My favorite “bread” and the only one that I can actually eat right now is a coconut seed bread that I bake myself. I adapted a recipe from Tim Noake’s wonderful book The Real Meal Revolution, a recipe book from where I grew up – South Africa.
Why I modified the recipe
- I opted to leave out the sunflower seeds and almond flour because of the higher levels of oxalates in these seeds and nuts. I have an oxalate issue right now but I’m also concerned with all the nuts that I see in Paleo recipes. Another possible issue for someone with anxiety and low zinc is the high copper levels in nut flours.
- I typically don’t add sugar or anything sweet to baked goods so just left out the stevia/xylitol
- I love coconut anything so why not try all coconut flour – it worked out great!
The ingredients and recipe for my version
0.5 cup ground flax seeds (freshly ground)
1.5 cups coconut flour
2 tablespoons psyllium husk
250g / 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
6 organic or pastured eggs
10ml /2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
0.5 teaspoon sea salt
Grind the seeds and mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients and combine with the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon.
Pour into a loaf pan that has been greased with butter.
Bake at 350 F/ 175 C for 50 minutes. I check it at 40 minutes and then take it out at 50 minutes once it starts to look brown on top and on the sides (I use a glass/pyrex loaf pan).
How to enjoy it?
It’s lovely eaten right away, warm and with loads of butter. I slice it thinly and keep a few slices in the fridge and freeze the rest in batches to use as needed through the next few weeks. It freezes really well and needs about 30 minutes to thaw at room temperature.
A few days a week I’ll have a slice with butter (I love butter!) and soft-boiled eggs, topped with whatever fermented vegetables we have on hand, and a side of avocado and left over vegetables from dinner the night before.
In case you’re curious, on this particular day, I used Kehoe’s Kitchen Fermented Paleo Mustard Pickles (it has a lot of cauliflower) and Kehoe’s Kitchen Beetroot & Ginger Sauerkraut. Both of these products are firm favorites in this household!
Similar products in the USA are made by The Brinery or FireFly Kitchens (just search online for “organic fermented vegetables”). Or make your own!
Remember if you buy fermented vegetables make sure to get them in the refrigerated section of the store. They need to be RAW in order to get all the benefits of the good bacteria for gut health and balancing your microbiome, and ultimately helping with reducing anxiety and depression.
The original recipe
Here is the original recipe from Tim Noake’s book (I don’t have the recipe book in hand right now as it’s still packed away with our move but I think this is the original)
0.5 cup ground flax seeds (freshly ground)
0.5 cup ground sunflower
1 cup almond flour or coconut flour
2 tablespoons psyllium husk
250g / 1 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
6 organic or pastured eggs
10ml /2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
0.5 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch stevia or teaspoon xylitol
Optional: Cinnamon, caraway seeds, pumpkin seeds, various chopped nuts and/or cranberries/raisins
Tim Noakes and anxiety and depression success stories
Here is some additional information about The Real Meal Revolution. It started out as a Banting recipe book and has grown into a movement in South Africa. Banting is similar to Paleo but does include dairy. My darling sister gave me a copy of this very popular book on one of my trips back to visit family and I really like it! It is fastest selling cook book in South African history with over 200,000 copies sold and is now available internationally in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
In this blog post about anxiety and depression success stories when eating Paleo and grain-free, Alice shared this about her change to a Banting way of eating:
Three days after I stopped eating grains, my chronic depression lifted and has never returned (it’s three years later now). I had been a vegetarian most of my life, discovered in my early 50s that I was gluten intolerant, went off grains, started banting (Cape Town craze!) and have never felt better. Gut, mood, bones, energy, skin … all better!
Let us know if you try this recipe and enjoy it and do share some of your favorite fermented vegetable companies or recipe books.
And do let us know if you do better on a grain-free diet.
Trudy,
I am in florida what is 80 F/175C for 50 minutes – my stove does not have that
I want to make this bread would that be in united states bake 350?
thanks Dottie
Dottie
Yes it is 350 F – sorry about that – no sure how that gremlin crept in but thanks for the catch. I’ll update the blog! Enjoy and let us know what you think!
Thanks – I love your site — I purchased your recommendations for anxiety= they work and your book is 100% fantastic
Yes, that is 350 F. (Per Google ) –80 F must be a typo.
Thanks Diane! typo!
Trudy, this looks delicious! I love butter too! How do you freeze the bread? I assume you pre-slice it? I’m wondering what you wrap it in so it keeps in the freezer. Thanks for the recipe … and for all the great info you post.
Nancy
Yes I pre-slice it and freeze in a glass container. It does need a knife to separate the pieces when I use it but it’s easy to do
Separate each piece w/ wax paper so all you have to pull out is the # of pieces you want.
Trudy, I’m anxious to try this yumminess!! ? wondering if I can also substitute extra flax (to equal 6 eggs) in addition to the 1/2 ground that you used in your recipe? (Don’t want it to be mushy) !
I have had to eliminate eggs for a while due to the grains in their diet, even though I have tried several farms with pastured eggs they still supplement with some grains. Oh my how I miss my eggs as they are a very important nutrient rich food that I need. I’m desperate for extra calories and looking forward to this coconut brd. :))
I love your site and am always encouraged by your posts, and your *kind-hearted spirit* serving us ladies!
Blessings!!
Reta
I really don’t know so please let us know if you try it! Oh dear on the eggs – I hear this a lot! Could you get your own chickens or find a farmer who doesn’t supplement with grains? Such a wonderful food to be missing out on
And thanks for the kind words 🙂
I made the bread with Greek yogurt honey strawberry because I had in frig – omg, it turned out fantastic, thanks Trudy – could you share more recipes
Dottie
Fabulous! what recipes would you like to see more of? I don’t share many because I figure you can get them from other wonderful food bloggers but I have a ton to share
Thank you for this Trudy – the photo with the soft eggs and ferments was making me salivate!!
Any suggestions for substituting for the dairy? Or do you have a good coconut yogurt recipe? I’ve had to stop dairy, am okay for most things, but some recipes are difficult to adjust.
Hi Trudy I ‘m allergic to dairy… Would a coconut plain yogurt work as well?
Sally
I haven’t tried that option but do let me know if it works. I’m sure it will be fine.
Hi Trudy. Love reading your newsletters and would love to touch base with you sometime since you now seem to be living in Aus, though I’m not sure where. I’m a naturopath and hypnotherapist in Perth.
I’m always on the lookout for new healthy GF bread recipes for myself and clients. I rarely eat bread though and now don’t miss it except with soup.
My question with this recipe is re the flax seed – I learnt when I started my journey to becoming a naturopath that flax seed oil goes rancid very easily when exposed to heat and light so I have always shunned recipes that involve baking ground flax seed or that use flax seed oil. I’ve advised clients to never buy pre-ground flax seed or LSA in the supermarket. We learnt it should only be kept cold in the fridge for up to 3 days in a dark container once ground and even my own integrative medicine doctor told me never to buy liquid flax seed but instead to buy flax seed capsules which prevent oxidation of the oil.
I’m curious about your thoughts on this.
Hi Kris
Glad you love my newsletters! I’m living in Richmond NSW and always love to meet a fellow health practitioner!
Like you I don’t miss bread but do like an occasional slice with my boiled eggs! Thanks for asking the flax seed question as I had the same concerns when I first made the original recipe from The Real Meal Revolution. I did some digging at the time and discovered, much to my surprise, that ground flax in baked goods seems to be fine. I just did a new search and found this comprehensive blog written by Sondi Bruner, freelance writer and holistic nutritionist http://www.sondibruner.com/2016/08/25/baking-flax-seeds-dangerous/ I’d love to hear what you think!
I’ve also just reached out to the folks at The Real Meal Revolution to see if they have anything to add as I’m sure they would have looked into it and I don’t recall if it was in their book that I read it was ok (my copy is still in storage so I can’t check)
Thanks Trudy, that’s great to know that there is research to support eating baked ground flaxseed without doing ourselves damage.
It also prompted me to look at the effect of heating or baking nut ‘flours’ – something I have also avoided. Just read Mark Sisson’s article on that though there’s not as much research on that as there is on heated ground flaxseed but it seems that’s something we should reserve for the odd treat.
When things have settled down for you – I see you are really busy right now with all the summits, I’d love to touch base -you have my email address.
Kris
I’m less of a fan of all the nut flours used in baking simply because it’s way more nuts than we would eat in a sitting and because of the oxalate issues. Of course all that “natural sugar” and honey in the treats that are being made! I’d love to real the Mark Sisson’s article – could you share the link please?
I’m always busy 🙂 but will connect anyway
Great news for people who can’t eat eggs – try aquafaba (the liquid that comes in a can of chickpeas). You can make meringues, and almost any recipe that requires eggs, with it. It is considered a perfect substitute for eggs. Check out the wonderful recipes including MOZZARELLA AQUAFABA CHEESE https://www.finedininglovers.com/blog/food-drinks/chickpea-water-recipes/
Karen
This is really good to know and new to me so thanks for sharing! Wonderful if eggs are an issue and legumes are tolerated. I’d expect this would be as problematic as the chickpeas themselves for folks on the GAPs diet, a Paleo diet, low FODMAPs diet and AIP diet (autoimmune paleo)?
Thanks for the great bread recipe. I found that as I made it, the batter was so dry I had to add at least a cup of water to be able to mix it completely. It certainly didn’t “pour” into the pan. It turned out great though, but needed to be cooked a little longer, I guess because of the extra liquid. I can’t figure out what went wrong since I followed your recipe exactly. The final texture is good, though the taste is bland. I will add more salt next time or maybe some herbs.
Marcia
Glad it worked out in the end
I am wondering if there is a substitute for the psyllium husk.
I don’t react well to psyllium.
Thanks.
I’d add a little extra ground flax seed instead
Yummy I wonder if coconut cream would be a good switch for the yogurt for non dairy.
Here my low ox bread recipe:
Coleen Coconut Keto bread
Ingredients
* 3/4 cup coconut flour
* 1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
* 1/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 4 eggs (whisk egg whites separately – it should increase the volume)
* a bit of honey, 1-2 TB (optional)
* ½ cup melted ghee or coconut oil
* 1 TB ACV
Optional – Add for flavor:
– 1/2 teaspoon each: Granulated roasted Garlic and onion, and 1 teaspoon of crushed Rosemary
– OR Green onion and jalapeño
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Sift together the dry ingredients.
3. Separate egg whites and yolks – whisk whites to peak
4. Mix in other wet ingredients
5. add dry ingredients to wet
6. Grease a small bread pan and fill
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. I cook it for 30 minutes in toaster oven
Coleen
Thanks for sharing your recipe – looks yummy too. Love the herb additions! And yes I’d expect coconut cream or coconut milk to work as a dairy replacement