As a gluten and dairy intolerant queen, the idea of excessively substituted foods doesn’t bother me too much.
I’m used to an eye roll for ordering an extra-shot-almond-milk-flat-white and asking the waitress if they have any gluten free options.
So when a cleanse (more to come on that soon) recommended I eliminate several major food groups and bake alternatives at home, I was eager to give it a go.
The current three-week plan eliminates both gluten and gluten free bread, but comes with a DIY alternative that I thought I’d take a crack at.
CLEANSE recommends this home-baked paleo bread for busting carb cravings, made of:
- 1.5 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/3 cup ground flax seed
- 1/4 cup ground psyllium husk
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup hot water
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Did I spent $83 on ingredients for it? Please, no questions.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, I rolled up my sleeves and got to baking. Overall it was incredibly easy – combine flaxseed with hot water, then mix all dry ingredients, add wet ingredients to flaxseed mixture, combine all together to form a dough and bake for 30 minutes.
The bread itself smells delightful, perhaps due to the slightly rich, buttery scent of the coconut oil? It didn’t raise at all and stayed an optimistic two inches high but this ain’t my first rodeo, I knew a bread sans yeast, egg, or flour would likely stay dense.
After dutifully adding the recipe to MyFitnessPal, I was dismayed to learn that a slice (of which the recipe makes 12) was a cool 200 calories. With weight loss in mind, the mind boggles that a plate of this bread with the recommended almond butter would be more effective than my 80 calorie-gluten-free-Helga’s.
Nevertheless, the bread remains a 7/10 in my opinion. It was very easy to make, tastes and smells very satisfying, but does lose points for the cost and calories.
Will I still eat the entire loaf in the next week? Stay tuned.
(Yes.)
Aisha Sini 