Sundried Tomato & Almond Goodness

I'll keep it simple and sweet this time. I make Mediterranean Almond Bread on occasion and those that I share it with seem to love it as much as I do. Enjoy.

TIP: This recipe calls for Herbs De Provence. If you don't have these handy, Herbs De Provence consists of a dry blend of basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and lavender. Any combination of the previously mentioned herbs would be just as delicious too.

Mediterranean Almond Bread
By Russell James
Makes 18 'slices'

1/2 c olive oil
1 c sun dried tomatoes, loosely packed
3 c almond flour*
1 c flax meal
3 medium courgettes (zucchinis), peeled & roughly chopped
2 apples, cored and roughly chopped
3 T lemon juice 1 t salt 3 T Herbs De Provence or herbs of your choice (or less!)
2 T marjoram or herbs of your choice (or less!)

*You can make almond flour a number of ways. My favorite is to save the pulp from any almond milk I make and dehydrate it so I can keep it in a glass jar until needed. You could also use the almond pulp wet. Another way would be just to grind some almonds into flour in a high powered blender or coffee mill.

-Process the olive oil, sun dried toms, courgettes, apples, lemon juice, salt and dried herbs until thoroughly mixed.

-Add the almond flour and process again until a batter is formed.

-In a bowl mix the batter with the flax meal by hand. The reason you do this separately (not in the processor) is that you are likely to have too much mixture for the size if the processor at this point, and when you add the flax meal it will become quite heavy and sticky and overwork your machine. -When mixed, process the whole batter in the machine again in small batches to achieve a light fluffy texture.

-Divide the mixture in 2 and place on Paraflexx sheets, on dehydrator trays. -Use an offset spatula (aka offset palette knife or cranked palette knife) to spread the mixture evenly to all 4 sides and corners of the Paraflexx sheet. If mixture is too sticky you can wet the spatula to make things easier. With a knife score the whole thing into 9 squares.

-Dehydrate for 2 hours and then remove the Paraflexx sheets by placing another dehydrator tray and mesh on top and invert so that your original sheet of bread is upside down. That will allow you to peel the Paraflexx sheet off and continue to dehydrate the underside of the bread.