Foods The closer the communion plate moved toward our aisle, the more uncomfortable I got. I was supposed to be completely grain-free, but what do I do about these gluten-filled communion wafers?
The communion plate reached our aisle, and by now I was completely preoccupied with the question of what to do—do I take a communion wafer or do I skip it?
I squirmed in my seat and looked around me. This was question running through my head: what will people think if they notice I don’t take communion? (This is definitely NOT what I should have been thinking about, regardless of whether or not I decided to take the communion bread)
Living Gluten-Free in a Pro-Wheat Faith
Have you been there? Do you sometimes wonder what to do when the communion plate is passed? Certainly skipping out on this holy sacrament is not a good option. But for many, participating can mean dire health consequences.
My husband and I have written quite a bit about gluten-free living while reading an apparently pro-wheat Bible. (This was a major concern for a number of our readers. We even wrote a book about it. No joke.) We live in a faith-culture that celebrates Jesus as the Bread of Life, that teaches us to pray for “our daily bread,” that calls fellowship “breaking bread together.” It might feel un-Christian to turn down bread at times, but it doesn’t need to feel this way.
Grain-Free Communion Wafers
Recently, our church began to offer gluten-free communion wafers. Yay! This was a very welcome and surprising addition to many in our congregation!
But there are some people who need more than just a gluten-free communion cracker. They need completely grain-free communion bread. This is more difficult to come by.
In fact, I’ve had several readers contact me and ask me if I knew of anywhere to purchase grain-free communion wafers. I haven’t found anywhere yet.
I thought to myself, “Trisha, that wouldn’t be a difficult recipe. Indeed, it would be downright easy peasy.” (Yes, that’s how I talk to myself.) 🙂
Here is what I came up with. Just 3 ingredients! Hopefully, now we can all spend our time meditating on Christ during communion and not the potential health effects.
By the way, if you are looking for more gluten-free resources, make sure to check out my Everything Gluten Free resource page!
Gluten-Free, Grain-Free Communion Wafers
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 egg
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Blend together all ingredients together in a high-powered blender or food processor (you can also do this by hand).
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of wax or parchment paper until very thin, about the thickness of a penny.
- Cut into squares (or any other shape you like) using a pizza cutter or knife.
- Carefully transfer wafers to a cookie sheet (if you cut them on parchment paper you can slide the whole thing onto the cookie sheet).
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.
What a wonderful thing for you to post about! I have been that person in my row watching the plate come down towards me and I get it! Yes, we should be focused on Christ, not that plate. THANK YOU!
You are so welcome. 🙂
This is a great corn-free idea! I’d love it if you would share it on my new corn-free link party. http://www.creatingsilverlinings.com/corn-free-everyday-feb-01-2015/
Thanks for the invite 🙂
I’ve often wondered if a GF option should be available. Great idea!
is almond flour safe for nut allergy people? I have never heard of almond flour….. thanks
Almond flour is simply blanched almonds that are ground into a flour. So, yes, if you are allergic to almonds then you will be allergic to almond flour.
The communion bread I make is:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of cold water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Do you think it would work to just replace the wheat flour with the almond flour?
Most of our congregation is vegetarian or vegan, so the egg won’t work for us.
Thank you.
You might be able to, but I really don’t know for sure. If you’re not concerned with making completely grain-free crackers, but would prefer to make just gluten-free, you might want to try just using one of the gluten-free baking mixes at the store. You can typically substitute them cup-for-cup for wheat flour.
We had egg allergy concerns for awhile. We substituted bananas and applesauce. You can do a search for the amounts needed to replace an egg.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I bare the pain of the gluten as not to refuse communion. I will have to try this. Thank you so much, again.
I am gluten free for health reasons.
You’re welcome!
I would like to know if these can be frozen. I like to have a lot and we keep them in the church freezer and just take a couple (or however many we need) out each week.
I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that they would be fine. If you decide to try freezing them, let me know if they work out alright 🙂
I make a version of gluten free wafers, a variation on my regular rescue and they wafers keep in the freezer for a long time. We only take out what we need for a Sunday, and then do not refreeze the leftovers, but seal them in a bag and use them the following Sunday.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I’m still searching for a grain-free nut-free recipe, but meanwhile — these are certainly safer for me than the wheat crackers that my church uses. Now I can enjoy communion after a LLOOONNGGG time of taking only the wine (well, juice in our denomination!)
– Thank you,
Maryjean Gregory
Hmmm… I’m wondering if you could use something like tapioca starch or arrowroot to make a grain-free, nut-free version? I might try experimenting sometime soon. 🙂
What about using a bean flour or rice flour instead of the almond? Your recipe is so simple! I started making the communion bread at our Church because the thin wafer is ridiculous to me…I offered just to add a little more quality. I also made them gluten free with a gluten free flour with some of our members in mind. Now I lost the recipe, which bought me to this site. Thanks!
It might work, but I’ve not tried it! My guess is rice would probably work, but I very rarely use rice flour as I try to avoid grains. If you decide to try it out with another type of flour, would love for you to report back and let us know how it goes 🙂
Such a great idea, and my family completely understands the dilemma. Stands to reason one could even utilize a cashew or coconut flour. It’s not like the communion bread needs to taste like delicious bacon and eggs. The point is to have a consumable element available for anyone to take along with the rest of the body, so we can be joined together in remembrance, and not have to worry about getting sick or worse because of it.
Yes, I imagine you could make this with a number of different types of flours. Since I’ve not tried them with others, I wouldn’t want to speculate how they’d turn out. You might have to tweak the amounts a little bit.
We make it with coconut flour, since we don’t do grains and several in our church don’t do nuts. Seems to work well, though it needs more liquid with coconut flour.
Great idea!
Heidi, what is your recipe with the coconut flour? I am a little concerned with my wafer cross-contaminating for others. One of our young adult members has so many allergies. Nuts and almonds are probably one of them. I do plan to wrap them in Saran Wrap.
Trisha, thank you for the information. I went wheat-free for health reasons, initially for tinnitus (which the ENT thinks mine is caused by high triglycerides) and I found other health issues improved also). I researched gluten-free wafers most of the day. They are expensive! I finally found this site. I haven’t done much cooking/baking with almond flour other than “breaded” eggplant and fish, but I am seriously considering making these.
I have taken the wafers in church, but some Sundays we have bread. It is for those Sundays especially that I would like these.
Thanks to both of you!
I know it depends on the size of the cutter, but how many people will this recipe serve?
It varies so greatly depending on the size of crackers you cut. I really can’t venture a guess. Best idea is to make a batch and cut according to how large you’d like them. Then you can go from there and make another batch if needed.
That’s awesome. Can you do it without egg so everyone can use the same bread?
I’ve not tried it without egg, so I can’t say!
One large egg can be replaced by:
1. 3 table spoons of pumpkin or fruit puree,
2. 1/3 of a glass of apple puree,
3. 1/3 of beaten banana puree,
4. 1 spoon of linen seed oil,
5.1/4 tea spoon of agar-agar powder + tea spoon of baking powder mixed together very well.
6. 1 and 1/2 table spoon of egg replacing powder + 2 table spoons of water,
7. 4 table spoons of melted tofu + 1 table spoon of baking powder,
8. 1 table spoon of gelatine in 1 table spoon of water,
9. 1/4 of glass of chickpea powder (add to powder ingredients) + 1/4 of glass of some liquid (add to liquid ingredients) or mix together and let it stay for 30 min.
Please choose which is suitable for your case.
I’m going to try it….without the egg. I use flax or olive oil as an egg substitute. I have an egg white allergy and my daughter and I have to go gluten free because of thyroid and gut issues. I’ve got a SLEW of intolerances, like tapioca, which makes most gluten free flour blends off limits for me. And from what we have seen, most, if not all, of the gluten free products out there have sugar in them. That is also a no-no for me (candida overgrowth). We do a lot of trial and error just so we can have a muffin or cookie once in a while. (A LOT of error…LOL)
How did they work out without the eggs?
The egg is a leavening agent, and the bread should be unleavened. I use oil, salt and a flour (or wheat flour substitute). God bless us, everyone!