One of our daughters has been suffering from intestinal problems for a couple of years. She suspects that it's linked to gluten. So that and my steadily increasing weight gain inspired me to read The Wheat Belly. Even though I don't agree with everything he says, I've decided that restricting wheat, grains and sugar from our diet is worthy of an attempt. Here are some in depth reviews of Wheat Belly; 1, 2, 3, 4, which outline the pros and cons of Davis's weight loss premise.
In the last few weeks I've tried several gluten and grain free bread recipes. After many so-lah-lah attempts from recipe books and web sites, I decided to convert one of my favorite recipes (it's the Five Seed Bread in the Aussie Everyday Cooking.... for every family book) to a grain free bread. And after a few trial and error masterpieces, I've come up with a recipe that works. The amount of liquid may vary slightly depending on the type of coconut flour you use. I found my coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut sugar in Alnatura in Weil am Rhein, Germany. If you're in Kanton Aargau, you'll find the psyllium seed husks at Bio-Peter in Lenzburg.
The recipe below makes 3 to 4 small'ish loaves, I usually freeze 2. The crumb of this bread is perfect for sandwiches and it also toasts well.
Coconut flour
Ingredients
80g (1/2 cup) Coconut flour
60g (3/4 cup) Psyllium seed husks (for a softer bread, grind the husks speed 10, 1 minute to a POWDER)
25g Chia seeds
25g Sesame seeds
25g Pumpkin seeds
25g Linseeds
25g Poppy seeds
10 to 20g Coconut sugar (or honey) (OPTIONAL)
2 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
400 g water or coconut water/milk or almond milk. / After lots of experimenting I prefer to use water, it makes the bread lighter.
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder / NB: for lighter fluffier bread, use up to 4 tsp baking powder. (1 pkt)
1 tsp salt (if you like salt, add 1.5 to 2 tsp)
This was day 4, toasted and served with guacamole and baba ganoush.
Bon app!
Update Feb 2013:
This is how the bread looks if you double the amount of baking powder (see changes to the original recipe in red above). I also omitted the poppy seeds, and increased the other seeds.
In the last few weeks I've tried several gluten and grain free bread recipes. After many so-lah-lah attempts from recipe books and web sites, I decided to convert one of my favorite recipes (it's the Five Seed Bread in the Aussie Everyday Cooking.... for every family book) to a grain free bread. And after a few trial and error masterpieces, I've come up with a recipe that works. The amount of liquid may vary slightly depending on the type of coconut flour you use. I found my coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut sugar in Alnatura in Weil am Rhein, Germany. If you're in Kanton Aargau, you'll find the psyllium seed husks at Bio-Peter in Lenzburg.
The recipe below makes 3 to 4 small'ish loaves, I usually freeze 2. The crumb of this bread is perfect for sandwiches and it also toasts well.
Coconut flour
Psyllium seed husks
Seedy grain free bread
IN RED: changes/improvementIngredients
80g (1/2 cup) Coconut flour
60g (3/4 cup) Psyllium seed husks (for a softer bread, grind the husks speed 10, 1 minute to a POWDER)
25g Chia seeds
25g Sesame seeds
25g Pumpkin seeds
25g Linseeds
25g Poppy seeds
10 to 20g Coconut sugar (or honey) (OPTIONAL)
2 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
400 g water or coconut water/milk or almond milk. / After lots of experimenting I prefer to use water, it makes the bread lighter.
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder / NB: for lighter fluffier bread, use up to 4 tsp baking powder. (1 pkt)
1 tsp salt (if you like salt, add 1.5 to 2 tsp)
Preparation
- Pre-heat oven to 200 C.
- Grind the Psyllium seed husks for 1 min, speed 10.
- Add all dry ingredients into the Thermomix bowl,
- Mix on speed 6, 10 sec.
- Add the liquid ingredients, work as quickly as possible here.
- Mix for 15 sec on speed 7.
- Add more water if necessary, the dough should not be too dense and dry, the amount of liquid needed does depend on the brand or type of coconut flour being used.
- Knead for 2 minutes
- Shape in loaves or balls for rolls, Loaves: sprinkle with seeds. Rolls: roll in seeds (e.g., sesame seeds)
- Place on a paper lined tray and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes (depending on the size of the loaves). Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.
This was day 4, toasted and served with guacamole and baba ganoush.
Bon app!
Update Feb 2013:
This is how the bread looks if you double the amount of baking powder (see changes to the original recipe in red above). I also omitted the poppy seeds, and increased the other seeds.
HI there,
ReplyDeleteI'm a fellow Aussie now living in The Netherlands and wanted to let you know I made these today. Great recipe and couldn't believe how light and fluffy the rolls turned out. Great recipe
thanks glad to hear that you're making healthy delicious bread!, (sorry this is such a late reply!!)
Deletehi interested in buying a thermomix living in Savoie.
Deleteinterested in buying a thermomix living Savoie
DeleteHi Fiona, are you living in Switzerland? My email address is cheryl.devalliere@gmail.com and my phone no is +4178 853 8956. Please contact me if you're still interested in buying a Thermomix. Note, only the new TM5 model is available now, price is 1395.- SFr.
DeleteCheryl
double baking powder - works perfectly! my favorite bread! thanks :)
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome!!
DeleteThis is the best grain-free bread I've come across. I make mine in a food processor and find that the rolls are quite dense and don't rise very much, even with the double baking powder. My dough is too wet too knead, so maybe that is a factor too... I was wondering if you had ever made a yeast or sour dough version of these, or had any other tips to make the rolls a bit fluffier (apart from buying a thermomix, as I doubt I could afford it, even if they are available in New Zealand!)
ReplyDeleteHi Gillian, not sure what to suggest.... perhaps it's your baking powder? You could try to use 1.5 tsp bicarb and 3 tsp cream of tartar instead of your normal baking powder. And mix into the dry ingredients VERY well, or add them separately to your liquid. I've made all sorts of variations with this recipe, e.g., Teff flour with yeast (10 g fresh yeast or 1 pkt dry yeast, and reduce the amount of Psyllium seed husks, almond meal and tapioca flour also works. I only use yeast when I make this bread with spelt flour, so if you're gluten intolerant or you're avoiding grains you shouldn't try this.
DeleteThanks very much for your suggestions. I will try the bicarb/cream of tartar instead and see if that helps. I haven't heard of teff before - I will look out for it. I do have another grain-free bread recipe that uses yeast but that is predominately based on buckwheat and quinoa flour, which I guess behaves a bit more like wheat flour than the seed grinds might do. Yours has a much nicer flavour than the other one.
DeleteI can report that the yeast made no difference at all. I used 3tsp of active dry yeast and used warm water instead of cold and left the dough for an hour or so in the lounge, which was the warmest spot on a late winter's day in NZ! It didn't rise at all and the texture was just as dense. So I could have got the process wrong, or perhaps these ingredients just don't go with yeast. I'm going to try the bicarb/cream of tartar today.
DeleteDid the cream of tartar and bicarb work?
DeleteHi again. No, it didn't make any noticeable difference. However, I am now using ready ground linseed and chia seed, which makes my mix a finer texture and that seems to have helped a bit. I find that the rolls rise nicely in the oven and then collapse quite a bit while cooling. I will keep experimenting!
DeleteHi Gillian, I think it could be that you added a little bit too much bicarb and possibly that the mixture might be a bit too wet. That happened to me once too. Thanks for keeping me up-dated!
DeleteHi there, am on a similar journey after finding out that due to my mothers fatty liver disease and my dads type two diabetes my whole love affair with carbs has to be ended. would love more recipes and ideas as am finding it tricky. have just found out that our local restaurant is closing down as the owner/chef is really ill with an unnamed bowl/intestinal problem, things are just getting harder and harder!
ReplyDeletethanks by the way for the bread and the carrot cake recipes, too delicious.
thanks for the feedback!
Deletemake sure the psyllium and flax are ground very fine. Then I make 2 loaves and bake at 175 celcius for 1 hr 5 min and let it cool for 30-60 min before cutting into it. Makes a less dense lighter loaf of bread.
ReplyDeletethanks for the tip!
DeleteI have actually found that doing it without a thermomix makes a dense bread. I have a lot friends who have tried this and just cant get it right. I think something about the mixing process when the wet and dry are mixed. I have mixed for a short time and it was too tense but if i mix on a high speed for atleast a minute it works good. I use this bread for my daughters waldorf playgroup where the children make bread for morning tea, it has been a life saver.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this recipe. It is the best bread recipe I have tried since following the Paleo lifestyle for the last 18 months. This is the second time I have made the recipe and had success each time. I did find out today that doubling the recipe is too dense for the Thermomix to cope with. However I just separated the mixture into two before kneading and it worked well. I got two good sized loaves. Last time I made some rolls and a small loaf which froze well. After thawing and cutting it lasted a good week wrapped in foil in an airtight container in the fridge and was still moist and fresh. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteThis recipe is sooooooooo good! Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteLovely lady, I'm not sure if you still check this. But I have used this fabulous recipe of yours for ages, then found through a friend it is on a thermomix community site. Your recipe, not you as the author. Wanted to give you full credit if you are interested in following it up. This is a unique and awesome recipe you created.
ReplyDeleteIt can be found here.
http://www.recipecommunity.com.au/breads-rolls-recipes/super-soft-paleo-grain-free-seed-bread-rolls/228306
Sorry to intrude xx
Thanks so much for the recipe - a lot of Thermomix owners make this recipe in NZ! I came across it after trying some at a food show recently. I made some rolls yesterday (I have a Thermomix). The texture was so good, great crust and soft inside.
ReplyDeleteI found the coconut flour and or coconut oil overpowering in flavour (I use coconut oil a lot in cooking/baking so I suspect it was the flour)
and wondered have you ever tried replacing the coconut flour with another GF flour? Thought I would give it a try next time. Wish I could attach a photo - as the rolls look amazing!
Thanks again :)