Individual Dark Bread

Individual Dark Bread (with caraway seed for rye version)

I’ve been experimenting with a dark bread recipe all day.  My inspiration was a 2-Carb Bun recipe of Centaura57 (on ActiveLowCarber forums).  After 4 attempts, and some tweaks, I have gotten a result I’m really pleased with.  Great texture, good elasticity, not crumbly, not bitter with flax taste, and quite moist.  I’m just not too fond of any of the flax breads I’ve made to date.  Usually have to FORCE myself to finish a sandwich made with them, as the flax flavor overpowers what’s IN the sandwich.   Not so with THIS bread.  I scarfed down the tuna sandwich pictured above with no problem at all.  And chia is very filling, so this sandwich will “stay with you” longer than many.

MY CHIA GEL RECIPE:  In a small lidded jar mix 1 T. ground chia with 9 T. water.  Screw lid on and shake it up every 3-5 minutes or so until it gels up (about 10 minutes  total).  Any leftover gel will keep in the refrigerator for about a week for making more bread or chia puddings/shakes.

Given the tiny amount of chia seeds in this, 2/9 of 1 T., I wouldn’t think this bread would be a problem for people still on Atkins on Induction.  This is also suitable for Keto, Paleo and Primal diners.  My thanks to Centaura57 for giving me the idea for this bread.  I’ll be making often!  This bread also stands up to sandwich content moisture well!

If  sliced laterally and toasted first, this makes a pretty nice quickie pizza crust for a sausage/mushroom/pepper topped pizza I made, pictured below.  Sliced, buttered and sprinkled with Parmesan and Italian spices, it also makes a quick little piece of garlic toast or bread sticks!  It’s also great right out of the oven and eaten buttered like a dinner roll!  You could even cook it in roll shapes, if you have microwaveable dish with those shapes.  I have some individual silicone cups great for making MW rolls.

OVEN BAKING- For anyone interested, one of my readers reports that this bakes up nicely in a conventional oven if you quadruple the recipe, bake in a greased loaf pan 25-30 minutes at 350º.  I have not tested this method personally.

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INGREDIENTS: 

Click to enlarge

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp. olive oil

½ T. chia gel (mixed by the recipe above in blue 1:9)

1 T. water

2 T. whey protein powder, unflavored, unsweetened

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ c. flax meal (I use half golden flax and half dark flax or all dark for the rye version)

VARIATION:  Caraway seed will make this taste like rye bread.  Onion powder is also good in this. If making dinner rolls, add a little of BOTH!  🙂

DIRECTIONS:  In a small mixing bowl, beat the egg.  Add oil, chia gel and water, stirring well.    Add remaining ingredients in order listed.  With rubber spatula, scrape batter into a flat microwave dish about the size of a slice of bread. Be sure it is 1″ deep to avoid overflow during baking.  Microwave on HI for 1 minute.  Since microwaves vary (I use a 1200 watt unit), you might check at 1 minute and then add more time if center is still wet.  Cool and gently tip onto cutting board.  Slice laterally into two thinner slices for a delicious sandwich.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 1 serving of 2 slices.  Entire recipe contains:

304 calories

22.8 g  fat

9.19 g  carbs, 7.8 g  fiber, 1.39 g  NET CARBS

21.5 g  protein

278 mg sodium

375 mg potassium

10% RDA Vitamin A, 13% B6, 27% b12, 16% calcium, 46% copper, 38% iron, 36% magnesium, 41% manganese, 73% phosphorous, 42% selenium, 47% thiamin and 22% zinc.