Elana's Pantry Paleo Bread Attempt One.

Being Paleo I don't eat grains, which means I don't eat bread (unless it's a special occasion, planned off-road). One thing I've missed since dropping grain is poached eggs with toast, so when I discovered that there are a whole array of paleo 'bread' recipes out there I was pretty excited. I decided to give one of the most well known a go. The recipe, from Elana's Pantry is easy and clear, and I was able to access all of the ingredients in Adelaide (even if some were on the pricey side). There was a lot of feedback on this recipe online, people had issues with it being squishy in the middle, not rising, being dry etc etc so I wasn't too confident (never have been the greatest baker). However, my pessimism was unwarranted! It came out perfectly, I gave it an extra 5 minutes as it wasn't quite done at the 30 minute mark but other than that not a single problem. Of course it didn't rise as high as a normal loaf of bread, but I think sometimes paleo people forget that paleo recipes are a replacement/alternative, not an exact copy of traditional grain based foods. Taste-wise it was delicious, denser then traditional bread, slight almond taste but still bread like and not sweet, (which after sneakily taste testing the batter I thought it might be). I had it as part of my breakfast and it toasted well, which meant I could indulge in eggs on toast once again! It also kept for 7 days in the fridge, and although I didn't try it I think it would freeze well. Calorie wise this is a pretty energy dense food, I got 12 servings from it, which according to calorie king equaled 173 calories per piece, plus it was quite high fat. So if your watching your intake just keep that in mind. (As a side note I know most paleo people don't calorie count, but it's something I've been doing since I started my weight loss journey and I find it useful in managing my weight and fitness. Where possible I will include approximate nutritional values for recipes for those that are interested).

The finished product!