Millet Bread with Walnuts (Lectin-Free)

This millet bread recipe with walnuts was created as a lectin-free and dairy-free alternative to ‘cornbread’.

You can serve it warm, out of the oven, with a cube of grass-fed butter or nut butter and a drizzle of raw honey or yacon syrup. My favorite way!! Have it as a snack, sweet treat, with your breakfast, for your barbecue garden party, or as a side to a delicious chili.

Using millet to replace corn is not a novelty

It’s not a coincidence that I’m creating this recipe while I’m in Romania. Corn polenta and bread and cakes made of corn are pretty popular here too, but there is one more thing that fascinates me.

Corn is a plant native to the Americas and was introduced to Europe by Spanish settlers in the 15th century; however, corn was introduced in the 18th century in Romania.

Polenta made with corn is very popular now in Romania; however, the polenta/porridge style dishes were made with millet before the corn. Millet was a staple food for the population in the area where Romania was now for 2500 years before introducing corn and wheat.

The Romans were making bread out of millet, called in Latin “panicum milliaceum”. Using millet to replace corn and make staples like bread is not such a novelty in the end.

How to make millet bread at home

The lectin-free dry ingredients

Cornbread is usually made with equal quantities of cornflour and wheat flour, which, if you ask me, is weird, as I was expecting something only made with cornflour. But wheat is everywhere, isn’t it?

To replace this lectin bomb combo, I used a mix of ground millet, ground walnuts, tapioca, and cassava flour. Please check my SHOP page for options for all these ingredients.

One important note about ground millet: This is not a millet flour bread. DO NOT use store-bought millet flour, as you won’t get the same result. The texture of millet flour is too fine for this type of bread, and millet flour tends to be quite bitter (not in a nice way).

I use a Nutribullet with a milling blade to grind the millet at home, explicitly made for grinding nuts and other dry stuff. I looked on Amazon, and the cheapest options are this electric grain mill, or this manual one. But, if you don’t have a Nutribullet, I recommend one as it can do everything if you also get the milling blade. This is what the millet texture looks like:

I milled the walnuts in the same Nutribullet, but in this case, you can also use a food processor or walnut flour. Nuts will not be ground uniformly, but it doesn’t matter. In fact, is nice when you find a bigger piece of walnut in the composition. This is how it looked after grinding.

The rest of the dry ingredients are tapioca and cassava flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt.

The dairy-free wet ingredients

Traditionally, cornbread is made with lots of dairy, like buttermilk and sour cream, and even butter.

I used only coconut cream, which I mixed with fresh lemon juice and left for 10-15 minutes to curdle. That’s enough to give the texture buttermilk will give to a cake. You can use any alternative milk you want, but I like coconut cream because it is super creamy. Funny enough, I didn’t feel the coconut taste at all.

I also used one pastured egg, extra virgin olive oil, and some honey. I flavored it with vanilla and lemon zest, and I suggest you don’t skip the lemon zest. It comes through beautifully. Just make sure it’s organic.

If you don’t want to use honey at all, you can use any sweetener you prefer. Lakanto syrup or Yacon syrup would be my first choices. Just a reminder, honey is phase two plant paradox compliant and limited to one teaspoon a day. But the quantity I used in this cake is way lower than that.

After mixing everything, you might have to add a little bit of water, or milk, in case your batter looks too dry. Gently incorporate all the ingredients and let it sit for 5 minutes as it might get a little drier. It’s a thick batter, but it should look moist, not dry.

For a baking dish, I used a Pyrex with low walls (approx 17×28 cm or 7×11 in). This way is straightforward to turn the cake upside down. But you can use any baking dish you use for bread and cakes, and you can even line it with parchment paper. I greased it well with olive oil and it came out easily.

How to serve gluten-free millet bread

You can serve it warm, out of the oven, with a cube of grass-fed butter or nut butter, and a drizzle of honey or yacon syrup. My favorite way!! Have it as a snack, sweet treat, with your breakfast, for your garden party next to your barbecue. Or go the traditional way, serve it with Dr. Gundry’s Lectin-Free Chili. Add it to a lunch box.

Is millet bread healthy?

Millet is an excellent replacement for corn because it has a better nutrient profile and is lectin-free. Millet bread is healthy and much healthier than cornbread if consumed in moderation.

More millet recipes

For more delicious ways to use millet, check out these recipes:

• Millet Stuffing (Gluten-Free, Lectin-Free)
• How to Make Millet Porridge
• Thyme Roasted Mushrooms with Millet Polenta
• Tabbouleh with Millet and Hemp Hearts
• Warm Brussel Sprouts and Millet Salad

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