Today marks the end of week one of the diet. Like I said, it’s been going well. However, I’ve been craving bread lately. Out of curiosity, I searched for “no carb bread recipe” online and was surprised to find several recipes. Huzzah!

I decided to try this recipe which uses flax seed meal to make focaccia bread. It’s simple and I had most of the ingredients. I got the flax meal and Stevia from Trader Joe’s.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flax seed meal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 tablespoons artificial sweetener (I used 1.5 tablespoons of Stevia extract. Side note: Is it just me or does Stevia have a bitter aftertaste? Weird…)
• 5 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup oil (I used olive oil)

Directions
I followed all the instructions very carefully, as I am somewhat inept at the art of baking. I really didn’t want to screw up my magic no carb bread!

First, add all your dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl.

Side note: The flax meal isn’t really as dark as the picture shows. I recently switched from my PC to a MacBook Pro and I don’t have Adobe Photoshop anymore. Right now, I’m using Seashore (comes with it) and Gimp to edit photos, both of which are poor substitutes. I wish Photoshop wasn’t so expensive.

Then, combine the ingredients well. I used a fork to break up the little lumps of baking powder.

After that, add your wet ingredients. I was a bit concerned about the amount of oil the recipe called for, but it’s really not that much.

After adding the wet ingredients, let the mixture sit for three minutes. It gets pretty thick by this time. In retrospect, I think I should have let it sit for a total of five minutes. While it thickens, line your baking pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat. I used greased tin foil, which didn’t work out well.

Use a rubber spatula to spread it evenly.

Then pop in the oven for 20 minutes. I placed the tray on the middle rack. While it baked, I cut up some chicken cutlets and fried them in a cast iron skillet. Because I really missed having chicken sandwiches. The smaller pieces are for me, of course.

Before you know it, the dishes are done, the chicken is finished, and the timer buzzes.

Voila!

The smell is pleasant but very unlike regular bread. Although the recipe said that the bread would brown more, I didn’t notice too much of a difference between the raw batter and baked bread. It’s also possible that I didn’t bake it long enough – I’ve long suspected that our oven doesn’t get as hot as it should.

The one part where I deviated from the recipe was that I lined the pan with foil instead of parchment paper. In my defense, I forgot to buy the parchment paper. Anyway, of course, this is the one part that got messed up. The bread got stuck to the foil, even though I greased it.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the flax seed meal bread and regular wheat bread (for ST’s chicken sandwich).

I piled on the chicken, tomatoes, and romaine.

Yummy yum yum. It has a texture similar to multigrain wheat bread and a slightly nutty taste. It’s quite good and hits the spot if you’re craving  a sandwich. Plus, it’s pretty quick to make.

I’ve also tried small squares of bread with a tomato and olive spread from Trader Joe’s, a teeny tiny bit of cocoa almond spread, and muenster cheese. All very good. ST approves too.

This is what I’d do differently next time (because there will definitely be a next time):

• Line the pan with parchment paper. After it was completely cool, the bread separated much better from the foil but it was still a bit labor-intensive.

• Use coconut oil instead of olive oil. I’ve been meaning to try coconut oil for a while anyway and I read somewhere that coconut oil is better suited for this recipe.

• Use a smaller pan. The bread bordered on too thin for my taste. I’ll bake two batches in smaller pans to get it up to one inch.

• Add olives! I’m pretty obsessed with olive bread but it’s so fattening and carbolicious I wouldn’t go near it with a ten-foot pole. I’m going to chop a few green ones up and toss them into the batter next time.

I’m so happy I found an adequate bread substitute. Hopefully, I’ll get better at making it.

UPDATE: All the fiber in this bread is very… intense. Eat it sparingly. I was full for an entire day after eating it. I’d recommend eating every two or three days.

What are your favorite high carb substitutes?