Would you believe me if I told you that this bread is grain-free, dairy-free, and yeast-free? Well you should, because this bread is 100% grain-free, dairy-free, and yeast-free! Oh and did I mention that it’s only 4 ingredients? That’s right!
About one year ago, I started having some really bad digestive issues as a result of the damage from six years with a restrictive eating disorder. I thought it was just a normal part of the recovery process, so I let it go for a few months. However, a few months ago, things started going downhill rather quickly, so I decided it was time to figure out the root cause of these issues once and for all. I met with a few doctors/specialists and had some tests done, yet I still wasn’t seeing any results. Frustrating? Absolutely! So what did I do next? Met with some more specialists and had more tests done.
The good news is that the results from these tests were much more helpful in telling me what was wrong. But the bad news? There was a lot of things wrong. I won’t go into too much detail, but the main idea is that my body was not breaking down any of the carbohydrates I was eating – meaning I wasn’t getting any of those nutrients, wasn’t getting the energy I needed from carbs, and my organs were working extra hard to process all of the extra undigested carbohydrates floating around my body.
After my health practitioner interpreted the results for me, she told me that in order to heal my digestive system and get things functioning again, I would have to stick to a very strict diet – including no complex carbs, no potatoes of any sort, no squash, no grains, no beans, no dairy, no sugars, no pork, no soy, and no corn. Talk about yikes!
Anyone who knows me knows I am downright obsessed with sweet potatoes, peanut butter, squash, and oats. In fact, all four of those foods appeared in my diet every single day! So to hear that I wasn’t allowed to eat any of them anymore was extremely disappointing, to say the least.
Once I started my new diet plan, I didn’t have any issues with the foods I was eating – I love, love, love vegetables, and I had no issue eating chicken, fish, turkey, and eggs. However, I was starting to dream of all of the foods I couldn’t eat anymore, and that was emotionally tough on me.
As the weeks progressed, I gradually weaned off of that diet and moved toward the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, or the SCD Diet. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a pretty restrictive diet that eliminates hard-to-digest carbohydrates, thus reducing digestive issues. In a nutshell, SCD involves eating a diet without any potatoes or sweet potatoes, starchy vegetables, grains, corn, soy, added sugars, or legumes. However, it does allow for some low-lactose dairy, some seeds, and honey for a sweetener, so it was more than I could have on my last diet!
Even though I was able to eat a little more, I was still feeling like I was missing out on the foods I wanted to be eating. So to make myself feel a little bit better, I decided to start experimenting with new recipes to see what I could come up. The first thing I came up with was this sandwich bread made from just 4 simple ingredients, all of which are SCD-friendly.
It’s amazing how easy it is to take a simple food, such as bread, for granted. I never realized how much I liked bread until I could no longer have it! But once I made this loaf, this bread opened the door for so many new meals I could eat – toast, sandwiches, soup and sandwich, etc. No more feelings of restriction!
It’s especially good for avocado toast with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes on top!
It’s definitely not your traditional sandwich bread that you might purchase from the store, but it’s actually pretty dang good. My mom even enjoyed it, and when she had the option to choose from regular sandwich bread in the pantry and this bread, she actually chose this bread to have with her breakfast! Two days in a row! 
It has a really airy consistency to it, and it’s not dry at all. In fact, the longest we’ve had it on hand is 4 days, and by the 4th day, it was still just as fresh as when I first made it! In fact, I actually liked it better on the second day for some reason. And the good thing is that this bread is good as-is, or when it’s toasted. Win-win!
The key to making a good sandwich-size bread? Use a smaller loaf pan. You might be tempted to use a wider, larger pan, but then the bread won’t rise as high and you’ll be left with a wide slice of bread. If that’s what you like, by all means… go for it and make a squatty loaf of bread! But if you like a nice piece of bread that you’re able to spread toppings on or use for a sandwich, take my advice and use a smaller loaf pan. You may have to fill it up to the top with batter, and it may come out of the pan looking a little funky, but trust me… it works!
Now that I know I have at least one option for bread, I’m looking forward to tweaking this recipe and coming up with different variations. The more options I have, the better I’ll feel about sticking to this strict diet! But fingers crossed my digestive issues get better soon so I can eat those dang sweet potatoes again. Because let’s face it… a life without sweet potatoes is just NO FUN at all!
Paleo Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy almond butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8″x4″ loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside for now.
- Use an electric hand-held mixer to combine all the ingredients, and mix well.
- Pour mixture into greased loaf pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until top is golden brown and center is cooked through.
- Remove from oven and allow it to cool 30 minutes in its pan. Then, remove the loaf from the pan onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before slicing.
- Slice into 12 slices and place in a sealed container. After 1 day, bread is best when kept in the fridge.
