When I gave up wheat I found it all very well to eat a lot of fruit and veg, salads and soups but I often found myself scouring the kitchen for food in the late morning or mid afternoon because I felt hungry. What could I eat that is healthy and fills me up for longer that isn’t yet another handful of nuts (I ate a lot of those)?
My sister sent me a “bread substitute” recipe that contained hardly any wheat but a lot of dairy. I amended her recipe slightly to make it wheat-free:
Gluten-free, yeast-free bread substitute
- 300g ground almonds
- 200g ground linseed*
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 300g yoghurt or fromage frais**
- 8 eggs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- Fresh herbs to taste, e.g. chopped rosemary, lovage, parsley or coriander or a mixture
- Dried alternatives: cumin seeds, coriander seeds or fennel
Mix all ingredients with wooden spoon in large bowl. Leave to stand for at least an hour to give the almonds and the linseed a chance to soak up moisture.
Put in bread tin or two smaller cake tins (leave about 2cm space to rim).
Bake at 170°C for about 50 minutes, 10-20 minutes longer if you use one large tin.
Keeps well in fridge. Can be frozen in slices or whole and defrosted when needed. Good to toast.
* If you can’t get ground linseed, use gluten free flour.
** Use soya milk or water for a dairy-free version.
I used this recipe for a while but found it too eggy. Also, suffering from breast cancer I was trying to cut out dairy products, I therefore changed the recipe as follows:
Grainfree, dairy-free, yeast-free bread substitute
Makes 1 small loaf
- 300g ground nuts to taste (almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts etc.)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 8 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small parsnip or carrot, grated (adds bulk)
- 3 eggs (medium to large)
- Herbs: fennel, lovage, rosemary, thyme, cumin, coriander (leaves or seed)
Put all ingredients together in mixing bowl in the order given. Mix with a wooden spoon. Leave to “prove” for an hour (so the nuts can soak up some moisture).
I vary the combination of herbs I use.
I found fennel, cumin, coriander and aniseed add to the digestibility of the bread substitute (in any combination).
Cook for about 1 hour at 150°C.
Good toasted.
Slice and freeze or keep in the fridge.