Basic bread (with walnut)

On the heels of my success with the chocolate-frosted yellow cake, I tried out another 'base' recipe from the Wheat Belly Cookbook, the Basic Bread. I had tried making loaf bread before using only coconut flour but it came out too dense for my liking (hence even though I have the recipe written down, I haven't posted it). This basic bread recipe called for garbanzo bean, or chickpea/gram, flour. I couldn't find ready-made chickpea flour in the shops here (I didn't try very hard, only looking at the usual shops I go to), so I got a bag of dried chickpeas and proceeded to make my own.

It was actually quite easy to do, as long as one had the tools - food processor, or in my case, a mini chopper, a coffee/spice grinder, and a sifter - good sound insulation in the kitchen (or whatever room you're working in), a bit of time, and lots of patience. I made two batches, using one for this bread and kept the rest in a air-tight jar for future use.

Basic walnut bread

Ingredients (adapted from the Wheat Belly Cookbook)

yields 1 loaf

1 ¼ C blanched almond flour
 ¼ C + 2 tbsp garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour
 ¼ C ground golden linseeds
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp pink salt
5 eggs, separated
¼ C butter, melted
1 tbsp Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp xylitol

¼ C chopped walnuts, optional

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease an 8 ½" × 4 ½" loaf pan if required.
2. In a food processor, combine the sifted almond flour, chickpea flour, ground linseeds, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse until well blended. 
3. Add the egg yolks, butter, yoghurt, and xylitol and pulse just until blended. At this stage, the flour mixture will be a bit stiff and dry.
4. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer on high, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

   

   Beaten egg whites, flour mixture, and chopped walnuts
5. Pour the beaten egg whites into the flour mixture in 3-4 batches and pulse until the egg whites are evenly distributed, but do not run the machine at a constant speed. The egg whites will loosen the flour mixture up.

   

   Egg whites poured into the flour mixture
6. Add in the chopped walnuts.
7. Spread the mixture into the pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

   

   Bread mix in the pan

8. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and letting cool completely on a rack.
    
   
9. Serve sliced, toasted, with butter, jam, cream cheese, almond or peanut butter, anything you like!

   

   Basic walnut bread

Some variation suggestions:

• for cinnamon raisin bread: adding more cinnamon, another 3 tbsp xylitol, and ½ to ¾ C raisins;
• for garlic bread: adding garlic powder to the flour and grated Parmesan or Romano cheese sprinkled on top;
• for spicy orange bread: adding orange peel, additional cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and cloves;
• for walnut raisin bread: adding walnuts, raising, and another 3 tbsp xylitol.

The bread came out the oven looking the business with a brown crust on top and a bit of rise. It was also springy to the touch. The structure of the cake held well and after it cooled, I was able to slice through it easily into thick slices and thin slices alike. They tasted good plain, lightly toasted, lightly toasted with cream cheese. But the crowning glory must be when I topped it with the plum and damson soft set jam I got at M&S. Delicious!

Again, I'm delighted with how this recipe worked out. The Cookbook has a recipe for tortillas, and since I've really been missing my homemade fajitas and enchiladas, the tortilla wraps are the next on my to make list.