Garlic cashew cheese and something to spread it on

Toasted slice with cashew cheese and roasted red pepper.

We recently attended a small, casual dinner that consisted mainly of things spread on bagels. I had a dish to bring from my slow cooker, but at the last minute I decided I wanted a gluten-free bread option to spread stuff on, and asked my husband if he could please pick up a GF bread on his way home.

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The bread he brought home was new to me, and not only was it as hard as a brick, it was as heavy as one, too. I glared. He swore it was the only GF bread at Whole Foods. Ha.

The ingredient list was short —  organic buckwheat flour, brown rice flour, organic flax seeds, filtered water, gluten free baking powder, gluten free guar gum, sea salt. The brand name, which appears obscurely on the back of the package, is GluteNull, and it's made at a bakery in Coquitlam, BC, Canada. In the U.S., it's currently only available in a few places in and near Seattle, one of which is our Whole Foods. Yay.

Before we left for the party, I set about slicing the bread in case anyone else wanted some. (You can snicker here, if you'd like.) I was surprised to find the cut slice pleasantly soft, moist, and kind of pretty. Later, while everyone at the party slathered their bagels, I piled toppings onto my buckwheat bread, and took a bite. The slightly gelatinous texture, thanks to the generous amount of flax seeds, was a little off-putting to me, but I ate it anyway. You know the drill.

At home the next day I tried toasting a slice to see if the texture would improve, and yes it did but not enough. So, I toasted it again and voila! It was actually good. Very good.

I was munching a slice coated with homemade jam, when I came across a mofo post on Veganosaurus about fermented cashew garlic cheese. It used only cashews, water, salt and garlic, and since I was needing a savory topping for my new favorite, double-toasted toast, I started some cashews soaking.

Like all fermented cashew cheeses, it takes a bit of time to reach the eating stage, but it requires very little hands-on time. It's very easy.You soak the cashews, drain them, grind them, then set them aside to ferment. It must have been a bit chilly in my kitchen because the fermentation took two days.

My cheese turned out soft and creamy like cream cheese — and is delicious. Perhaps if I'd followed the directions more closely, it would be firmer, like Susmitha's.

The roasted red peppers, by the way, came from our farmers market. A little pricy, spicy, succulent and smoky, they are hard to resist as we walk by the roaster and breathe in the fragrant aroma. They look pretty fabulous, too, and we are weak.