Recipes: Breads

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1. Low Carb Bread Recipe for Bread Machines (liberal)
2. Laura's Sugar-Free Bread (Liberal)
3. Gwen's Nearly No-Carb Muffins (Strict)
4. Almonds Muffin (Liberal)

1. Low Carb Bread Recipe for Bread Machines (liberal)
1 1/8 cup Water
1 Tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon milk or sour cream
4 teaspoon splenda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups vital gluten flour (I substitute 1/2 gluten Flour and 1/2 whey protein isolate powder)
1 teaspoon yeast

Toss it in the machine according to your directions. Notes from Gretchen: I knead it in the bread machine, then divide in 3 parts and bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. It is chewy but light and good and low carb. You need to slice this really thin. I have tried baking it in the machine and it is not as good as when you do it in the oven. I don't make it anymore as it seems to affect my bloodsugar if I get too much but it would be fine for the liberal diet. I can't leave it alone when I make it. top

2. Laura's Sugar-Free Bread (Liberal)
I've been experimenting with various sugar-free bread recipes because I've not been all that pleased with the commercial brands I've found in grocery stores. I've worked with this recipe, making some minor changes, and really enjoy it. This is for the liberal diet, and feel free to use any combination of allowed flours.

2 1/2 cups flour (I use a combination of whole wheat, unbleached white, and rye)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
salt, dash
3/4 cup oat flakes (can use old fashioned or quick)
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup (I use Log Cabin brand sweetened with Splenda)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil (and flour if desired) one standard bread pan. In a large bowl sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the oat flakes. Add water, oil, and sugar free maple syrup and stir till just mixed. Dough will be sticky and will pull away from the side of the bowl. Place in the oiled bread pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean. Makes 1 loaf. I make 2 loaves at a time and freeze one till needed.

You can also use a mixer with a dough hook if hand mixing the dough is difficult or painful. This is a heavy, dense bread and reminds me of the old-fashioned bread my Grandmother would make. It is especially good toasted. For the liberal diet, adjust the number of slices you can eat of these starchy carbs. Personally, I can handle one small slice per day. top

3. Gwen's Nearly No-Carb Muffins (Strict)
This recipe is the product of several months of testing. This is the basic recipe. It has a fairly intense flavor in its raw state, but is much milder after baking.

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup Fearn Soya Granules (a health food store item, they resemble Grape Nuts cereal)
1 cup DaVinci Sugar-free Vanilla Syrup (Torani brand is good too)
1/2 cup Trader Joe's Soy Protein Powder (you can get this in bulk at health food stores as "soy protein isolate")
1/2 cup Trader Joe's Milk and Egg Protein Powder (health food stores sometimes sell whey or milk and egg powders, either will work)
1 cup Splenda
2 teaspoons imitation Vanilla Extract (extracts usually contain alcohol which is the source of a miniscule amount of carbs)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt (you might want a touch more, but 1/4 teaspoon is too much)
3 large eggs

Bring butter, cream cheese, and eggs to room temperature. In a small bowl mix the Soya Granules and the sugar-free syrup. Let stand for at least a half hour or until all syrup is absorbed, stirring two or three times. In a separate bowl sift together both protein powders, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl cream together butter, cream cheese, and Splenda. Beat on high speed for about a minute until very light and fluffy. Lightly beat together the 3 eggs and the Vanilla and add to the cream cheese mixture. Beat well until eggs are thoroughly incorporated, about a minute. Add the protein powder mixture and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the Soya Granules and mix well. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least two hours. These really do cook better if the batter is chilled. Preheat oven to 350. (no hotter - these are easy to overcook) Grease two 12-cup muffin tins. Spoon batter into cups. Do not fill the cups. These need to be kept pretty small. I use a medium sized ice cream scoop. You will get about 18 muffins. Don't forget to put a little water in the empty cups so you don't warp your muffin tin in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, no longer. These get very dry if overcooked. (If you are using mini muffin tins or baking as cookies on a baking sheet reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes.) Remove from oven, let cool for about ten minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. Storing these is tricky because they contain no flour. I wrap them in two layers of paper towel and place in a zip-lock bag. Store in the refrigerator. They also freeze nicely, but must be individually wrapped in plastic. You can certainly eat these cold when you need to just grab something from the fridge, but they really benefit from being slightly re-heated in the microwave. Also, don't eat too many. As with anything containing a lot of Splenda, you can get too much of a good thing.

There are endless variations on the flavors. And if you really want to get decadent you can ice these with cream cheese icing. Replace the flavoring and sugar-free syrup in the basic recipe with the following:
Lemon Muffins - add one teaspoon Lemon Extract to the Vanilla Syrup; use 1 1/2 teaspoons Lemon Extract in batter.
Almond Muffins - Almond Syrup; 1 1/2 teaspoons Almond Extract. Maple Muffins - Sugar-free Pancake Syrup; 1 1/2 teaspoon Maple Extract.
Spice Muffins - English Toffee Syrup; either 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 teaspoon rum flavoring; add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves to dry ingredients before sifting.
Blueberry Muffins - Blueberry Syrup; 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla.

You get the idea. The variations are endless.

Simple Cream Cheese Icing:
4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice Beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy.
Gwen top

4. Almond Muffins (Liberal)
(These are ok for the strict diet if you only eat one.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 oz. butter (1 stick)
4 oz. cream cheese
5 eggs
1 cup splenda
1 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon extract

Mix well the softened butter, softened cream cheese and Splenda together. Add eggs one at a time beating with a mixer after each. Put all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir it around a little then add slowly to egg, splenda, butter, cream cheese mixture. I use my biggest mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until well mixed, then add extracts and mix that in. Spray a no stick muffin pan with cooking spray, you may not need this depending on the pan. (I used butter flavor.)Pour in batter and bake. This makes 12. I also used a no stick pan that had a light coating not the dark coated ones. I
haven't calculated the carb count but it is a recipe from the low carb connoisseur that I slightly modified to get the best flavor and moisture balance and still keep it low carb. Bake at 350 degrees and keep your eye on them because they bake fast. I am guessing between 20 & 30 minutes because I wasn't paying attention to the clock. You will know they are done when you touch them and they are firm, just like you would do with a cake. They should be wrapped in plastic wrap or a ziplock bag and refrigerated. They keep about 2 weeks in the refridgerator but mine usually don't last that
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