Paleo bread that tastes like the normal evil bread

I’m on wheat/gluten free diet for almost 4 years now. The thing I – as a proper European – always missed the most was bread. I used to experiment with my breadmaker machine, but then I gave up. When we were moving to Singapore, I gave up the machine at all, and just enjoyed occasional Indian missi roti (be careful, not all restaurants use pure chickpea flour).

But then one day I got a craving that needed to be satisfied. I decided to bake something that my husband (paleo during weekdays) could eat as well. Not that we would eat bread every day like we used to in the old times. But it’s nice to have some occasionally, with almond butter and jam, or with my daily sunny-side-up breakfast.
Of course, avoiding the main ingredient of the usual bread (wheat) and its non-paleo substitutes means that most of the paleo breads are very heavy, consisting of a lot of eggs and almond flour. I like them anyway, but you must admit – to eat egg-with-almond-flour tasting thing with almond butter is not so tempting. Wouldn't it be nice to have a nice light piece bread without compromising your diet?

Now you can. Honestly, I *could* eat this one every day.

The trick is in arrowroot flour and in beating the egg whites. Actually I do that with every bread or cake paleo recipe even though recipes rarely mention it. It makes the dough much lighter, try it yourself!

Paleo bread that tastes like the evil kind of bread

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup of arrowroot flour
• 1 cup of flaxseed meal
• 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 6 eggs, whites and yolks separated
• 4 tablespoons of macadamia oil
• 2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar
• Your favorite seeds (optional)
• More oil for the muffin tray*

Instructions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Separate the eggs and whisk egg whites until they form stiff foam (do not overbeat).
3. Whisk in yolks, macadamia oil and vinegar.
4. Slowly whisk in dry ingredients.
5. Set your oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
6. Oil your muffin tray first, then scoop batter in, filling holes up to ¾. Sprinkle with chia seeds or black sesame or whatever you fancy.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the toothpick (or better thin skewer) comes out clean

Serving tip: while still warm, cut and spread almond butter and honey.

*I now mostly use muffin tray for bread – as an easy reminder that bread is not my staple anymore, but something special to be enjoyed fully, but in moderation. With my mini-muffin tray this recipe gives 12 mini-muffin breads and one small round loaf I bake in a small 12 cm tin. If you want the traditional rectangular loaf, the dose should be just about right for 10x20 cm loaf tin.

This recipe was inspired by Paleo Effect, but I had to do some changes. Main change was to use 6 whole eggs instead of 4 whole eggs and 4 egg whites. I already have 1 excess egg yolk every day and I don't really know how to use them. If you beat the egg whites first, bread will still be fluffy and soft enough. 

By the way if you have suggestion how to use egg yolks, please let me know!

Paleo friendly banana upside-down cake

Yesterday we went for a small libertarian meetup that took form of a barbecue party. As libertarians often follow paleo diet, of course I had to bake something. With fresh bananas in the house, and after spending 2 nights making a big wristwatch-shaped birthday cake with a lot of fondant work, I decided for something really simple - upside-down banana cake. 

It's as tasty as it's simple, and it was really refreshing especially during yesterday's hot evening when taken out of the fridge. It would work great with spoon of your favorite ice cream!

Ingredients
3-4 small bananas
your favorite kind of sweetener - I used 2 sticks of stevia (optional)
cinnamon
coconut oil to grease the pan
nuts (optional)

3 smaller eggs
1/3 cup of coconut cream
3 tbsp of honey or maple syrup (optional)
1/2 tbsp of baking soda
1 tbsp of cream of tartar
1.5 banana, mashed
1 cup of almond flour

1. Do not preheat oven now. I still don't understand why all the recipes start with this. Even the cheapest ovens are able to get the desired temperature in 3-5 minutes. Save the energy - it's good for environment* and your pocket as well.
2. Grease your baking tray (18x28 cm or 7x11 in) with coconut oil. Cut parchment paper to cover the bottom of your tray, put it in and grease the top again. Don't forget the sides too.
3. Sprinkle/drop your sweetener over the parchment paper. Sprinkle cinnamon as well.
4. Cut bananas to ~3mm slices and cover the cinnamon layer. You can add nuts if you like.
5. Whisk egg whites. Gradually add egg yolks, coconut cream and your preferred sweetener. Mash banana and add to the mixture. 
6. Now you can turn the oven on, to 160 degrees.
7. Mix 1 cup of almond flour with baking soda and cream of tartar (or use baking powder) and mix with the rest.
8. Distribute the batter all over the bananas. By this time your oven will be nicely preheated and you can put it in for 25-30 minutes.
9. When done, let the cake cool down, with plastic knife make sure that it does not stick to the sides and turn it upside-down to a prepared tray or board. 
10. Cut and serve and enjoy.

As mentioned, this moist banana cake is especially nice when cooled. I'm definitely going to try it out with pears as well.

*You know, the cheapest and most environmentally friendly is the energy that we stop wasting.

Snack healthier, live happier!

When you have food allergies, or when you decide to change your diet, it’s usually quite difficult to avoid eating things that cause trouble. There are two reasons:

1) It’s difficult to suddenly stop eating things you used to enjoy

2) Even when you have the strong will and stick to your decision, you need to explain your limitations to strange people like waiters (sometimes even cooks) or business partners, or to your colleagues, family and friends (who, frankly speaking, often think you’re just a bit weird).

I’m with you.

As someone having food allergies since childhood I don’t have a problem to keep the discipline and I dutifully avoid things from my “no way list” (most kinds fruits - yes, including tomato, wheat, meat except of fish and seafood) and “better not list” (other grains, legumes, sugar, processed foods etc).

But I got tired of explaining it to all the confused waiters, some of who genuinely have no clue about what ingredients are used in their meals or desserts.

Cooking and baking things yourself solves both these problems. It costs time and effort, and even it can be costly in terms of money (depending on your allergy and quality standards), but it will give you full control over what you eat, no surprises. And of course – it’s good fun!

I enjoy cooking and love baking and I tried, or got inspired by, plenty of recipes from internet. I’d like to repay my debt and share with you those that worked for me.

On top of my allergies and intolerance, I like to eat healthier in general. As mentioned, I’m also pescatarian and prefer to avoid “unsafe carbs”, and paleo diet makes sense to me. So this is what you’ll find here. Some of the recipes will be 100% paleo. Most of them will be healthy. Some will just be healthier versions of “standard” recipes. Definitely all of them should be tasty and grain-free.

Enjoy, without guilt.