I still remember the exact moment I sunk my teeth into a slice of gluten-free bread, it was made with buckwheat flour by my high school tennis coach. He invited all of us over for an end of season dinner. It was 1984. I remember the slightly nutty flavor of this dark brown bread, served with sweet butter. Delicious. I didn’t know then, what I do now about my body’s intolerance to gluten. But I do still think about how good I felt after eating that amazing slice of goodness.
Over the years, my gluten intolerance symptoms have ranged from back pain, achy joints, fatigue, mouth sores, brain fog, gas and bloating. Summer is when I usually fall off my gluten-free dietary habits purely because I am hosting many guests, living at the beach and not necessarily able to get the gluten free items I love most. So, I take a break and see how I fare. As my gut becomes stronger, I just don’t have the same symptoms from years ago, but when it comes down to it, I just feel better all around when I am more or less grain free. What do I miss most? Bread of course.
So with that back to school excitement, I am back in my kitchen playing around with ingredients, keeping it real. This recipe was adapted from Nom Nom Paleo’s “Better Off Bread”. It is easy to make and has a dense, moist quality that will definitely have your guests begging for the recipe. I serve with butter and jam, cheese and chutneys. Delicious, grain-free, gluten-free and gets 5 stars from the kid, especially when I serve it with Nutella!
INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ cups Almond Flour
1 cup Hazelnut Flour
1 heaping T Cornmeal
3 T Cold butter
1 ½ T Baking Soda
¼ t Sea Salt
2 Eggs
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar
1 T Honey
1 T Lime juice
PREPARATION:
Set oven to bake at 350. Mix together almond flour, hazelnut flour, baking soda, sea salt. Chop 2 tablespoons of cold butter and hand mix with dry ingredients. Mixture should remain crumbly. In a separate bowl whisk together 2 large eggs, apple cider vinegar, lime juice and honey. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix together by hand. Sprinkle dough with cornmeal and form into a nice ball. Let rest. Using a cast iron or enamel, oven-safe pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter.
Remove pan from heat and place the ball of dough in the pan and lightly flatten so the round is about 2 inches in height all the way around. Using a butter knife, mark the dough with an “X”. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crust becomes golden brown. Let cool and serve warm with butter, honey, jam, chutney or cheese.
SHOPPING LIST:
Almond Flour, Hazelnut Flour, Cornmeal, butter, Baking Soda, Sea Salt, Eggs, Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, Lime.