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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Low-Carb Bread (made with the bread machine) LC, SF

Low-carb bread is notoriously difficult to make. Even more so in the bread machine!
It has a tendency to not tolerate a second rise, which most older machines require. However, many machines now have gluten-free cycles and rapid rise cycles. Both can be suitable for low-carb bread making!
My bread machine has a rapid rise cycle, which makes the bread in 1 HR 20 Min. This may seem very short, but it works!


There are a couple of points to remember when making rapid rise/ low-carb bread in the machine:

1.) Use REALLY hot water and put it in the bottom, then the flours, yeast last. Since I use my yeast straight out of the freezer, that's usually a good idea anyway.
DON'T put the yeast into the boiling water though!! It needs to go last as the flours will have absorbed some of the heat before it hits the yeast!

2.) Babysit it for the first few minutes and use a spatula to incorporate all the flour in the corners. I just help it along while it's turning.

3.) The dough needs to be on the wet side. It seems that in the case of a LC dough the right consistency is that it seems wet, but it holds somewhat of a ball shape. A loose one. And when you stick your fingers in it it will seem really sticky, but when you pull your finger out not much to nothing will actually have stuck to your finger. Adjust your liquids as you need to.

Now it's DRY around here so I usually need more water than others, so my water measurements might be off for other climates.

Ingredients:

1 cup of HOT water (as in almost boiling) - I needed another 3.5 tbsp. later for mine to get the right consistency.
1/2 tsp bread salt
2 tsp honey (the sugar in the honey will be eaten by the yeast!)
2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or oil of choice)
1 1/4 cups Carbalose flour
1/2 + 1/8 cup Wheat protein isolate 5000
2.5 Tbsp. wheat protein isolate 8000
3.75 Tbsp. almond flour
3 Tbsp. wheat resistant starch (if you are baking this off in the oven, you get a better rise with resistant starch maize)
3 Tbsp. Oat fiber
2 tsp gluten-free cake enhancer (optional but really helps)
1 tsp Acacia gum (or guar gum, or xanthan or glucomanan powder)
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast granules (I use SAF)

Preparation:

Add the ingredients in the order listed and start the rapid or gluten free cycle.

Let it do it's thing, while helping it along with a spatula until a loose ball is formed. Add water if necessary, or a little more Wheat Protein isolate 5000 if too sticky. Wait to adjust your liquids you’re about 5 minutes into  the kneading cycle. It sometimes takes a while for the dough to really come together.

The machine will do the rest after that.

One thing though - DO NOT open the machine to take a peak until it's done. It sank almost 1.5 inches after I thought I'd have a look about 10 minutes into the baking process. I should know better, but I wanted to see how high it had gotten and my window wasn't showing me.


So far that's been the best tasting low-carb Bread I've made. It doesn't have quite as much of the tell-tale chewy sponginess either.

And beyond the first few minutes of effort, the machine did the rest. Which is great considering that my non-carb-counting family actually eats this bread too and I have to make a fair bit of it!

Oh and it actually has something resembling a crust. It's not as crispy as regular HC bread, but it is a bit more of a crust than I get baking it in the oven!
You can also bake this in the oven of course.

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21 comments:

  1. Birgit, could more carbalose (or another of these ingredients--or something else) substitute for the oat fiber? I got almost all the way through making a triple batch of your baking mix, and discovered I've lost my oat fiber. (If there isn't anything, I'll wait till I get some more to complete the mix.) Thanks!

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  2. I am guessing here since I've never actually tested it, but I think it could easily be replaced with something else - especially as it's not that prominent an ingredient. If you have wheat bran, that would certainly work (grind it fine) or oat flour (but ups the carbs,) or even coconut flour.
    You could also try ground golden flax seed. I use that together with the bake mix to make LC fry bread and it works very well.

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  3. Hi! I love your recipes, I was just wondering. How long does this bread last outside of the refrigerator, or should I refrigerate it right away? Thank you! I haven't made it yet but was curious about that.

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  4. Hi IvO, I'm not really sure.
    Since I am usually the only one who eats it, I got into the habit of slicing (with an electric bread knife for uniform and thin slices) and then freezing the loaf as soon as it's cool. It's just so much easier for me to just take out a slice or two and pop it in the toaster when I need it. Especially as I don't eat bread on a daily basis either. Sorry I can't be of more help on that front!

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  5. It's allright! I'm willing to experiment. Thanks for your quick reply! :D

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  6. hi Birgit! I just came home to the scent of fresh bread waiting in my kitchen! The shape is a bit odd but it's SOOO good! I just had to slice right away and try it with some butter. My husband and my daughter both ate their buttered slices. Thanks again for sharing this recipe! Maybe the shape is because I didn't add enough water? Either way I will link you to some photos when I have them up somewhere. Cheers!

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  7. You're very welcome! I'm so happy everyone likes it! It's a favorite around here too, especially with my daughter. As for the odd shape - Bread can react to all sorts of things, most of all the weather (moisture levels etc.) And the low-carb breads tend to be even more finicky. Sometimes they just come out an odd shape. However, I've found that the bread gets more consistent with practice!

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  8. And here's the link to the photo! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150719347611265&set=a.10150127333861265.327350.748996264&type=1&theater

    Even though I live in a tropical country I think the dough wasn't as wet as it was supposed to be, even though I added about a teaspoon of water, next time I think I'll add a tablespoon or two and see how that goes.

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  9. Looks good! It seems to have risen as it was supposed to but it looks like it collapsed a little. It might have to do with moisture level, so that's the first I would try. The other thing could be that the machine let it rise just a tad too long before it started baking.

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  10. It is good! Yes, I noticed the rapid cycle in my machine is two hours which is longer than what your machine does. Also I had to go out so it stayed in the machine on the keep warm setting for about an hour so could it have collapsed then? Either way the next time I make it I will definitely try adding a bit more liquid. And I was going to ask you how you measure your flours? Do you tap and level with a knife or do you spoon in and level with a knife? I'm such a newbie but I've read that makes a difference as well. Thanks again Birgit!

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  11. Can you tell me what the carb count for this recipe?

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  12. Hi Stacey, I don't tend to post carb counts for many of my recipes anymore, as the ingredients and portion sizes just vary too much. I would hate for people to rely on my carb count and inadvertently have a much higher count with their own ingredients.

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  13. Can you tell me about how many servings there are per loaf??

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  14. Since this is bread, it can again vary wildly, depending on how well your bread rose, how thick or thin you are able to slice your bread etc. Personally, I used a deli slicer on the bread, so I got about 20 slices out of it.

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  15. For the wheat protein isolate...can I use the 5000 instead of 8000?

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  16. I was also wondering about the cake enhancer, which I cant find here in Vancouver, BC (Canada). Would this be the same thing as dough enhancer ? I have a bag in my freezer.

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  17. Yes, it will be fine. The texture is likely going to be slightly different, but not too much!

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  18. Dough enhancers are usually lecithin, vital wheat gluten and milk ingredients, which is quite different to the one I'm listing. They are often also not very low carb, so that won't work. Of course, your's might be different.
    The King Arthur cake enhancer is quite different. You can leave it out, it really just serves to give a better crumb and a moister product even after the day of baking. But fresh there wouldn't be too much difference.

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  19. Thank you for the quick reply ! I have everything but the cake enhancer, I might just order online. Well thanks for sharing, I'm excited to try this recipe this weekend !! Will let you know how it turned out :-)

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  20. Just made this! Rose well in my breadmachine and soft not chewy texture! But...i really dont like the taste or smell. Its strong n nasty. What in the world could it be??

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  21. Hmmmm, I have no idea! Are any of your flours off? Carbalose can turn quite unpleasant when it goes stale.

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Birgit Kerr