives. And when I finally got something I deemed ‘edible’, it was a real celebration for everyone. The house was finally quiet with only the muted sound of me, munching away like a squirrel on my stool in the kitchen. Peace at last.

Even though other raw bread has edged its way into our lives over the years, this one has held a spot. Somewhere between breakfast and dessert, I love to eat it with some chia jam and a nice hot cup of tea. Usually while I’m dreaming of and designing other recipes that will, undoubtably, set the dehydrator to working overtime all over again. That’s life! at lest it is around here!

RAW VEGAN RECIPE: Cherry Chocolate Crisp Bread

2 1/2 cups oat groats, soaked and sprouted (takes 1-2 days)

1 cup zuchinni, diced

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1/3 cup maple syrup

3-4 Tablespoons cherry juice

1 cup cherries, frozen (defrosted0 or fresh, chopped (dried can also be used but everything will be drier then)

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Strain and rinse the sprouted oat groats and place in a food processor along with the zuchinni, cacao. maple syrup and juice. Note: I usually get the juice from the defrosted cherries!). Process all of the ingredients until broken down and well incorporated, resembling a cake batter.

Remove the batter from the food processor and place in a bowl. Fold in cherries and pecans.

Spread batter evenly over teflex lined dehydrator sheets. Recipe should cover 1 1/2 to 2 sheets. Dehydrate for 1-2 hours and then lightly score to make ‘slices’ Put back in dehydrator. Dehydrate approximately 16-20 hours depending on how crisp and hard you want them to be. Flip half way through onto mesh lined dehydrator trays and peeling off teflex sheet so they dehydrate evenly on both sides.

Store in a covered container.