We don’t generally have white bread around. When I bake bread I generally go to my “go to” recipe (here) because we love it so much and my girls have become excellent wheat grinders.
But my neighbor gave us a loaf of her awesome bread a while back and my kids fell in love with it and have been begging me to make it ever since since. And since I’m back on gluten now (more on that at the end of this post) I decided to make them a treat.
And I figured if anyone else needs a recipe for “treat” bread, this is a grand one. (Thanks Ashby!)
Be aware that it is VERY sticky (like it mentions) and maybe next time I make it I’ll add a tad bit more flour. And I think I’ll make it into four loaves instead of three next time because they were BIG loaves.
My kids were in heaven. Especially when I turned some of it into cinnamon French toast the next day.
Mmmmmm.
As far as the gluten deal goes, I am so happy for my month-long-experiment. I learned so much. The goal was to try it for a month and get educated about it because so many people had told me it made such a difference to go gluten-free when you have Hashimotos Disease (a fun little thing I have). Some say you should do it for at least three months in order to really know what effect it has. But at the end of the month I didn’t personally feel different (except that I lost five pounds and felt pretty empowered by doing something hard) but my Hashimoto antibody levels actually went up. I did a lot of research and reading and really felt that for me, because I don’t have an allergy or even sensitivity to gluten, it just wasn’t the right step right now. I know it makes a huge difference for so many people and I’m still experimenting with going low-gluten with all of us, especially for Lucy.
I have learned a whole bunch about gluten free stuff…mostly that I don’t like most of the gluten-free things they have available (it was kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy because I never like foods that they substitute chemicals or extra sugars to try to make it conform into certain requirements). But I wanted to make a good effort to at least try some of the things for my little gluten experiment. This pancake mix is one of the few exceptions:
Made those with a little coconut oil on top. Yum. I also liked these pancakes I made with cottage cheese in the blender:
I know there are tons of healthy and great gluten-free finds that make life great for those who are gluten-free and boy oh boy does that ever make me happy for them. But what I loved most about the whole month was all the more healthy options I learned to reach for rather than my regular quick-fixes to hunger (wheat thins :). I felt so empowered fueling my body with foods more packed with vitamins and things my body really needs.
I am convinced that there is so much to be said about limiting breads and wheat in your diet. I think if you don’t have sensitivities or allergies, whole grains are awesome. We have this whole “Word of Wisdom” dealio in our church that talks about the goodness of whole grains in which I believe in so whole-heartedly. But I think our society has swayed so far in that “breads” direction that we base so much of what we eat around those things and then don’t have room for the vitamin-packed things our bodies desperately need. I am trying to keep going with my newly formed habits of grabbing for fruits, vegetables, raw nuts or mixing up a green smoothie rather than going for the easy crackers and toast when we need a quick snack around here.
I’m sure proud of all my friends who have to do the gluten-free thing for a lifetime and are doing such a great job at it.
Labels: recipes
