We need a low carb flour. Almond flour seems to be the best. There are claims that coconut flour is better than almond flour because less of it is required. However, the data below suggests that it would have to be better by a factor of about six which is clearly nonsense.
| Flour | Carbohydrate (%) | Fat (%) | Protein (%) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White bread flour | 70 | 2 | 12 | sainsburys.co.uk |
| Almond | 9 | 75 | 16 | nutritiondata.self.com |
| Almond | 7 | 56 | 21 | fitbit.com |
| Coconut | 62 | 25 | 13 | nutritiondata.self.com |
| Coconut | 53 | 31 | 16 | nutritiondata.self.com |
| Coconut | 61 | 16 | 16 | fitbit.com |
| Coconut | 59 | 15 | 16 | fatsecret.co.za |
| Flax | 13 | 67 | 20 | nutritiondata.self.com |
| Flax | 29 | 42 | 18 | fitbit.com |
That’s an easy decision then: almond flour.
In fact I now dispute the claim that coconut flour is low in carbohydrates.
All the recipes I’ve seen use eggs and some also use xanthan gum. These are typical ingredients in gluten free bread where there is no gluten to make the dough and the finished bread stick together.
Indeed almond flour is gluten free. But we’re not trying to be gluten free. Therefore instead of eggs and xanthan gum we can add wheat gluten. Apparently wheat contains 12% to 15% wheat gluten.
Most of the recipes I've seen use baking powder to rise the dough, but we want to use
yeast because that's how bread is made!
Looking at my bread machine recipe book about one teaspoon of yeast is used per 500ml liquid
and two tablespoons of sugar.
We shall need to make sure that as much as possible of the sugar we add will be ‘eaten’ by the yeast and thus will disappear.
I had planned 250ml water but the dough was very dry so I added some more until it felt more normal. It rose normally.
Excluding the sugar (which we hope almost all of which will be ‘eaten’ by the yeast) I estimate nutritional information as follows (per serving of on quarter of the total). (Macro percentages from MyFitnessPal.)
| kCal | 492 | |
| Fat | 41g | 82% |
| Carbohydrate | 5g | 5% |
| Protein | 15g | 13% |
Expectations:
Here's how it turned out. It sunk. It feels a bit wet
I’ bought some coconut flour on the strength of some bullshitters before I had made the above table. Since I had it I thought I might as well give it a go, so as usual the starting point is just direct substitution into a known recipe.
The amount of water this stuff absorbs and the associated increase in volume is astonishing. I added 1,200ml water to 250g of coconut flour and it was still too stiff for the bread machine.
So that had to be chucked and I started over with:
So we have actually used one eighth as much coconut flour as we did almond flour which more than compensates for it having six times as much carbohydrate. Again excluding the sugar I estimate nutritional information as follows (per serving of on quarter of the total). (Macro percentages from MyFitnessPal.)
| kCal | 129 | |
| Fat | 5g | 82% |
| Carbohydrate | 5g | 17% |
| Protein | 12g | 41% |
Here's how it turned out: diablical. During proving the dough felt elastic and pretty ‘normal’, and it rose to about three times its final height – but then collapsed during baking. It has the texture of jelly, although it tastes acceptable.
Need to find out why bread sinks when being baked.
In both cases I suspect there is too much water, but I don't see how the dough would be workable with less water.
Coconut flour seems like a waste of time because it's far too high in carbohydrates.
I’d already started attempt 2 with coconut flour after writing the above paragraph. I’ve come to the conclusion that coconut flour for bread is a waste of time. It’s probably useful in situations where rising isn&rsqou;t needed such as the pizza base fat head dough recipes.
Apparently a common reason that bread sinks during baking is that the oven isn&rsqou;t hot enough. Therefore I got the machine to make the dough and then baked in the oven at 200°ree;C.
I’d seem some recipes using both yeast and baking powder so I thought I&rsqou;d give that a go too because it will activate during baking and so maybe help prevent collapsing.
Anyway: another disaster!
It just crumbles apart — quite the opposite problem to last time.
It’s very dry to the point of being inedible
and it has a rather sickly coconut flavour.
Probably the problem this time is too little water, but for bread I’m giving up on coconut flour as a bad job.
| kCal | 489 | |
| Fat | 40g | 74% |
| Carbohydrate | 12g | 10% |
| Protein | 19g | 16% |
Back to the almond flour.
So I got the machine to make the dough which rose again, but rather unevenly — I think it needed more water.
Better.
Dark on the outside from the hot oven, but it hasn't collapsed as much.
It&rsqou;s a bit dense and heavy, and not and not very fluffy. It’s quite filling.
It tastes alright.
| kCal | 232 | |
| Fat | 12g | 55% |
| Carbohydrate | 10g | 20% |
| Protein | 13g | 26% |
So: we don’t know if it was the hot oven or the baking powder that improved the rise.
It would be better if it was the baking powder because in that case the bread machine can be
used for the whole thing and it&rsqou; not necessary to use the oven as well.
If not then I think we’ll need to turn the oven down mid bake to prevent the browning
and leave it in for longer to drive some more moisture out of it.