Almond banting bread

Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Almond ‘Banting’ Bread

Often when first adopting a low-carb lifestyle it's bread that clients miss the most. Eventually you gradually get used to not having a base of bread to act as a 'carb platform' on which to put other tasty things ( I promise!!), but in the beginning it's a noticeable loss from quite a few meals.

This delicious low-carb, gluten free 'Banting' bread is named after the man who is widely credited with inventing a low-carb way of eating as early as the 1860's - William Banting. It uses almond flour and psyllium husk to create a tasty bread-like texture without the need for starchy, high-carb wheatflour and yeast.

If you haven't come across them before, psyllium husks are a great source of fibre thought to have a number of health benefits. It works by binding and adding bulk to other ingredients by reducing the amount of moisture in things like bread. Funnily enough, psyllium husk reacts the same way in the body - absorbing water in the gut and becoming a gel which can help collect waste as it travels through our digestive tract and so be beneficial to gut health (just make sure you stay well hydrated!).

This recipe makes approx. 16 buns / slices at 6 – 7g carbs each.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• ¼ cup blonde psyllium husks (not powdered)
• 1 cup whole mixed seeds e.g. pumpkin, sunflower, flax
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup plain yoghurt (coconut yoghurt for dairy free)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 140°C
2. Combine all dry ingredients
3. Add beaten egg and yoghurt and mix well
4. You will have a thick-ish batter consistency
5. Pour batter into loaf tin, or to make individual buns use a muffin tin/ individual paper or silicone cases
6. Bake until golden brown and a test skewer comes out clean. Approx. timings: small buns 45 mins / 1 x large loaf up to 2hrs.

Bread can be kept in a sealed tin in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze after cooling (suggest to slice the loaf and freeze slices individually).

Options:

Can replace almond flour with ½ cup coconut flour.
Once you've mastered the basic recipe get creative! Try adding dried or fresh herbs, spices or even cubes of cheese and sliced olives! Add blueberries and 1 tsp ground cinnamon for 'sweet' buns.