The Upper Crust: Up Your Bread Making Game by Adding Algae

Bread making is on the rise, thanks to a lockdown-induced boom in all things baking. If you’ve already added pesto, carrots, and curry powder to your dough for an innovative nutritional kick and are pondering how to up your game, then adding algae to your next batch might be just the nutrition-boosting hack you’ve been coveting. 

Popular in Japan, chlorella is a type of green algae, which can be harvested and turned into a powder. Renowned for providing a whole host of health benefits, studies show it could help with everything from boosting energy levels to keeping wrinkles at bay.

One of the easiest ways to incorporate chlorella into your diet is adding it to bread, where it adds a splash of color and extra nutrition.

EASY CHLORELLA BREAD

INGREDIENTS

• 14 oz bread flour
• Pinch Sun chlorella powder
• 0.7 oz sugar
• 0.25 oz dry yeast
• 6.75 fl oz water
• 2.7 fl oz milk
• Pinch alt
• 0.35 oz unsalted butter

METHOD

1. Warm water and milk to 100°F.
2. Mix half the bread flour in a bowl with salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the Sun chlorella powder, sugar, dry yeast, water, milk, and the other half of the bread flour for about 3 minutes.
3. Gently add the bread flour and salt mix to the chlorella powder mix and then knead on a board with the butter for approximately 10 minutes.
4. Once kneaded, put the dough mixture back in the bowl and cover with clingfilm for 35 minutes (or until it has swollen until twice the original size.)
5. Once risen split into 3 separate balls adding each ball to a separate mold, cover each in cling film for approximately 20 minutes.
6. Remove the cling film and bake for approximately 25 minutes at 430°F.
7. Once baked, allow to cool for serving.

CHLORELLA CAKE SALE

INGREDIENTS

• Pinch Sun chlorella powder
• 3.5 oz cake flour (or plain flour)
• Pinch baking powder
• Pinch salt and pepper
• Pinch sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 0.67 fl oz olive oil
• 0.85 fl oz milk
• 0.85 fl oz whip cream
• 0.25 oz unsalted butter (for mold)
• 0.7 oz dried tomatoes
• 15 olives
• 0.25 oz fresh basil

METHOD

1. Rehydrate the dried tomatoes in hot water and cut them down to 0.5” cubes. Cut the olives into slices. Remove the stems from the basil.
2. Add the Sun chlorella powder, cake flour, and baking powder to a bowl and mix together.
3. Add in the salt, pepper, and sugar and mix.
4. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, olive oil, and milk.
5. Add the liquid mixture to the chlorella powder mixture and mix together.
6. Rub a bread mold with butter and put 1/3 of the mixture into the mold. Then add a layer of the olives, tomatoes, and basil (approximately ½ of the ingredients. Then add another 1/3 of the dough mixture on top and then repeat until you have three layers or dough and two layers of olives, tomatoes, and basil in the middle.
7. Bake at 340°F for 10 minutes. Take out of the oven, make a cut in the middle, and then bake for a further 25 minutes.
8. Once baked, allow to cool for serving.

Hope you enjoy these algae bread making recipes. Learn more about the superpower of CHLORELLA- A SERIOUS SUPERFOOD