Friday 12 October 2012

Flax Bread

I did some low carb gluten free cooking today! I made a flax meal (also known as linseed meal) bread using the recipe from here. I was actually quite skeptical as sometimes flax can have a bitter taste (though, that flax was probably rancid), but it turned out quite well! It still has a seed-y sort of taste, but it's tasty enough that I think it might be a staple food during my low carb adventure.

Did I mention i'm trying out a low carb diet? One of my teachers was talking about how we should experiment with different diets to understand how our clients will feel, and while I don't think naturopaths advocate low carb diets it will be one that our clients will choose to be on for one reason or another. Plus i'm hoping i'll lose some weight >.>.....and it'll make being gluten free more interesting. I've been going down on my carb limit day by day and currently i'm on 50 g per day. I may lower this once i've gotten the hang of cooking some of the bread alternatives and whatnot, as I really can't stand eating mainly protein (and it's expensive), but for the time being 50 g per day is alright :).

Here is the recipe I used, I halved it (giving half an egg to my dog) and used two thin pieces to make a sandwich. 

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flax seed meal
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder (gluten free)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1-2 Tablespoons sugar equivalent from artificial sweetener
  • 5 beaten eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare pan (a 10X15 pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or a silicone mat.

1) Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.

2) Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter.

3) Let batter set for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken up some (leave it too long and it gets past the point where it's easy to spread.)

4) Pour batter onto pan. Because it's going to tend to mound in the middle, you'll get a more even thickness if you spread it away from the center somewhat, in roughly a rectangle an inch or two from the sides of the pan (you can go all the way to the edge, but it will be thinner).

5) Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browning even more than flax already is.

6) Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want. You don't need a sharp knife; I usually just cut it with a spatula.
Nutritional Information: Each of 12 servings has less than a gram of effective carbohydrate (.7 grams to be exact) plus 5 grams fiber, 6 grams protein, and 185 calories

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