Bloat-free bread? Try Mariella Frostrup’s easy oat and yogurt recipe for a healthy, nourishing loaf
Time to swap out your regular loaf for something more nourishing and less bloating? Midlife campaigner Mariella Frostrup’s alternative bake is just the thing (and doesn’t take ages to make)
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Whether you’re looking for recipes that will support you during the tricky health and hormonal shifts of midlife, or you’re on the hunt for a new cookbook packed with easy and delicious dishes that the whole family will love, then Menolicious: Eat Your Way to a Better Menopause, £8.67, is what you need.
Created by broadcaster, journalist and menopause awareness activist Mariella Frostrup, 62, and 51-year-old Belles Berry, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and daughter of Dame Mary Berry, Menolicious is full of recipes designed to help balance hormones, improve cardiovascular health, reduce fatigue, support muscle growth, strengthen bones and boost memory. Each one explains the specific benefits of the ingredients included for tackling menopause symptoms, and many of them take 30 minutes or less to create – which is music to our ears.
You may have already given the simple chicken stew a whirl, or whipped up the delicious and surprisingly healthy lemon cheesecake. Now it’s time to give this alternative bread recipe a go. A healthier alternative to your regular loaf, this bloat-free bread majors on oats and yoghurt, and contains pumpkin and chia seeds, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids and fibre, plus walnuts to support heart health and reduce inflammation.
Unlike regular bread recipes, no lengthy proving time is required here: simply mix the ingredients together and pour into a bread tin. The authors suggest pairing it with a bowl of hot soup – sounds like the perfect lunchtime option for this chilly time of year.
Fancy giving it a go? Here’s the lowdown.
Mariella Frostrup’s healthy bread recipe
Protein 6.4g, fibre 2.9g, carbs 17g per portion
Makes one 900g loaf (14 slices per loaf)
- Sunflower oil, for greasing
- 500g plain yogurt
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp milk
- 50g roughly chopped walnuts
- 280g porridge oats
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp flaky sea salt
- 25g chia seeds
- 30g pumpkin seeds, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle on top
- 25g sunflower seeds, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle on top
- 1 tsp poppy seeds, to sprinkle on top
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 180 degrees Celsius fan. Grease the loaf tin with a little oil and line with non-stick baking parchment.
Place the yogurt, egg, and milk in a large mixing bowl (if using a hand whisk) or the bowl of a food processor. Mix on a medium speed for 10 seconds. Add the chopped walnuts, porridge oats, bicarbonate of soda, salt, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds to the mixture and mix on a medium speed for 25 seconds. Transfer the batter to the prepared tin, level it out and scatter the extra pumpkin and sunflower seeds and the poppy seeds on top. Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes until golden brown.
Using oven gloves, remove the tin from the oven and carefully turn out the loaf. Put it back in the tin upside down. Return to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the loaf right side up onto a wire rack. Place a clean tea towel on top until you are ready to serve. Enjoy warm, with plenty of butter!
Extracted from Menolicious: Eat Your Way to a Better Menopause (DK RED) by Mariella Frostrup and Belles Berry, which is out now
