Some of you may know that about 2 months ago I started on a course to eat better and get healthier. The original objective was to lose weight but I decided to focus on eating better quality food, to detox my system from the overload of sugar, refined foods, additives and just plain junk and the weight loss would follow. I am glad to report, that YES! 3kg down and loving it.

Not so much the eating plan but the rewards that go with it. Make no mistake. It was not easy getting off bread, rice, meat and milk all at the same time. I have re-introduced free range chicken which has helped a lot in terms of making meals interesting again but it’s a challenge eating this way when you have very little time to cook. The secret is planning and preparation, but even that’s only doable at a stretch. I know you can relate cos we’re all in the same boat nowadays. Too much to do, too little time.

I have been missing bread. The taste of it, the convenience of it and the pure comfort of a hot slice of toast spread liberally with butter or the melty, gooeyness of a toasted cheese sarmie. The banting bread is ok, but it’s not hitting that sweet spot. So what I wanted to share today was a great alternative to normal bread. I’ve been using the store bought gluten free loaves made with just nuts and seeds but I find it quite dense and not bready enough to be satisfying. Today I tried a gluten free bread pre-mix from Nature’s Choice. A brand that’s been in the health food business since 1985. The 430g packet costs R39 and as I normally spend about that much on a small loaf I was hoping this would work out more economical and perhaps be a bit bigger. This health food buzz is expensive I tell ya.

The whole process couldn’t be easier. All you need besides the pre-mix are 3 eggs, some honey, oil and water. I didn’t even need a processor even though the packet at one point said to put the processor on high and beat for a minute. I did the whole process with a fork and used one bowl to mix. Ok, so 1 minute of beating with a fork really meant some elbow grease, but I called it cardio and made my peace with it. So minimum mess and dishes to wash afterwards. The only small cheat for me on this is that the pre-mix contains buttermilk powder and I’m not meant to re-introduce dairy quite yet. But I won’t tell if you won’t tell.

All you do is beat up your eggs with your wet ingredients.

Add in your dry ingredients straight from the pack

Put in some elbow grease

And pop it into your greased loaf tin

Voila, 1 hour later I had this beautiful, crusty, volcanic looking loaf that felt and tasted like real bread and was gluten and guilt free.

The taste was a little bit moist probably due to the Tapioca flour, but not dense at all. Full of seedy texture and flavour which I love.