Here’s the third—and likely final installment for a while—in my quest to make a decent bread…that not only tastes and acts like bread, but excels in terms of Paleo nutrition. Mission accomplished. Future posts will focus on sensible applications of this bread. For those still uninterested in bread, I get it. Why mess with a good thing and anyway, isn’t this kinda like paleo reenactment—like those who seem only ever to be finding ways to make cookies, cupcakes, cakes, brownies and the like into paleo approved versions?
There’s two issues:
- The processed food mindset behind it
- Nutrition profile (pro-inflammatory polyunsaturated n-6 fat, primarily)
I’ll address #1 at the end of this post. My first post on the topic focused on number 2; specifically, the omega-6 PUFA issue. While I solved that problem, my results weren’t great and I wasn’t sure why. So, in version 2, I got far better results—but I changed three variables: I got a true macadamia nut butter, not a chunky one, I added in 1/2 cup of almond butter per Jeff Nimoy’s original inspiration, and also some coconut flour…in order to add fiber for more stiffness and adhesion when sliced.
With the experience and good results of my second attempt under my belt, I set out on the third try to return to my original inspiration, under the hunch that it was the macadamia butter that was the primary issue. So here’s the final, definitive recipe and instructions:
Ingredients:
- 5 eggs (medium to large size)
- 1 cup raw whole macadamia nuts (made into butter per the instructions)
- 1 cup coconut butter (nuke 20 seconds to get a smooth butter)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 rounded teaspoon baking soda
Instructions:
Place the macadamias into a typical large home-kitchen food processor and process on high to achieve a part butter, part chunky nut meal. While running on high still, drop one egg down the chute and wait for the sound to stabilize to smooth (about 20-30 seconds), then do the same with the second egg. Once the processor is running smooth again, add the remaining 3 eggs down the chute. You should have a very smooth batter by this point. Shut down the processor and add the remaining ingredients, except for the lemon juice and baking soda. Turn it on low this time, and once everything is all mixed (20 seconds or so), introduce first the lemon juice down the chute, then the baking soda. Mix for a few more seconds.
Place the batter in a standard 8 1/2 bread pan, greased with butter, ghee or coconut oil. Bake at 350F (175-180C) for 35 minutes. Remove from the pan and set on an elevated rack to cool. Total time from start to finish is about 45 minutes (10 for the prep, 35 for the cooking).
This was the most uniform rise yet achieved.
Adhesion Test
Once cooled—with the end slice I covered in Kerigold butter having escaped to “someplace”—I decided to test its properties in terms of behaving like real bread, i.e., the ability to slice it thinly, and for those thin slices to hold together well, even needing to be pulled apart. The slice is 1/8” thick. To further the experiment, I cut another slice, put two leftover chicken breast slices between them, and it held together to the last bite—just like bread.
Did the same thing yesterday with 1/4″ bread slices, same leftover chicken and some jack cheese. Like I said, holds together to the last bite.
A lotta sandwich for such thin bread
A+ Performance
The texture and behavior, as you see, is bread like. Taste is the best yet. It’s quite neutral, not as in my 2nd loaf, a bit nutty (almond butter) as well as a bit, well, whatever that taste coconut flour seems to impart.
So before I address the issue of the paleo Slippery Slope (“PSS”), i.e. the mindset in doing processed foods that are paleo compliant or Paleoish, let’s do another nutritional analysis. Click to open the full size version.
Fat Bread Nutrition (1 loaf)
What you might notice as different from the nutritional profile in part 2, PUFA has gone from 7% to 3%. One bugaboo is that I’m using pastured eggs and I can’t really find much in terms of nutrition information, though I’ve seen it widely claimed that pastured eggs can have up to 9 times the nutrition as that of a factory egg—and of course, who hasn’t seen the side-by-side comparison of yellow yolks (factory) to deep orange (pastured). I’ve also seen claims that the omega 6/3 ratio is more on the order of 2-3:1 instead of 15:1. But who knows, really? …and we’ve already talked in part 1 about the low content of omega-6 in macadamias and coconut. We’re talking 5.7 grams total PUFA in the whole loaf (~16 slices). I do declare: not an issue!
But let’s be fair and open about this and an least give hearthealthywholegrains™ their say. I used Oroweat 100% whole wheat bread as a surrogate. Here’s the macro breakdown (click for full size).
Wheat Bread Nutrition (2 slices)
As you can see, the macro picture is almost 180% reverse, fat for carbohydrate, and these are high glycemic index and load carbohydrates (and high gluten protein on that score). In terms of fiber, vitamins and minerals, it was easy enough to get the info for commercial bread because you can analyze by slice. For mine, I had to do some figurin’. My loaf is about 600 grams, while Oroweat is 680 grams. Their loaf comes out to 18 slices, about 37.5 g per slice and at my loaf weight, that’s 16 slices. Based on that, and excluding protein, fat and carbohydrate—and just averaging fiber, vitamins and minerals—2 slices of “fortified” whole wheat bread give you 14% of your RDAs and mine gives you 12%.
So I guess the question comes down to this: nutrition from high glycemic load, “fortified” gluten grains, complete with mineral robbing phytic acid, or nutrition from pastured eggs, macadamia nuts and coconut.
Here’s my argument in support of this sort of food processing, or paleo Reenactment, if you must:
- We all process food. Braising short ribs is processing your food. Essentially, from a Pure Paleo™ standpoint, everything that goes beyond eating raw or grilling over an open campfire is “processing.”
- Where do you draw the line?
- I think the line is best drawn between foods that are meal-like foods vs. those that are treat or indulgence like foods (cakes, cookies, brownies, etc.)
- Nutrition is important, and this is very good nutrition from whole sources.
- There’s just something about holding meat and veggies together between two pieces of bread.
Alright, from here out I’m going to address various applications. The first, next week, will be about the many wondrous ways to make tuna salad (I have to perfect my mayonnaise making, first. Last evening my high oleic sunflower oil, 2-cup batch, broke—from a wonderful creamy mayonnaise to yellow oil—while introducing the very last 1/4 cup. This post would have been drafted last night, but I was too enraged.)
Update: It was pointed out to me that the shredded coconut meat I used for the nutritional analysis doesn’t have all the fat that coconut butter does (there’s no coconut butter in the database). After thinking about it this makes sense and the process used to dehydrate it probably melts away a lot of the fat. Getting the fat to come out the same as the content on the label of the coconut butter required adding about 8 tablespoons of coconut oil. This boost the fat percentage to 88%. However, the overall micro nutrient profile remains about the same, so I’ll just leave it at that.
This looks great–can’t wait to try it!
How do you make your mayo? I’ve found that the most reliable way is to start with room temperature ingredients, and only incorporate the first cup of oil with the stick blende. Then put the emulsion in a bowl and whisk in the last half-cup of oil at about two teaspoons at a time. It’s a little more effort but it works every time.
Yes, I keep my oil and eggs out well before hand. I’m not sure whether it was too much oil or too long of a process in the food processor. I watched a couple of videos today, including one by Ramsey and they don’t keep it in there very long. Also, they use a higher egg to oil ratio. Had I stopped 5 seconds earlier I’d have 2 cups of wonderful mayo.
I’m on it. Success is within my grasp.
I don’t remember where I saw it, but I have done this: besides having everything at room temperature, I simply put everything (inc. the oil!) in the container that came with my immersion blender, stick in the blender, and turn it on – Voila, instant mayo without carefully adding the oil a drizzle at a time or anything…
Hope that helps,
Kerstin:-)
http://www.lastappetite.com/how-to-make-mayonnaise-in-20-seconds/
Here’s a video showing you how to make the stick blender mayonnaise. It’s great with light olive oil but extra virgin is a bit strong for this one.
Have to agree with Kerstin. I make my Mayo like this all the time (usually twice a week) and it works perfectly EVERYTIME. Even if I dont use room temp ingredients.
And its yum and it only takes 15 secs – 30 secs tops.
Fuck you, Kersten. I hate you. And I just wanted you to know that. :)
why would you use such vulgar language. you should not be posting to any site. you make me sick!
And you make me laugh.
Free the Animal is notorious for vulgar language both by me and commenters. Keeps things lively.
I guess you didn’t notice the smiley. Lots of us love our fbombs around here. Oh, by the way, what do you mean I shouldn’t be posting to any site? This is MY site, for nine years now. Or didn’t you know that?
Another variation:
1 whole egg
1 cup oil
Whatever mayo flavor you desire (ie, mustard, lemon, etc)
Super simple. And there is a middle way between Kerstin’s all-at-once method and the regular, drizzle-it-in-for-an-hour method (and thus, risk destroying the emulsion with over blending. Which I have done. And as Richard has stated, it is enraging. Almost feel like crying when that has happened to me). Anyways, the method, which I used last time, is to basically dump 1/8 of the cup or even 1/4 of the cup of oil in at a time, blend and be done with it.
Mark
Timely
I got up off my lazy ass an hour ago, went and bought some more high oleic sunflower oil, watched some videos about making mayo in a food processor, and saw success. I feel like Tom Hanks on Castaway when he pounded his chest on the beach, that he had made fire,
I followed Ramsey’s protocol: egg yolks, Dijon, oil. All seasoning comes after: lemon juice, salt, pepper. He says the seasoning kills the yolk if you do it before.
That worked, and worked amazing. The mayo I got is super thick.
Oh, that is interesting. I will have to try that method if nothing else for the experimentation of it.
Can’t wait to see the report on that. I wonder if my Ninja pulse would work for mayo. . .
First of all, congrats on taking my modified recipe and making it infinitely more healthier, you’re my hero! Second, I used to use sunflower oil for my mayo due to it’s neutral taste, but I heard that Omega-6 ratio is bad too, so I switched to olive oil. And finally, when my mayo breaks into yellow oil, I usually pour the stuff into a separate container, and then drop a new egg into the blender, and slowly pour the new yellow oil back in, creating an extra thick mayo. But I also heard the immersion blender trick Kerstin mentions below is great too (I just don’t have one). Again, great job. Looks like Challah bread!
Jeff
I’m using high oleic sunflower oil. It’s bread (not GMO) to have a completely different lipid profile, 70 % mono, low PUFA.
I am not sure GMO also matters.
The thing that matters is, what was the intent for the production of the strain.
If it was for better pest tolerance, avoid like the plaque.
If it was for higher productivity, it is going to be much lower nutrition, so avoid it.
If it is for changing some specific aspect of it, it *may* not be such a big deal, depending on the aspect in question.
With Oil, there is not much to it. The refining process is going to add some chemicals, which is the problematic part. Otherwise it is just oil. GMO or non-GMO how does it matter as long as the oil is very low PUFA and devoid of any harmful oils.
High Oleic Sunflower Oil seems like the best option.
I just made your recipe and the bread had the most amazing texture and flavor. I was not able to get a nice rise like yours, I will try to make another one when I run out of this one. Also, is it supposed to be a really moist on the inside?
Ive bought ready made macadamia butter. How much should I use?
Not really sure. You’ll have to experiment.
It’s easy to rescue a broken mayo:
Put 1 Tablespoon of warm water in a bowl.
Add a Tablespoon of the broken mayo.
Whisk by hand until it is creamy (restoring the emulsion).
Slowly add the rest of the broken mayo.
After it is all back together, you can hit it with an immersion blender to thicken it up.
Mike:
I tried the other broken mayo solution common on the internet. A egg yolk, hand whisked, adding in a bit of the broken stuff at a time. No go. If it happens again, I’ll try yours.
I’ve had good luck following Julia Child’s instructions for rescuing a broken mayo which is to warm up a new mixing bowl in hot water, then add 1 teaspoon mustard and 1 teaspoon of the broken mayo and beat until it comes back – then just keep adding teaspoons of the broken mayo back in. I had to do this the first and last time that I beat mayo by hand. I find her method for doing it in the food processor which includes 1 egg and 2 yolks works really well.
Ok, Paleo-phites. I watched some episode of No Reservations in Greece? Anyway, this lovely old woman made aioli mayo in a mortar and pestle. It took her a long time drizzling the oil in, but I could “taste” it from the TV screen. Beautiful with peaks and valleys…I’m trying it….someday
Some say broken mayonnaise; I say pretty decent hollendaise.
Looks great Richard! I’ll have to give it a shot now in creating breadcrumbs…will be interested if the fat content inhibits the ability to make “crispy” through dehydration.
Question re: the macadamia nut butter: you say to blend in processor until you have the nut meal, then adding in the first then subsequent eggs for a short while. Is the expectation that the nuts will break down into a smooth consistency in that period of time, or should the meal be almost butter consistency before adding the eggs?
FYI just got some plantain flour I’ve been interested in trying on some bread recipes. 30g carbs per cup (made from some green plantains). Certainly not super high in fat, so intrigued to try in combo with some other fat sources. We will see! See you in Boston.
July
Precisely. On my first try I used a mini processor, intending to create macadamia butter I could then introduce to the mix. I got chunky butter, which is to say, part butter, part chunks, but too thick for the blade to get to everything and do its job. I added some soft butter and olive oil and it got a bit better, but still a hugely thick past and what you really want is a smooth batter.
So, yes, the bigger processor helps, then adding the egg, one at a time until the sound changes (you’ll know what I mean) and you get nary a chunk (if you want nut chunks, then stir in chopped nuts at the very end, but you need to fiber released from those chucks that’s an essential part of the recipe).
Looks good Richard. Might have to give this one a try. Thanks for the breakdowns!!! That’s really cool!!
How big is the food processor you use and what blade? Is 9 cups big enough?
Hey nick. Yea, I think it’s the 9cup cuisinart. Around 150 bucks as I recall.
Thanks for this genial idea. Can’t wait to try it when I get back to Italy. This is not reenactment but practicality. I am sick of making time consuming thin rice tortillas for picnics. Finger food- no plates, forks and knives, is just so necessary sometimes. And your right; you need something to hold roast beef- tomato and homemade mayo together since the combo is sooooooooooooo good.
Pastured eggs, coconut butter and macadamia nuts? That’s one expensive loaf of bread!
I will give it a try, though.
This is TRUE genius! I have seen Jeff Nimoy’s version too! These recipes truly make “bread”! I wish the food industry would CATCH ON!
Looking forward to trying this, but am a little perplexed by the coconut butter–you make this? Sorry, I’m unfamiliar with it. . ..
Elizabeth
Yes, coconut butter is available from a number of sources. I get Artisana from Whole Foods a few minutes away. Nutiva has a product called Coconut Manna, essentially the same thing. Both are available online, and from Amazon. I think there are other producers as well.
If I didn’t have it, however, what I would do is to put both the cup of macadamia and about a cup and a bit of shredded, unsweetened whole coconut meat in the processor and would use my one egg at a time method onto the 4th or 5th egg, instead of just the second. So, you’re making not only the macadamia butter from nuts, bit the coconut butter from coconut meat.
Great, got coconut in the fridge as I write, and WF close by.
I like having a “bread” as a neat vehicle for fish and meat, making it a bit more portable for work lunches. Perhaps not a staple, but a nice option. . . Thanks for the doing the leg-work on this!
If you’re using dried coconut meat, you’ll be missing a lot of the fat that is in coconut butter; so I would add a bit of coconut oil to try to approximate the fat content of coconut butter.
I was just wondering if you could make your own coconut butter with dried coconut and coconut oil? Certainly would be cheaper. Probably wouldn’t taste the same. I’m sure there is something else that gets sucked out during the dehydration process.
Chuck, I’m not 100% sure but I believe plain, unsweetened dried, shredded coconut has all the fat. It’s the coconut flour that’s just the fiber.
Do you have any reference because if you’re right then my nutrition profile is off.
Chuck:
Damn, you’re right. In my nutrition profile where I used coconut meat, I have only 27 grams of fat whereas a cup of the Artisana coconut butter has 144! Ouch!
Good catch. Now I have to completely rework the nutrition profile. I think this is going to be even Fatter Bread.
Ha, so I kept the 1 cup coconut meat in (for the carbs, fiber and other nutrition) and added 8.6 tbs of coconut oil to make up the other 117g of fat. I haven’t looked at how it changed the micro nutrients yet, but in macro terms it’s now 88% fat, 5% carbs and 7% protein.
NOW it’s FAT BREAD!
Chuck, I’m going to give that a try. I’m going to rehydrate the shredded coconut first in warm water, strain, and I’m going to use 2 tbsp of Kerigold butter to start.
I’ll report back.
If you take 3 cups of unsulfured organic unsweetened shredded coconut and put it in your food processor, turn it on for 5 minutes, turn if off for 5 minutes, then turn it back on for 5 minutes (so as not to burn the engine…) you will end up with 1 cup of coconut cream concentrate. It works beautifully and is Way cheaper than buying it at the store. :)
Richard, I am going to give this a try! Sounds and looks delish. Would creamed coconut be the same as coconut butter?
Just found the answer to that question – “Coconut cream concentrate refers to one processed form of coconut cream. Coconut cream is the emulsion extracted from the meat or flesh of the coconut. Coconut cream concentrate is made by removing all coconut water from coconut cream. Coconut butter, more commonly known as coconut oil, is oil extracted from the dried inner flesh of coconuts. While coconut cream concentrate is simply a concentrated form of coconut meat, coconut butter or oil is the vegetable oil extracted from coconuts”. In the UK we are more familiar with the term coconut oil.
That’s incorrect, Pauline. Coconut butter is the whole meat and fat. Artisana calls it coconut butter, Nutiva calls it coconut manna, and they’re essentially the same. I’m using the Artisana product and it’s vastly different from their coconut oil, which is just the fat and only the fat.
I imagine that coconut cream would be similar. One way to tell is look at the ingredients, fiber content and fat content and compare with those other products.
Ah thanks for that. Was in doubt whether that was right, got the info off a website. Just ordered the coconut oil thinking it was the right ingredient. Nevermind. Still gonna make that bread sometime.
Hi Richard, I bought the coconut butter and it is not the same as the coconut cream. So I am going to bake this bread this weekend. Looking forward to it.
Interesting results. The bread certainly looks good.
With regards to processed food, I’ve always said that a cooked meal is no more natural than the product of a chemical factory. You’re taking raw materials and changing them by cooking (a chemical process), altering their behaviours (nutrient availability, texture et al) and appearance. When it comes to processed food, I’m interested in what’s in it and what effect it will have. I avoid any crap in a box but there is good stuff too, like Tabasco Chipotle that only has natural ingredients in as far as I can tell, and sauerkraut.
Would go good with pate de fois gras
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/917/2
I had a slight brain fart drafting this. Don’t know that it makes a big difference, but the food processor should run on high as you introduce the eggs to the macadamias. I just edited the instructions thusly:
“Place the macadamias into a typical large home-kitchen food processor and process on high to achieve a part butter, part chunky nut meal. While running on high still, drop one egg down the chute and wait for the sound to stabilize to smooth (about 20-30 seconds), then do the same with the second egg. Once the processor is running smooth again, add the remaining 3 eggs down the chute. You should have a very smooth batter by this point. Shut down the processor and add the remaining ingredients, except for the lemon juice and baking soda. Turn it on low this time, and once everything is all mixed (20 seconds or so), introduce first the lemon juice down the chute, then the baking soda. Mix for a few more seconds.”
Richard,
What if my food processor doesn’t have a low setting? Mine has “pulse” and “on/off” lol….
Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor
Sounds good to me. I would like like to know the cost of a loaf. I know, I can go to the store and check on prices of the main ingredients, but if you have the info available, could you post it please. I know for the TJ eggs we buy at about 40 cents a piece, that would be 2 bucks just for the eggs.
It’s pricey. The pastured eggs are $7.50 dz at WF, the macadamia, not sure, but at least a few bucks for a cup and the Artisana coconut butter is like $12 for I think a 14 oz jar (I can make 2 loaves with that).
So, say $3 for the eggs, $5 for the macadamia, and $6 for the coconut butter (I hear that Nutiva coconut manna is was less expensive). So you’re looking at maybe $14 per loaf or is Star”bucks” 4-5. :)
I’ve made a $19 loaf before in experimenting. It’s a treat, that’s for sure, not something to be made every single week. Can’t wait to make some though, very excited about this new recipe!
Jeff, before you make it using macadamia butter instead of the nuts per my recipe, check to ensure the butter has no added fat to make it into butter (i.e., just the nuts and only the nuts). Otherwise, you might not get the same result.
I gave this a try today, although I made my own coconut butter using a couple bags of dried, unsweetened flakes. So looking at the comments here my load would be short around 115 or so grams of fat compared to using the store bought coconut butter. The bread came out very good all the same, I just had a ham and swiss sandwich with a couple thin slices and have to say I am impressed. The subtle coconut flavor to the bread really adds a little something that I enjoyed vs regular bread.
Of course, now I’m curious what the difference would be had it had the extra boat load of fat.
Thanks for the post and link Richard, this is good as is, yet has great potential beyond a simple loaf of bread!!
Edit the above to be ‘loaf would be short’ not load. LOL
Note: I would peg my cost at around $9 as I made it. It could be lowered a bit if I find some macadamia nuts in bulk!
Ok Steve, now I have to try this with bulk shredded coconut instead of the butter which would make it far less expensive. One could even experiment with adding a couple of tbs of coconut oil, or progressively more to hit the sweet spot, or maybe even butter. More possibilities.
Might be a good idea to rehydrate the coconut first by mixing it with the raw egg, letting it set for a while, then slowly pour that mixture into the macadamia nut meal.
No need Richard. I simply put to bags into the food processor and within a few minutes had a nice coconut butter! The secret is you have to have enough in there. I put one bag in initially and it wasn’t butter like, added the second bag and boom, butter!
Absolutely dead simple, no reason to spend the money on pre-processed stuff!!
Whats your thoughts on the 226 calories per slice? LOL, serious caloric load there!!
Heres the link to how I made it: http://www.tessadomesticdiva.com/2012/05/coconut-butter-101-how-to-make-it-and-how-to-use-it.html
My nutritional breakdown is considerably different then your chart above:
Fat: 295 gms
Carb: 113gms
Fiber: 272gms
Protein: 194gms
Total Calories: 3611
Per slice (16): 226
Seriously nutritionally dense!! LOL
I feel like i’m talking to myself again! :)
Yep, Steve, once I added in enough fat to get up to what Artisana shows on their label, I get somewhere around 3K cals per loaf.
Your calculation seems a bit high to me. Now mine matches the amount of fat actually in Artisana and with the cup of macadamia, comes to 2,619 kcal per loaf (5 large eggs, 1 cup macadamia, 1 cup artisana coconut butter, trace cal in the lime juice). 164 cal per slice @ 16 slices per loaf.
Putting the ingredients into MyFitnessPal (YMMV), I get
3120 calories
Carb: 87 g (52 g fiber)
Fat: 285 g
Protein: 61 g
I’m using Grace Pure Creamed Coconut, 250 g of which is 1800 kcal, 60 g carb (40 g fiber), 160 g fat, so I imagine that accounts for the difference.
Also, today this recipe made two slightly smaller loaves’ worth. I hope they’re OK — it might just be over-blending the ingredients, or really big eggs. (Next time I might try 4.)
Excellent, JB. Everyone tweeks on their own.
Indeed. Looks like I did overdo in on eggs, and the bread didn’t really rise, but in spite of smaller, slightly denser, slices, it worked well.
It took me two 5oz bags of dried unsweetened coconut to make the full cup of coconut butter. Per the label it has 14 services 70 calories per bag, so just in the coconut i’m figuring 1960 calories.
I refigured the slice count as I was able to get 24 thin slices, the that makes it around 150 each.
14 servings at 70 calories each.
I really need to proof read prior to submitting more often.
My listed macros above show 272 total grams of fiber, that should be 62 grams, the 272 was the fiber calories.
That’s energetically dense. Says nothing about the actual nutrients–that is, the spare parts versus the gasoline. Mind you, some of those energy calories could also be used structurally–something that health pundits are ever overlooking in the interests of starving out the obese. My *brain* certainly seems happier with far more saturated fat in my diet. Works better than Lexapro ever did.
Getting back to the micronutrients, though, I’d be curious about those. I’m betting not half bad.
Christ. I read his recipe, thought “wow that sounded good” and somehow ended up at the comments without reading the rest of it. Never mind! I see the vitamins and minerals now. Holy crap, look at that copper. Watch it if you also eat liver!
(Or, alternatively, is there a way to balance copper with intake of other minerals? Hmmmm.)
If you look at real bread, it’s not much below that value either. That’s a thing that I never understand with the calorie counters, if they actually really compared the caloric value of their stuff with that of real food, they would be instantly high meat eaters. A slice of ham for instance (the french ones with the fat around) is around 35kcal, a normal slice of bread is around 120 kcal. Which means you can eat 3 slices of ham for 1 slice of bread.
This mayo works great every time; it is very fast and has never broken for me.
http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2007/07/homemade-mayonnaise-recipe-video-big.html
I am currently using 2 tablespoons of regular vinegar instead of the lemon juice/white wine vinegar, and 1 and 1/2 cups medium chain triglyceride oil instead of the oils he uses. ( I have used olive oil and “light” olive oil in the past.) I make it in a wide mouthed jar to save cleanup.
I pretty much use the same recipe – no sugar, all lemon juice and all MCT oil. I haven’t priced Richard’s sunflower oil, so price wise I’m not sure if my recipe is more or less expensive – I get it online so there’s the shipping cost factor.
I made a batch last night, everything cold, straight out of the fridge – used a hand mixer this time, turned out just fine (I’ve used a blender and an immersion blender in the past).
Just watched the video – wow! Stick blender it is from now on. I just need to find me one of those cups he used.
Anyone have any Paleo thoughts on white wine vinegar? How about white balsamic?
Dennis:
My sincere gratitude for making me look like an idiot. Seriously.
And the only way to stop looking like an idiot as concerns mayo is to go out and get a stick blender. Amazing. Wow.
Why did I think Paleo re-enactment meant trying to live like “cavepeople”? I never connected it with this habit of making Neolithic processed foods out of Paleolithic ingredients.
Mind you, I like said habit. I have to live in the real world, with a small child who wouldn’t understand why other kids get to eat bread while she didn’t. This sort of bread would make me feel a lot more comfortable than the GF bread I currently let her eat. (We tried Ezekiel bread and liked it for quite a while but I was ever uncomfortable with Food For Life, its manufacturer, adding wheat gluten to the dough. NOT COOL, Food For Life.) I bet she’d like it too. Thank you.
+1 on “re-enactment” Dana.
Rich speaking of “PSS”, you’ve been on this slippery slope for a while. Your zenith was “No Soap”. It’s all been PSS since there I think. Not to worry however, even the greatest minds falter – hopefully you find yours again (soon).
Hey Richard.
G’day mate!
Just wanted to thank you for this bread recipe. It’s AWESOME! Baked “fat bread part deux” and now this one. LOVE IT.
Anyway, thought I’d mention regarding mayonnaise, the best oil to use for it is macadamia. No doubt. I wrote a post about it a while back. I don’t like hijacking links and stuff so I’ll paste the recipe here and share it with the rest of the paleo folk
Macadamia Oil Mayonnaise Recipe:
Ingredients
2 egg yolks (if you are worried about bacteria, simply pasteurise the whole eggs by keeping them at 63 degrees C water for 5 minutes)
1.5 cup macadamia oil
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
salt (to taste) – use real salt like Celtic Sea Salt.
lemon juice
Method
Put the egg and mustard in an upright blender and whiz it up.
Add the oil (shouldn’t take more than 20 to 30 seconds) from the top opening until the mixture thickens.
Add apple cider vinegar and salt
Add more oil if thicker mayonnaise is needed
The process should take 1 minute or less
Once done, you can adjust the salt and lemon juice. Heck, you can even add more mustard if you want. Go crazy!
(the original post is here: http://thefoodblog.com.au/2012/02/how-i-lost-24-kilos-and-a-recipe-for-macadamia-oil-mayonnaise.html – feel free to edit this out)
Mate keep up the great work, and also, I feel there’s no need to justify whether this bread is processed or not. It’s made with real food and is as real a dish as an omelette…
I’ve made a simple aioli sauce with oil, egg yolk, lemon juice, salt, and garlic. A stick blender works beautifully with this. I used olive oil, but I can’t help but wonder how it would taste using avocado oil or macadamia oil. It should go well on hot or cold meat among other things.
Here is a short but excellent video on making fresh aiolo sauce.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KZTP3c0j7zc
BTW, The author of the video also has a great prime rib roast cooking method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M48HSaTkt1U#!
The roast is only cooked for 5 minutes times the exact weight in a preheated 500F oven. So a 4 pound prime rib roast is only cooked at 500F for 20 minutes. Then the oven is turned off allowing the roast to continue cooking with residual heat for 2 hours (without opening the oven) resulting in a medium rare doneness.
Rich, Hombre, Dude, Mate, why not add psyllium husks to the mix? This will average out the cost to make the loaf cheaper per slice, lower the calorie content per slice and best of all add some fibre to get those super sandwiches of yours rocketing through your digestive system. Powder the pysllium husks first so they’re not so noticeable if you like.
Better still, once you’ve perfected it, patent the recipe and make some money off one of your ideas for a change. You’re allowed to make money – it’s not a crime dude, hombre, mate.
Nice idea, but your alcohol content is 0.0%. Unacceptable.
“I have to perfect my mayonnaise making, first.”
Try out the MCT Mayo recipe I emailed you a few weeks ago — pretty much as good as it gets, in my experience.
Hey Dan, if you get around to writing the post to go with it that get’s published.
How long does MCT oil last? I have a bottle sitting around, at room temp for more than a year.
Hiya Mark,
Just made some of your bread and it worked brilliantly. Just a note re the nutritional content of coconut butter. It is exactly the same as desiccated coconut. I save a fortune by making my own coconut butter by blending desiccated coconut in a powerful blender (Vitamix). Desiccated coconut is just coconut meat that has been shredded and dehydrated.
Actually, Francis, for the dehydrated coconut meat I have, the fat content is way letss than in the coconut butter, per the labels. I assume that in the dehydrating process enough heat is added that a lot of the fat goes out of it. There are a few comments to that effect.
Oh my. Good recipe! Mine didn’t rise much, but very tasty…I’m wondering if I overmixed the batter or something. It came out of the oven about 15 minutes ago, and we’ve already killed about 1/3 of the loaf, along with about 1/3 of a stick of butter. I’m definitely making this again!
Thanks for posting this recipe! I just made it and it came out exactly as pictured! And it tastes terrific. Wow.
Wow – just made my first loaf and it came out great. It did have an odd faint bluish color on the bottom 25% of the loaf. Weird.
Also, one fond memory from my childhood is dunking buttered bagels into coffee (with cream). This bread works as a great substitute.
MmmmMMmmmm I’m going to try this bread!
Awesome recipe!
Not sure if this has been asked yet, as i haven’t had time to read through all the comments – can i use another nut instead of macs, such as cashews? I’d say the consistency would be similar when made into a butter.
Cheers,
Pete
Hi Pete:
The reason for the macadamias is in the high levels of n-6 in most other nuts, though I think hazelnuts are on the lower side. The original recipe came from a guy who used almond butter, so yes, other nuts will work but I don’t want to n-6 load and there’s almost none in the whole loaf.
You said you added coconut flour, but I don’t see it listed in the recipe.
“You said you added coconut flour, but I don’t see it listed in the recipe.”
That was in version 2, when I thought the issue of the bread falling apart from version 1 was lack of fiber, so I added 2 tablespoons of coconut four (which is the fiber part). but, I also figured out how to make a proper macadamia butter. For version 3, I guessed that the real issue would be getting the macadamias right, so I dropped the coconut four and sure enough, that was it. No need for it.
I’m still thinking over this recipe. My results were somewhat different. First I filled the food processor full of whole macadamia nuts & turned on, hoping to get butter. Well, WTF!!?? The top exploded into the air , nuts flew everywhere, and the blades shot out of the blender and imbedded themselves in the ceiling. While picking pieces of nut shrapnel out of my face and the walls, and cleaning up the now-defunct blender (the casing split, exposing motor windings and other electrical shit), my wife, who had heard the noise, came in from the backyard and proceeded to have a cow. Especially since the blender was her birthday present. It wasn’t very good blender, the nut shells were hardly scratched. Dude, your recipe sucks. BTW, I’m now banned from the kitchen forever, I don’t know why. Women, always thinking they’re smarter. Sheesh.
Ah, Bob.
Thanks for the good writeup. I know it’s good because it created a mind’s eye in me.
I laughed.
Hey, I did say food processor, and also, 1 cup of nuts. Don’t go down in defeat, man.
You deserve an award. Seriously. This is AMAZING!!!! Thank you so much for this recipe. I have tried so many paleo bread recipes, and this is by far the closest thing to the real deal. Delicious!
My husband and I made them as muffins, and they worked beautifully. (We cut the baking time in half.) Not only are these little muffins tasty and nutritious, but they also make an easy-to-pack snack. Thank you!
Thank you, Elizabeth. I tried making some stuff with almond meal early on and stopped. It was only the nspiratio for this ultimate recipe that I was ready to try again. I’m so happy that so far I have 100% approval of those who’ve tried it.
Yea, for muffins, I’d figured baking time would go way back. I just got some of those things to do egg mcmuffins and have the egg be the same size as an English muffin, gonna use them on a cookie sheet to make hamburger buns.
This recipe looks great, but I don’t have any coconut butter… could I somehow substitute coconut oil or coconut milk or a coconut cream or a mixture of these? I’ve never actually HAD coconut butter… I’d love to try this soon!
There are a couple of products, Artisana coconut butter and Nutiva’s coconut manna. Both can ordered online.
Thanks Richard! I’ve found online sources for them in Australia… that Artisana is a bit pricey though! (Well I guess both are, but that one’s $18.50 for a pound! Don’t know how normal that is to pay but seems quite a bit when the recipe calls for a cup ;)).
Anyhow, I’m anxious to try this recipe! Will just need to make it last for awhile as I doubt I could afford it on a regular basis!
Oh Wait…Hold that thought… one of the sources APPEARED to be an Australian company but is actually a US company that caters to the Australian market… lol… shipping was gonna cost me $30 for 2 jars of the Nutiva (which was about $23 all up and seemed doable… until I discovered the 2 jars would ACTUALLY be over $50!). I’ll keep hunting and see what I come up with locally.
Hmm I HAVE found a recipe to make coconut butter from desiccated coconut. That’s easy enough to get and I have gobs of it at home. Do you think this would suffice??
Sorry for all these posts… ;)
Fiona
When I calculated the fat in a cup of shredded coconut to the Artisana coconut butter, it took 8.5 tablespoons to get equivalent fat. I think the process to dry the coconut ends up taking a lot of the fat away, probably due heat and the low melting point.
…8.5 tablespoons of coconut oil.
Thanks Richard!
I think I shall have to experiment… unless I can find a local source of coconut butter (will try the health food shop tomorrow). I’m thinking otherwise using some desiccated coconut blended with some coconut oil or something to make the coconut butter?! Obviously just buying the stuff will be easier though.
I just tried making this bread. Was easy enough. Tasted good. Only problem? It only rose to about 1.25″. Any thoughts on what I did wrong?
garfinkel
only that you oven is preheated, that the macadamias are completely a butter, using the food processor method as I laid out, and that you use lime or vinegar and baking soda properly as rising agents.
I used all the ingredients and ratios you listed. So, must be the processor. I only have a mini-prep (chop, grind), so I guess it is all in the technique. The texture seems right. It just didn’t rise much.
Okay, so… I’m an idiot. Completely forgot to add the coconut butter.
I’m in the middle of making this right now. After I added the coconut butter (nice and liquidy from my 80 degree kitchen) my food processor started making terrible noises. I think the cold eggs chilled the coconut butter and it started to harden too much for the processor to handle. Next time I’ll warm my eggs first. Just passing it along in case it might help someone else.
Just made a loaf of this, so delicious! Used two bags of dried, unsweetened coconut to make the coconut butter. Took about 20 minutes to blend, but worked great in the recipe. All ingredients were room temperature before going into the processor, and I think that helped it mix better. Fantastic with some homemade jam on top! Not sure of the best way to store it though, would be an incredible shame for it to dry out too fast. Any suggestions?
Erin:
I neither refrigerate or even wrap the bread. Takes Bea and I a few days to finish a loaf and I leave it sitting out in a basket that has a mesh cover in order to keep any bugs off it. I found that wrapping it causes it to get slightly too moist. Like a properly done home made cake, it doesn’t dry out at all and the fat is not going to go rancid.
Erin, I’ve had my loaf in the fridge for about 5 days now, no sign of it drying out particularly. That’s the advantage of “fat” bread, I guess : ) Planning to freeze the rest in small bags of a few slices each.
So is this bread really, truly GOOD? I made Elana’s Paleo Bread (http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-bread/) last night, and though it looked & smelled great, the taste & texture are…well…disgusting. I even added a little butter & garlic to a couple slices to have with my no-pasta spaghetti and I still couldn’t eat it. Just want to find something that is light in flavor without spending a fortune on recipes that I inevitably have to throw out (I’m on a college student budget!).
Melissa
The 2 hallmarks of this bread when done right is it sticks together like real bread and has a very unobtrusive taste, unlike the overpowering nut flour breads I’ve tasted unless used for holiday banana and walnut bread deals where you want to powerful flavor and sweetness,
Give it a shot. It is a bit pricey, but hopefully you won’t have to toss it put. Just make sure to do it right. The lemon juice and backing soda are critical in order to get a rise. Make sure to have the processor on low when you add them, and just enough to mix them in. Then go immediately to the pan and oven.
Very cool. I have recently gone paelo and I have been trying to replace the missing ‘bread’ in my life. I have done some experiments and had a lot of ‘learnings’ so far.
Something that I speculate that makes this work from a ‘bread rising’ point of view is the high fat content. I have tried almond flour and coconut flour breads but they don’t rise nicely and are a bit heavy and cake like. I also tried an almond butter bread which did rise nicely … but it was mostly eggs and almond butter.
So, my instinct is that the high fat content of the nut butters combined with the baking soda is what gives these nut butter breads the ability to rise. In other words, to get the best results, the fat content must be high and the fiber content on the low side.
This gives me some ideas to test:
1. How would this turn out as a pancake (flapjack style). I imagine light and fluffy. You could even add a banana and vanilla to the mix for some sweetness.
2. I would also try putting 3 T of the batter in a 3″ ceramic custard dish or ramekin (buttered) and microwave for 1 minute for a ‘Minute Bread’
3. Would be interesting to change the eggs up a bit. Keep the 5 egg yolks, but only use 3 egg whites. And beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and gently fold them to the finished batter. Then bake as normal. Might get a lighter loaf this way.
Thanks for the recipe and for taking the trouble to experiment.
Glen.
Thanks for the recipie! I made it last night and it turned out nearly as good as the picture (mine didn’t rise as much as yours). I have a couple questions for you though. 1. Were you using a true mixer, food processor or vitamix style blender? I used my vitamix & i’m not sure if it helped or hurt. 2. Other than changing its nutritional content, is there any reason why someone couldnt use a mixture of macadamias and blanched, soaked almonds? It would make it a bit more cost effective.
Like Glen, I may try whipping the egg whites until fluffy, sort of like a chiffon, since the bread is nearly the consistency of a pound cake.
Anyway, thanks for your work on this bread – and your blog. Keep up the good work!
Kevin
I use a Cuisinart food processor. As for the almonds, that’s covered in the first two attempts, links up there in the post. I don’t use almonds because of the adverse n-6/3 ratio. However, if you do, then good almond butter is available and you should use that instead. In fact, that’s what the guy used who came up with the predasessor to this, and using nut butter is key.
I made this tonight. It was delicious. Mine came out a little dense, but I think that’s because I have a small food processer and wasn’t able to get the right texture for the batter before baking it. I’m waiting on a larger food processer to be delivered and will definitely be making this again. Oh, how I’ve missed sandwiches since I started eating Paleo. Thanks for the recipe!
Um, I tried this recipe and it LOOKED great – got a nice rise, and very close to bread in every way, except a little greasy feeling… I followed the method precisely – used raw macadamia nuts as Richard suggested, and for coconut butter I ran a fresh coconut through an Omega juicer on the nut butter setting and added some additional coconut oil to the spreadable goo that emerged.
But when it came out of the oven and I went in for the taste test, before I even put it in my mouth I was absolutely disgusted by the smell of it – for the sake of propriety I can’t mention what it smelled like, but I’ll just say it’s a substance that very few people enjoy tasting.
I tasted it anyway, in spite of my instinct to throw it out immediately and wash my hands, and it was definitely too salty (which didn’t help), but besides that and the horrific smell it seemed like everything was as it should be.
What could have went wrong? The ingredient list is so simple, and I made sure the coconut and the macs were fresh and tasty before putting them in – did anyone else notice a strange smell on this stuff – or could it have to do with mixing the lemon juice and baking soda? I really want to get this right but if that’s the way it’s supposed to smell then forget it…
No idea Chris. Macadamias salted? Using coconut meat instead of butter?
Just don’t know, not even close to my experience.
No, the macadamias were unsalted, and though I haven’t cooked with fresh coconut like that before, I can’t imagine that it was the culprit.
I don’t have ready access to coconut butter, so is there a substitute you can suggest for that? I was thinking a few things might do the trick – coconut milk mixed with a bit of coconut flour perhaps?
Have you thought of throwing some fresh ground flax meal into the mix?
I use Artisana coconut butter. On the Internet, avail at Amazon.
Every loaf has smelled delicious. Got to be one or the other and since you’ve ruled out the nuts, gotta be the coconut. It could not be the baking soda and lime,
I had an interesting experience with this. I was consistently making this bread with the kind of macadamia nuts you normally see — big, round, the kind that are 1/2″ in diameter maybe? The macadamia nut flavor was not overwhelming.
I couldn’t find those at my local Whole Foods but they had these mini halved macadamia nuts pre-packed into cartons there. They were small like 1/4″ or less in diameter maybe? Regardless, they just didn’t look the same as the ones I’d been buying from another store.
These mac nuts made the worst fat bread. I couldn’t get over the taste of the macadamia nuts. So overwhelming and gross. I salvaged it by eating it cold out of the fridge cause the mac nut flavor was less overwhelming but ick, I’ll never buy those mac nuts from Whole Foods again.
Reduce the baking soda to 1/2 tsp. The baking soda does impart a funky aftertaste. I didn’t connect the dots until several batches later and comments from a couple of people. If you have issues with the rise, increase the acid a bit but I haven’t had any problems with mine.
Chris,
It might be the coconut. I love the “idea” of coconut, love the smell in general, but sometimes I just can’t stand the smell and taste, particularly coconut oil. It is positively disgusting to me and even worse when I heat the oil. I’ve read that some people simply have this reaction to coconut.
Coconut butter might be your ticket. What I notice is it is the oil mostly for me. If I open a can of coconut milk and it is separated, the cream on top smells/tastes ok. But, once I mix in the oil I gag.
So, it might just be the way you made your coconut butter.
HTH!
sg
I will be trying this again soon with real coconut butter, so we will see if that was it.
I am quite familiar with coconut oil, I use it for other things and don’t find the smell or taste offensive at all… What I experienced last time I tried this was the smell of a bodily fluid – nothing coco-“nutty” about it… hehe
Awesome recipe. I’ve made times a few times now.
The first time I found it a little sweet, lemon juice has a tendency to bring that out in other fruits(and nuts I guess). I switched to cream of tartare to activate the baking soda, and I find the bread alot better with savory spreads like pate.
Amazon don’t deliver the coconut butter to HK, so I was following:
http://www.thekitchn.com/one-ingredient-recipe-coconut-butter-166405
I added a bit of salt as an abrasive. Definitely a bit dry, so I will a few table spoons of coconut oil next time.
Andy, how much cream of tartare did you use? I haven’t made a batch in weeks, so I think I want to give that a try. I’m also wondering about how a bit of dry dill weed might work in terms of flavor.
Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
I’ve tried to make this bread today, I still have to taste it as it’s on the rack cooling, however…it has not risen! it’s totally flat! any ideas what I’ve done wrong?
I’ve put 8oz of coconut butter as on an internet site it said a cup of butter is 8oz.
Have I put too much butter? have I made a mistake in processing the macadamia?
I don’t know what I did wrong am so upset it is more like flat pancake than a loaf :(
hopefully it will still taste good
ok, I’ve sliced it…it is quite moist inside, almost feels like an omelette! it tastes nice but the slices are so tiny! holds together well, does not crumble!
how do i make it rise next time?
Jo, it’s the baking soda that makes it rise. Did you by any chance use baking powder (common mistake). Baking soda reacts with acid and creates bubbles of some sort of gas. Stir a teaspoon in water and drink it. Sake it around in your stomach a bit and you’ll start to belch % burp.
Use a heaping teaspoon right at the end, and the last step is the lemon juice. Then get it in the oven right away.
For your flat loaf, you might want to slice it into large brownies then slice horizontally for sandwich halves.
In terms of quantities, yes, 8oz by volume, not weight, same for the macadamia nuts…by volume.
thank you so much for your help,
I have not cooked anything in years LOL
it is soda I used not powder :)
8oz by volume and not by weight…how do I know how much then? :D
I bought a 250ml coconut butter jar…how much do I use? :(
I followed your instructions by the letter and baking soda was the last thing I’ve added and then yes put it in oven…..
it is very delicious, it reminds me of an omelette to be honest as it’s a bit moist and under fingers feels the consistency of an omelette. Smell gorgeous and made a TERRIFIC mini sandwich with it (mini as its so flat it’s about the height of two of my fingers together! :)
I’ll try and do it with a friend next time who’s quite a good cook, maybe he’ll know what I’ve done wrong.
I think maybe too much coconut butter? as I did 8oz by weight not by volume but there again I don’t know how to measure it in volume?
thank you, and thank you for this recipe it’s fantastic
For volume, you use the same sort of measuring cup you use for liquids. 1 cup is 8 ounces, liquid by volume. Just convert your MLs, conversion calculators are avail if you google.
I suspect that you didn’t use enough macadamia and coconut, and with the over abundance of egg, it came out more like an omelet.
Btw, here in the US, when you say cup, it implies a volume measurement, not a weight measurement.
thank you for your patience, you are so nice :)
yes maybe it was not enough macadamias, I think there was enough coconut butter as it’s soaking my fingers when I eat it or even just touch it!
I’m sure it’s a learning process for someone like me who’s not cooked in ages and never ‘baked’ a cake :)
I’ll show my ‘cook friend’ your replies and am sure he’ll be able to help me, I’ll ask him to do it with me next week :)
I’m such an idiot, I never even realised you did a book :) I just bought it on amazon kindle as I think you’re great and am sure it will be a very good read.
I have been eating paleo for 6 months now, best thing I’ve done in my life for myself, wish I did it many years ago but better late then never as they say :)
Thanks Jo. Hope it’s helpful to you.
Made my loaf today! Tastes great; almost like shortbread. Definitely fills the void where my chicken salad sandwiches used to be.
My loaf is resting on a wire rack right now. Hope it turns out well. To those who’ve had a problem with the rise, take note that the baking soda is a “rounded” tsp (so probably closer to 1.25 tsp)! This may make a huge difference. I did try to make my own coconut butter – not worth the trouble. After 40 minutes & adding coconut oil, it finally got to a liquid state but is quite grainy! So I went down & bought some Coconut Manna (Nutiva). I only used 4 large eggs – they seemed much larger than normal.
It does have a pleasant look to it which is usually a major hurdle (we eat with our eyes – or so they say).
Has anyone tried using it as bread crumbs for crisping chicken or shrimp? Tried it for stuffing? What about french toast?
Would love to hear what you’ve done with it!
Hey,
i took coconut oil instead of coconut butter. Studpid idea! Everything works great until you put it out of the oven. It collapses.
So as a warning, don´t mix things up!
Cheers
Anyone try adding sour cream to the recipe prior to baking?
Richard! I love this recipe. I have been waiting all summer to make this.
It did not rise as I had hoped, but I hope Melissa C’s advice will work.
I made the Coconut butter myself. No Oil, just ten minutes in a magic bullet. Worked amazingly well.
I also used a blender for the macadamia nuts and eggs, but then manually mixed the remaining ingredients.
I will be posting photos next week of each item.
Thank you for making this. My wife now loves me 5% more than yesterday!
Andrew, do note that if you made c-butter from desiccated coconut flakes, it has significantly less fat than the butter products. I suspect they use heat in the desiccation process and it sweats out a lot of the fat. This was easy to discover upon simply comparing fat in the nutrition labels.
As to why some people do not get a rise, I have no idea. That hasn’t happened to me in any of the loaves I’ve made. I introduce first the baking soda, then the lime juice or vinegar to activate and get it right into the pan and oven without delay. I want all those bubbles getting trapped ASAP.
Your article says lemon juice, then baking soda. Now you’re saying baking soda, then acid-that-is-not-lemon. What am I missing? :)
Backing soda is the absolute, the substrate. You can use either lemon juice or vinegar (acid) to activate so it starts blowing bubbles in the batter and creates a rise.
For those with trouble getting it up, why not try more baking soda and more acid?
More baking soda will impart a funky aftertaste to the bread. I ended up reducing the baking soda called for by half. Also, I use a smaller baking pan so the bread gets a nicer square shape. Otherwise, it comes out squat and barely fills the 8.5 in bread pan (maybe my bread pan is just gigantic?). That, or double the recipe.
I’m going to try and make this this weekend, and I had a maybe stupid question. How did you measure the nuts? Do you just pour the raw, whole nuts into a 1-cup measuring cup and use that? Was it mostly leveled with the top or did you just fill the cup and call it good? Just want to make sure I get the amount close to correct.
Wayne, basically the raw hole nuts in the cup. I use the halfway point of the nuts at the top of the measure, so the nut tops are above the line.
Perfect, that’s what I was looking for. Looking forward to making it this weekend. Thank you, sir.
Richard, thanks for sharing! I just made this last night and it is freaking delicious! Now I have to try and conquer the mayo.
Spread the word, Dana. I worked hard on this and I will be heard. :) (laf)
Holy. Fucking. Paleo. Grail.
Fucking.
Sandwiches.
Fuck.
You.
Jimmy Johns.
Never.
Coming.
Back.
(Unless.)
(Convenient.)
lol
So tried this recipe and the bottom of the loaf turned green. right after taking it out of the oven. Texture is awesome though, does anyone know why this could of happend?
Don’t know but that happened to me too on a couple occasions. It goes away though.
Me too, the first time. Not since. No idea why.
This happened to me a couple of times as well. I tried baking with and without parchment paper but finally found a trick that worked for me: When I heat up the coconut butter, I make sure to completely pour off the coconut oil sitting on top. I don’t know about you but sometimes my jars have an inch or more of solidified coconut oil sitting over the butter.
So far, my bread has consistently turned out white, no grayish-blue bottom.
Call me stupid, but in your intro you said you added coconut flour to your new mix, but I don’t see measures for coconut flour in the ingredient list. Have I missed something?
That was in reference to version 2. Did not use in version 3 and found I didn’t need it.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made french toast with it and it turned out great. Have you tried making a banana bread from it? Thanks again.
Hey! I can’t tell you how excited I am to make this- I have been missing sandwiches like no other and haven’t had success yet in making a paleo bread with the right texture/consistency…
QUESTION: I feel like there are a lot of different ideas floating around out there about what “Coconut butter” actually is and when you said to melt it, the first thing I thought you were referring to was coconut mana (which comes in a jar and melts with heat)- I’ve had it before, it is delicious. But Earth Balance has an actual coconut butter that is used in cooking just like regular butter and has a bit of coconut overtone. So I wasn’t sure which type of coconut butter you are referring to in your recipe. Do you have any links to exactly what type of coconut butter you use/ are referring to for this recipe? Possibly where to get it?
Thank you so much
Bonnes
I use the Artisanna product, which I believe is the same as Nutiva’s manna. I think the desiccation process for flakes removes some of the fat so for those who are going to use flakes which is all of the fiber, some of the fat, may need to add coconut oil (only the fat) to get the proportion and consistency right.
Absolutely love the recipe! Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve been making this bread non-stop and everyone has been asking for the recipe. I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’ve adulterated your recipe and the variations have been a HUGE hit. The texture is soft and fluffy. It makes me a little worried because it’s not as low-carb and should now probably be considered a “treat.” Ooops. That being said, what did you use to analyze the nutrient content of your recipe. I’d like to find out how badly I’ve messed with the fat-to-carb ratio of this recipe.
This variation is better as muffins. The loaf has a tendency to burn on top before the inside is done. Here’s what I added:
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup dried apple slices, diced (optional)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (for choco varation)
At 80% plus fat content, you could not have hurt it badly at all. Add some protein in the form of bacon, an egg, hame or whatever and you have a meal.
Good job.
I have this in the oven right now. Hoping it turns out! I’m definitely going to eat it, whatever it turns out to be, but I’m hoping to achieve sandwichability with it. :)
Hey! The bread looks awesome! My sis and I actually just tried this out and it came out horribly, but I think thats because I used coconut oil instead of butter. Is there a difference? The label said “coconut spread” so I assumed it was a butter. Also, is it 1 cup of macadamia already ground by the processor or is it 1 cup pre-grind? Thanks for all the help!
This is all in comments, Joe, and my post was very clear about using coconut butter. A simple Google search would have told you the difference.
The recipe is clear and frankly, I’m getting about tired of helping people who can’t seem to beat their own way out of wet paper sacs.
Sorry, I do wish you well, but every bit of info you need is in the post and previous comments.
I am going to whip this up today! Sounds fabulous but I am worried I will eat it all in one go. Does it freeze ok? Thanks so much for sharing this with us all!
No need to freeze or refrigerate. Fat content is so high, just cover with a cloth or mesh to keep insects off, and it lasts a good week at room temp, always at the ready.
I made a loaf this weekend, followed the recipe exactly, and it is f-ing awesome. No fear of it going bad, we ate it all in one day.
Going to tweak the recipe. Sesame seeds on top, for one.
Poppy seeds. Sunflower seeds. The mind reels.
I’m thinking about making this, but how should this be stored and how long would it be good for?
All in the comments, S
i.e., I didn’t post this to answer the same questions over and over. All basic questions have been thoroughly dealt with in comments.
Hey I just wanted to know what is your form of “coconut butter”.. are you talking about creamed coconut or pure coconut? Could you post a link to the coconut butter product you use? Earth Balance makes a coconut-infused butter that tastes really good, it’s dairy free but it has soy and I’m trying to be completely clean on my diet! Thank you!
Just made this again…2nd attempt..first attempt came out green and eggy. Came out unbelievable the 2nd time, almost tastes like a KFC biscuit! The problem for all of those that have their bread coming out green.. you must use the coconut BUTTER..not oil or spread…COCONUT BUTTER!!
I personally used the coconut manna because it was cheaper but you can also use the artisana or just make your own bread out of unsweetened dry coconut flakes. Also, when first putting the macadamia nuts in the processor…process for about 5 minutes until the nuts also turn into a buttery substance.
Great to hear, Joe.
Haven’t made a loaf in a few weeks but now I feel inspired.
coconut butter* not bread
I’ve made this recipe countless times and this is hands down my favorite paleo gluten-free recipe. I don’t bother anymore with any recipes that call for copius amounts of coconut flour or almond butter. I’ve used this recipe with great success as the base for countless variations like pumpkin muffins, thyme muffins/bread, and lemon blueberry.
Btw, I highly recommend reducing the baking soda to 1/2 tsp. The bread will still rise, or at least, mine did. Otherwise, it imparts a metallic bitter aftertaste. Also, I went through a phase where I ate this bread so much (not making up for bad dietary habits but it was a convenient source of fat) that I think the baking soda in it caused some mild symptoms of dietary alkalosis. I am now very careful with how much baking soda I consume.
I would also reduce the baking soda, it comes out very salty using the prescribed measurement. Def a great paleo recipe. I’m gonna make chocolate chip cookies with this recipe.
I was determined to make this, but I did not have any coconut butter (or grated coconut to make my own). On a whim, I substituted 1 cup of almond butter instead. It worked. It is very heavy and very filling — doesn’t take much to fill me up. I think this might be a pretty fool-proof recipe! It was awesome and a recipe that I will make again and again!
So I’ve been meaning to make this for a while and finally bit the bullet today. It’s awesome! I tried a slice with butter and jam and another slice with some guacamole and both are delicious. It rose beautifully, collapsed a little after I sliced it but still quite good. Might be because I couldn’t wait for it to cool before slicing! I actually taste macadamias more than coconut which is nice, as I tire of coconut flavor in so many things since going paleo. Anyway, I wish I had read all the comments before making my bread because I didn’t remove the coconut oil from the top of my jar of coconut butter so ended up with very mild blueish tint at the bottom of my loaf, which I don’t really care about but thought I would note that reading through the comments is very helpful. I do find it kind of a hilarious and sad evidence of the lack of reading comprehension and laziness by so many people to see people asking the same question over and over again. It’s funny to read Richard slowly becoming less and less patient with the questions over time. This is what drives me so crazy at work sometimes. People don’t want to read the instructions, they just want someone to spoon feed them the answers. Anyway, just wanted to say THANKS for this recipe. I can’t tolerate almond flour stuff, and coconut flour stuff usually doesn’t taste good, but this has actual good nutrition AND allows me some toasty, sandwich-y deliciousness.
Thank you, Melanie.
Yep, I don’t answer a single question from a lazy ass, anymore.
Thanks soo much for the recipe!! I’ve made it 3x now using the following: half a 250g jar of raw macadamia butter ($5.99), 1 package of creamed coconut ($2.99), 4-5 eggs, lemon juice, &, half the amount of salt, baking soda (too salty with the original amount). Found 4 eggs gave me more of a cake loaf whereas 5 eggs more bread-like. Delicious all the same!!
Just wanted to say thank you for this great bread! First time I made it, it rose perfectly…second time it was super flat so I replaced my baking soda. Third time, still flattish but less so. Will keep tweaking until I get the appearance right…the taste can’t be beat!
Have a funny anecdote though…this go-round, on the last egg, I’ll be darned if the bottom third of the shell didn’t plop right into the food processor! I got a couple of pieces out but I didn’t want to take too long to take it out, LOL. So we have a little crunch spread throughout the bread. :)
Lmol
Just drop the calcium supplement for a few days. It’ll even out.
Hi!
I made this today using creamed coconut rather than coconut butter. It tastes fabulous, although it didn’t rise as much and isn’t as pretty as yours. That didn’t stop the boyfriend from attacking it as soon as I put it on the cooling rack, though, so I guess it’s OK.
I was wondering how this bread should be stored. Should I pop it in the fridge or just wrap it and leave it on the counter? We keep our house between 76-78F if that matters.
Awesome recipe. We’ve been looking for bread for months. Tried flourless “crepes” which were just glorified omelets and not worth it. At all. I will be creeping your blog looking for more goodies.
Also, we’re allergic to egg whites. I did use the whole egg in this, but any ideas how we could just use yolks?
Thanks for this recipe! It was great! Nice to find a recipe that didn’t use almond flour or coconut flour (both are very expensive in Singapore!). I didn’t have coconut flakes at home so I used dessicated coconut so now I taste the coconut strands in my bread haha… I think the flakes would turn out better.
Creamed coconut sounds like an interesting alternative as mentioned by the other commentators too.
Thanks for the recipe. Turned out excellent first time, with taste and texture of brioche. Highly recommended.
Like Lmoll, I dropped an eggshell into the processor. Not so fond of the crunch!
One added benefit – this stuff doesn’t go stale. I kept cutting away at the loaf for five days, and the last slice was still fresh. I guess the fat does that.
LOVE IT!!!
Thanks so much for perfecting this little jewel! It’s the only bread I feel great about eating… and don’t want to share! Everyone who tries it wants more… Thank yoU!
Can you revise this post to use the exact ingrediants and methods used. It has no mention of coconut flour and almond butter in “ingrediants” and it did not come out like this, it seems you….buttered shredded coconut yourself which makes a more fiber dense material for all the parts to combine to maybe? Mine looked like a slobering mess hahah
“It has no mention of coconut flour and almond butter”
That’s because there isn’t any. The ingredients listed are the exact ingredients. Jesus.
Man, I know I’m sending a comment waaaay too many years late, but in the off chance you check this notification… I’m really curious about replacing 3 of the whole eggs with 6 egg whites (cholesterol thing). Do you think it would make too big a difference?
I highly disrecommend eating egg whites on their own, the egg and yolk if either is eaten seperately has extremely detrimental effects on the body (gets fairly complicated but lets just say eating the full contents of the egg is considerably more healthy for you).
If its a cholesteral issue i don’t think this bread or the ketogenic diet is for you, and considering dietary cholesterol has been proven to not effect blood cholesterol/cholesterol in your body in a stastically signifcant way, and the yolks are the source of the majority of the nutrients (when paired with the ‘whites’ to activate each other…) and you need both to get proper chemical combinations (which if the compounds in the whites or yolks were ingested wihout the other is when the bad effects happen) as well a key to the rise and texture of this bread….well just don’t you should be far more concerned about the macademia nuts hah.
Hi Richard, just wondering whether this bread breaks/crumbles when folded around a sausage/hot dog to eat it as a sausage sandwich. Thanks.
I hope Richard doesn’t mind that I’m replying but the batch I just made (I made minimal changes) folds without breaking :)
Thanks Kristin, that’s awesome. I was thinking it may have needed some some psyllium added to it so that’s cool. Thanks again!
The first time I made this, it kinds rose but came out dense. Still yummy though. This time I added an extra egg, used apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice and a heaping tsp of baking soda and made some awesome English muffins with my crepe pan. I was hoping for a wrap-like thinness but I’m very happy they didn’t spread as much. I only made 2 this time then decided to pour the rest of the batter into my cast iron bread pan and even with the little less batter it’s rising beautifully. The texture of the “English muffin” looks like real, grain-based bread. I’m amazed and THRILLED!! I can’t wait to make dinner: a can of tuna fish with my Primal mayo, cayenne and lemon on a Fat English. Thanks for this phenomenal recipe!!
My son has a tree nut allergy. Do you think it would work with Sunbutter or making sunflower butter from raw, shelled sunflower seeds?
Don’t know, but I guess you could try anything.
How should the bread be stored once made?
Because of the high fat content, just like you would store a cake or pastry. Room temp, just covered to keep bugs away.
At the top you mention adding coconut flour, but not how much to add. Please advise?
Nope, no coconut flour in it. You use coconut butter, per the recipe.
I know this thread is already a few years old, but I just tried making this bread and it tastes like baking soda! Any suggestions?
I have been working a ketogenic diet since early January of this year. And in my ongoing research about ketogenic way of eating, I found a documentary called The Magic Pill. In it, one of the woman that was on it was making something called the Macademia Fat Bread. So I searched the internet for an easy recipe. I’ve looked at good 8-10 different recipes online and this was the simplest and the most precise recipe I could find. So, today, I got all the necessary ingredients this morning and decided to give this a go. Well, it was an absolute success. It looked almost exactly like the pic in the article (probably slightly flatter because my baking soda may have been a bit too old), and tasted out of this world. I am going to do some experimenting by adding zero calorie/zero carb sweetener to make it like a pound cake. Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE. I AM SO HAPPY WITH IT!!!!!!
Same recipe makes a pretty mean pancake batter as well (though my batter came out a bit thick).
Hi, I can’t find any info about how long it lasts and how to preserve it, should I freeze it? I will give it a try soon.
You could probably freeze it, give it a try.
Otherwise, I always kept mine out on the couter, in a covered glass cake platter. Keeps for a few days.
So I followed this recipe to a T..so I thought. Mine came out green?? How’s it that possible? Picture to follow. The crust is good. The inside tastes a bit spongy and eggy. Maybe it need to cook longer….but nothing makes since as to why it’s green
Maybe too much egg. Use one less next time.
Mine came out with bottom half green. Not sure what makes that happen but it still tasted great.
I tried this recipe and was successful. Having lived in France for a year, I have to say that this is very similar to a Flan, though of course without the sugar. That said, I am going to adjust this recipe a bit because it is a bit eggy to me.
Funny, my husband thinks it’s real bread! That’s success when you can fool your loved ones!
This was awesome. I had locks and cream cheese with red onion on this bread and I was in heaven.
Can this be done with a food processor that only has pulse and one speed setting? No low and high
I just made this, and it didn’t rise well. An suggestions as to why?
Your name is Leny.
Not Paleo, but I came up with a simple bread recipe after reading this:
http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijnfs.20140303.20.pdf
re the advantages of nutritional yeast. It isn’t so good for sandwiches, but makes good toast.
dry yeast pack
3Tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp sea salt
3 cups organic whole wheat flour
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/8 cup water
Proof the yeast for 15 minutes, spoon remaining ingredients together, let rest 45 minutes
knead for 15, let rise in pan until it doubles in size (usually 30 minutes)
bake 35 minutes at 325°
126 grams protein/loaf, approx 10-12 grams/slice, 2 slices per serving
Hi! Thanks for the nstructions. I made this (without the additional Coconut oil in the homemade coconut butter. Because I didn’t read the whole post first.
My question is- has anyone had theirs come out bitter? My partner and I both tasted a strong bitter after taste. Maybe it’s just needing the oil? All ingredients tasted fine to me before cooking. No bitter taste with the batter
I’m going to try it again with the proper coconut butter and see what happens. Too expensive a recipe to mess around with for me — so I’d like to get it right the second time-
Richard,
I just made this bread (I’m late to the Keto band wagon) and it’s only 2″ high. I live in Denver at 5,280 feet. Do you know how i could adapt this to account for high altitude baking? Because of the pricey ingredients I wanted to make it per your instructions first to see how it came out. It’s cooling – can’t wait to taste it!
What does “PUFA” mean from Macadamia fat bread? What exactly is the carb. count per slice of 16 slices from the pre-listed bread? The recipe chart when subtracting fiber from the carbs. , gives me 16.4 gms.. Is this for the whole loaf?
I have been baking quite a lot recently and I would love to try your recipe out. I saw in some of the comments on how theirs turned green. I have read those as well just so mine won’t turn green when I attempt to make it. Thank you for this recipe!
Lots of nutrition info out there now. I calculated your recipe and this is what I came up with.
For the loaf using xl eggs and the remaining ingredients were exact.
fat 350
cal 3339
protein 51
carbs 19
fiber 12
For those of you whose loaf didn’t rise as high – cut it in half and then set one half on an end and slice down very thinly, if you want sandwich bread.
I think i’m gonna try adding a little coconut sugar and some vanilla to get my kids to eat it, for the healthy fats and some extra protein.
I have made this the way the recipe says but also made it with vanilla extract, fresh cranberries and diced jalapeños. It was so good! Today I made it using raw walnuts since I had no macadamia nuts, and then added vanilla extract and blueberries. I think I like it better using walnuts. The blueberries were great too, didn’t have many to add and would have been great to have more in the bread. Walnuts have about the same carbs and protein as macadamia nuts but macadamia has a lot more fat.