# 8 Nettle Flatbread

You might be familiar with the nettle tea, but have you used nettle in cooking or baking before? I have eaten nettle since I was a kid. My mum used to pick nettles during the spring and I often helped her. You pick only the top part of the plant when the nettle shoots are still young and soft. And always wear good gloves since nettle leaves will sting and inject histamine and other chemicals which will make your skin itchy and really painful and you might get many visible bumps. I can't remember how many times I got nettle stings in my legs or hands as a kid playing in the forest, but I can tell you that it was painful every time.
Back to the health benefits of nettles. Urtica dioica, nettle is used as a traditional herb in many countries. It is used for arthritis, kidney and urinary track problems, gastro-intestinal issues and many other minor health issues or as a preventative method.  You might find nettle also in your shampoo since it helps control dandruff naturally and gives a beautiful shine to hair, so nettle is used as a hair tonic as well. My aunt made her own hair tonic with nettles and used this green liquid for the last rinse when washing her hair. As a kid I found that really funny. She soaked fresh nettle leaves in the hot water in a wash basin while in sauna and used a fresh batch every time for her hair. Indeed she had beautiful red shiny curls.
Nettle is high in Vitamin A and C, iron, potassium, manganese and calcium. The iron from nettles gets easily absorbed since the herb has also vitamin C.
If you want to eat the nettles you picked yourself, you need to first cook or soak them well. This will remove the stinging chemicals from the nettles and you can use nettles like you would use spinach. In soups, in the ravioli fillings, as a puree or pesto and you can make tea with dried nettle leaves. Of course you can also buy dried nettle from many health stores if you can't find 'clean' nettles growing in your garden or in the area you live. 

In this next recipe I am using dried nettle leaves. My mum made often the 'normal' bread with fresh or dried nettle, and here is my version of nettle flatbreads.

Intermediate 1 for sulphite/sulfite issues.

Nettle Flatbreads, makes 12-14

2 1/2 dl or 1 cup of Brown rice flour
2 1/2 dl or 1 cup of Millet flour
1 dl or 1/3 cup of Dried Nettle leaves
2 Tbsp. of Golden Flaxseeds
1 tsp. of Himalaya salt
4-4 1/2 dl or 1 1/2 cups to 1 3/4 cups of Water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl well and start adding the water until you have a smooth mixture. This time the mixture should be quite liquid, like in the picture. So adjust the water, depending how much water the flours and nettles are absorbing. 

Cover the baking tray with a good quality baking paper and put tablespoons of the mixture on the paper and spread circles which are about 0,5 cm high.

Bake in the oven 180 C or 350 F, about 15-20 minutes. 

These flatbreads will keep well about one week in the fridge and for longer in the freezer. Reheat or toast the flatbreads for better taste and texture.

I made some egg-butter for these flatbreads. Often you will have your spinach/nettle soup served with a half boiled eggs and egg-butter tasted really delicious with these flatbreads.

Egg-butter
3 Boiled Eggs, 7 minutes
125 g of soft, grass-fed, unsalted Butter
Himalaya salt to taste

Boil the eggs for 7 minutes, let them cool down, peel them and mash with a fork, add soft butter and salt to taste. Mix everything together and serve with flatbreads. The egg-butter keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days. 

Since the eggs are high in organic sulphur/sulfur you probably need to skip the egg-butter, if you are following a low sulphur/sulfur diet at the moment.

Enjoy.