I'm pleased to post this entry as a result of my first ever reader request!!! ( You know who you are :-)!) the request came shortly after I posted about a roasted portobello cap sandwich on sourdough bread, and our special reader felt a hankerin' for some bread, but is on a gluten-free, sugar-free vegan diet. Well,I wasn't about to let this, my first culinary challenge, go unanswered! I began scouring the internet and discovered a few things.
First, most bread, with few exceptions, require the combination of yet and flour, and oftentimes sugar. Yeast actually feeds on the sugar, and or the carbohydrates (as we all know, sugar-in-disguise,) in the flour, producing carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. The CO2 is what causes he dough to rise, and the alcohol burns off in the baking process. I don't know where this reader falls on carbohydrates, but in the interest of satisfying her dietary requirements, I restricted my search to breads that did not require carbs or sugar. Let's not forget either, that grain and gluten tend to go hand in hand. While there are plenty of gluten-free bread recipes to be had, virtually all of them contained animal, be it milk, eggs, or butter, and many many involved the addition of some form of sugar to the mixture as well.
What's aspiring blog-diva to do? This was a tall order.
A tall order, to be sure, but I did manage to find one recipe! Here's a link to the recipe for Kiva's Golden Flax Bread, which you may click on for the recipe specifics, I will just share my notes and thoughts here.
The recipe calls for two eggs, but any determined vegannabe (pronounced vee-gan-a-bee) will not be thwarted there. The google is simply awash with egg substitution ideas, I found this one to be a good reference: Vegan Egg Substitutes..
This guide, among others, will offer suggestions as to the strengths of different kinds of egg substitutes, which will help you discern which one is appropriate for your specific needs. Some are wonderful sources of moisture, some are very good binders, some act as leavening agents. I used 2 tbsp of potato starch to one tbsp of water for each egg.
The recipe instructs enough water to make the batter pourable, but cautions against overuse of water, because it will take longer to for the bread to bake through. I probably ended up using half a cup or so.
The result? A bread-like substance, that I would happily serve as a preamble to a meal, or even pair with jam for a delicious breakfast or brunch idea. What you will not be able to do with a loaf of this bread is cut off a couple of slices and make a sandwich, which is unfortunate since the desire for a sandwich was what launched this whole exploration. But, never fear, I have suggestions!
Suggestion number one: use an egg replacement that will enhance the leavening aspect of this bread. Since the recipe does not include any yeast, what you see is essentially what you get, ie it is not really going to rise much in the pan. Moisture does not seem to be an issue, as my end-product came out very, very moist and dense. So if you can encourage some leavenation (I know it's not a word, get used to it!) I say go for it.
Suggestion number two: if you want to use this bread for sandwiches, add very little water, so that your dough is shape-able rather than pourable, and form yourself a couple of thin round buns. Simply bake them, and use them as is to make your sandwich.
I will say that by itself with a little "butter" this was a tasty and satisfying creation, and the taste is very much bread-ish. In fact, I plan to take my own suggestions to heart in the very near future, and prepare some sandwiches. I'll try very hard to remember to share what happens!!
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Location:Madison, CT
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