Coconut Love Sequence – 3. Make coconut toast bread
I never used to eat bread until I moved to Spain and tried a “tostada con aceite y tomate” (toast with olive oil and tomato). It ended up being one of my preferred breakfast items. My favorite toast was made from a multigrain bread with seeds.
In search of something that would allow me to enjoy this tostada on a low carb lifestyle, I made this “integral” bread by slightly modifying the fantastic recipe for Four Seed Bread by Ine from Low Carb is Lekker. I’ve been eating this bread ever since I started my low carb journey. This and other recipes from Ine’s cookbook made the low carb lifestyle sustainable for me in the long term. Thus I will always be grateful for having discovered her work. Naturally, after getting used to low carb cooking and baking, I slowly started finding some inspiration and gathering the courage to try new things such as altering recipes and then even creating my own.
Even though the original recipe is delicious and satisfying, I found that by making small alterations it works much better for me. My new coconut bread, when toasted, reminded me so much of this bread from the “previous”, carb-loaded life. The most significant advantage for me is that by using the coconut milk leftovers I close my sequence cycle without generating any waste and, at the same time, omitting store-bought flours. Not to mention that coconut is a much cheaper alternative to nut flour, especially if homemade.
I hadn’t thought about my “innovation” being mentioned or posted anywhere until I had several friends asking me to share the recipe and explain how to do it so that it would become available to others. Then I decided to accept a bigger challenge: I would try to make it vegan. I did succeed and tastewise the final product is still good. However, it is a bit moister and more compact than I would like, which means I have a new challenge to work on. If you are not vegan, it might be better for you to stick to the original recipe (with egg).
Those who don’t want to give up baked goods on a grain/gluten/carb-free lifestyle should check out Ine’s recipes. Even if you don’t have any dietary restrictions, you should try low carb bread as it is quicker to make, full of healthy fats and fibers, and it won’t leave you feeling horrible after eating it. If you follow a nut-free diet and you still want to go low carb, my version of the recipe is excellent for you.
Step 1 Turn on the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Step 2 Mix all the dry ingredients.
Step 3 Beat the eggs with Apple Cider vinegar (in case of vegan bread, make the egg replacement before moving on to the next step since it needs 10-15 min to rest before use)
Step 4 Add the eggs to the dry ingredients and mix to incorporate.
Step 5 Pour min amount of boiling water over and add a bit more if needed.
Step 6 Work your dough into a ball or roll by moving it gently around inside the bowl. Be careful and don’t press it firmly or overwork it because it will become too compact and it won’t rise.Po
Step 7 Pass the dough onto an oven dish and bake it for min 40 min. You might want to reduce the temperature and bake it a bit more on lower for it to dry more.
When your bread is done, wait until it cools down to cut it (especially in case of vegan bread)
Dry ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups of homemade Coconut flour*
- 1/2 Cup of Ground Flax Seeds**
- 3 Flat Tbs of Phsylium Husks
- 3 Flat Tbs of Pumpkin seeds
- 4 Flat Tbs of Sunflower seeds
- 4 Flat Tbs of Sesame seeds
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- A little less than 1 flat tsp of sea salt
Wet ingredients
- 3 Egg whites (for vegan make the egg replacement***)
- 1 Tbs of Apple Cider Vinegar
- min 1 1/2 Cups of water (I use a little bit less than 300ml)
Optional ingredients
- spices: 2 flat Tbs of Oregano
- 1 Tbsp of mixed garlic, pepper and herb spices
- chopped olives or sundried tomato
* This recipe works only with homemade coconut flour. Using the store-bought one would probably make something that might look like bread but the result and taste would be completely different.
** I buy whole flax seeds and grind them just before use. Because ground seeds often go rancid quickly, I recommend you do the same. Grinding your own will also save you some money. I use brown flax for “whole grain” coconut bread as this results in a bread that resembles more the one I used to like. You can also use golden flax. Experiment and discover which ones you like better.
*** Egg replacement
- 3 Tbsp of ground Golden Flax seeds
- 8 Tbsp of water
- 1 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinager
- 1 tsp of baking powder
Mix the ingredients and let the mixture sit for around 10 min.
l usually double the quantities so in the end I have double the size. I then cut the bread in slices when it’s cold and I freeze half of them so that I can toast those when needed. I’ve noticed that toasting on lower intensity a few times gives the best results. If you don’t have a toaster, you can toast it lightly on a pan. You can also put them in the oven and even use them to make bruschetta.
Ine Reynierse’s s Four Seed Bread recipe:
https://www.lowcarbislekker.co.za/recipes-1.html
Ine Reynierse’s s Low Carb cookbooks:
https://www.lowcarbislekker.co.za/cookbooks-4.html
photos by Mili