Almond Flour Bread (Paleo)

The first time my husband came over to my house after we started dating he brought me a loaf of bread from his mother… that may sound oddly unromantic to some, but after sitting next to him at the lunch table through years of high school friendship, watching him eat sandwiches made from his mother’s homemade sourdough bread, I was VERY excited.

If I had only been able to see the irony in this picture then maybe I would have laughed, or maybe I would have asked for more bread. About two years later bread and I had a falling out of epic proportions when I was forced to go gluten free… the damage, it seemed, could never be repaired.

For years I tried loaf after loaf of gluten free bread resulting in one sandy tasting disappointment after another. I tried to swear it off entirely, telling myself that a dinner completely consisting of meat and vegetables was just as satisfying as one accompanied by a roll, and sometimes it was… but while I didn’t miss the illness and abdominal pain, I missed being a part of the bread tradition. I was no longer part of the generations of cooks greeting their loved ones with the aroma of baking bread in the oven, and I could no longer partake in the social convention of “breaking bread” with friends and family, eating traditional foods in fellowship with others.

Then on some glorious day after switching to the paleo diet I discovered almond flour, glorious almond flour. Could its resulting baked goods pass a blind taste test up against the formidable wheat flour? No. However, baked goods tasted like baked goods again. Most importantly they tasted like baked goods that came from the not-so-distant realm of food rather than the land of sandy tasting manufactured preservatives and chemicals.

I have a variety of bread and roll recipes that I make on occasion but earlier this week I tried a new recipe that has become my new favorite. It is a slightly adapted version of a bread recipe that I found over at Elana’s Pantry and it could not be easier.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups of blanched almond flour

½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of baking soda

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of honey

½ teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. In a larger bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients (almond flour, salt, and baking soda)
2. In a smaller bowl, whisk together your wet ingredients  (eggs, vinegar, and honey) Note: try to whisk until the honey is as incorporated as possible so that it doesn’t get left behind in the bowl later.
3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until they’re well combined.
4. Spread the dough into a well-greased 6.5 x 4 baby loaf pan. If you, like me, don’t have a baby loaf pan, use a regularly sized loaf pan and only use half of it.  (Tricks of a poor graduate student with a tiny kitchen)
5. Bake at 300 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes, until a knife comes out clean
6. Let it cool and then enjoy.

The thing that I liked most about this bread was that it is sturdy and the salt and vinegar give it a more savory taste compared to other breads I have tried which really feature the honey. Let me know what you think, and welcome back to the community of bread bakers… we’ve missed you!