Karask – buckwheat soda bread

Karask (also known as quick bread) is a traditional Estonian bread that is similar to a soda bread. It is made with rye flour giving it a dark colour and a slightly sour taste. But we are going to substitute the rye flour in its entirety with buckwheat flour which in my opinion makes it actually tastier and of course gluten-free. This bread is incredibly easy to make as it uses baking soda as the leavening agent instead of yeast and comprises of only six ingredients unless you want to add some dried fruit, nuts or seeds to spice things up.

Why make this buckwheat soda bread?

The recipe includes kefir which can easily be substituted with Greek yoghurt for example. But as you may know, kefir is rich in beneficial bacteria, as well as vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients so it is good for you. It may lose some of its beneficial properties after heating it but it is still a good way to make your bread healthier. See some of my other kefir containing recipes here, as you may have some left over after making this bread.

How to store and consume karask?

I highly recommend to share karask with your family or friends after slightly cooling and consume on the same day. While it’s still warm put a bit of butter on top and enjoy. It is okay to keep the bread in the fridge for a few days after though and you can even toast it in the toaster for some crispiness. It also goes exceptionally well with my egg mayo with butter spread.

Karask – buckwheat soda bread

Course: Gluten free bakesCuisine: EstonianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

Calories per serving

215

kcal

Karask (also known as quick bread) is a traditional Estonian bread similar to soda bread. Gluten containing flour is replaced in this recipe with buckwheat flour which is a great flour to use in many bakes. It is incredibly easy to make as it uses baking soda as the leavening agent instead of yeast and comprises of only six ingredients unless you want to add some dried fruit, nuts or seeds to spice things up.

Ingredients

• 1 egg

• 260 g plain kefir

• 160 g buckwheat flour (make sure it’s gluten-free)

• 1 tsp baking soda (make sure it’s gluten-free)

• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• Optional ingredients

• 1 tbsp poppy seeds

• 1 tbsp flaxseeds

• 1 tbsp dried cranberries

Directions

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C/180 °C fan/gas 6.
• Whisk the egg in a bowl with salt and sugar. Add kefir and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking soda. You can add seeds, nuts and dried fruit at this stage.
• Then pour the flour mix onto the liquid mix and stir until everything is well combined.
• Add baking paper into a small to medium size bread baking dish and pour the dough in.
• Once the oven has reached the required temperature, bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, if starts to turn dark, cover with foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
• Serve sliced with butter when it’s still slightly warm.

Recipe Video

If you’ve made this recipe and are on Instagram, use the hashtag #TheNonGlutenOne so I can re-share the love. Please let me know if there’s anything I can improve with this recipe. Use my contact page or email me at info@thenonglutenone.com.