Bread!

As a person working on living gluten free for almost 15 years, I have struggled with finding good bread. Believe me, I have tried many brands and have worked on learning to bake it myself. In one word, ugh! Most gluten free breads do not taste good, most are a weird texture. In the past few years, I have basically given up. And, recently, am moving towards a world that is not only gluten free, but flour free, so bread is out. But, there are those days when a sandwich calls my name.

I have mentioned the name Mark Sisson before in another post. He advocates a caveman diet… no grains! He recently gave a link to this recipe which is the reason for this post. You can find the original recipe here, which gives the nutritional info and it is always interesting to read peoples’ comments.

Foccacia Style Flax Bread

2 c flax seed meal

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1-2 T sweetening power from artificial sweetener ( I will NEVER advocate using artificial sweetener. Please inform yourself about aspartame. I used xylitol, which kept it very low carb but have no problem recommending sugar. It just would change the nutritional information)

5 beaten eggs

1/2c. water

1/3 c. oil ( I used olive)

Preheat oven to 350º. Prepare pan ( a 10×15″ pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Mix dry ingredients well. Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren’t obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter ( if you look at the photo carefully, you will see that dreaded string!) Let batter set for 2 or 3 minutes to thicken up some ( leave it too long and it gets past the  point where it is easy to spread) Pour batter onto pan. Spread it out from the center into a rectangle an inch or so from the sides of the pan. Bake for aboutg 20 mins, until it springs back when you touch the tope. Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want.

oh, this is good. It is moist. There is a bit of a bitter aftertaste from the flax but it is not really noticeable.  I actually followed the recipe exactly, which is unusual for me but in recipe testing, that is important. I can see many variation possibilities. How about adding some soaked raisins and cinnamon for a breakfast treat ? Or, add some garlic and rosemary for a more traditional foccacia ?

As a personal chef, I often have clients who are gluten free and I plan on making this a regular part of my menu. It is easy. It is delicious. It is healthy. What more could you ask for ? A simple thing like a tuna fish sandwich brought me much satisfaction today. And yes, there was mayonaisse involved.

Randomness

Even people who love their work need to take a break from it now and then. While I am certainly not overworked these days, I find my head way too filled with recipes and menus lately so today I want to share some recent internet finds and some random photos. Yes, some of it is about food.

With the hubbub about H1N1/Swine Flu, it has been hard to get good information. I have appreciated reading the reports from this site which offers another perspective.

With a recent falling off of the “starchy carbohydrate restriction” wagon on my part, I have been looking for online support and information and found Mark Sisson. His site and blog are both informational and entertaining. It is a bit too far out for me to become an avid follower but one bit of wisdom recently gleaned is his 80/20 philosophy. If you follow a ( in his case, dietary) plan 80% of the time, then that leaves some wiggle room for 20% of indulgence. This is so true for more than just diet, isn’t it ? Think about your exercise plans. If you get out the door and do what you said you were going to do 80% of the time, that is awesome! Leaves some room for a day off without guilt or blowing off a workout now and then. Same for spiritual practices whether that is sitting with the Fire or chanting or going to church. I like having permission to just do my best, which is certainly not perfect.

On a completely different note, a friend sent me a link to this website!!  Power to the Purple!

and one more… someone’s Facebook Fan page led me to this beautiful site. I don’t really know who this chef is but isn’t this fun to look at ?

Thanks for indulging me and back to a recipe next time.