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Low carb alternative flours!!


It is vitally important that you follow the gram weights EXACTLY! When it says 192g of bamboo fibre, it doesn’t mean 195g.
 
I found that a breadmaker is too rough for the more delicate dough for a low carb bread. it needs a gentle second mixing by hand to get a good rise, in my experience.
 
 
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retrogamer said:
I'm looking into this oat fibre. The bread recipe I posted called for bamboo fibre or oat fibre as a replacement. Both only seem to be available online. Even Holland and Barrett don't stock them.
Are there any high street locations to buy this stuff?
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Apparently psyllium husk is a suitable replacement for oat fibre.
 
Nicksellick said:
Apparently psyllium husk is a suitable replacement for oat fibre.
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Psyllium husk improves the texture I suppose, but a brand I purchased from Holland & Barrett turned everything a rather unappetising shade of purple. It's also expensive. IMO, oat fibre does the job much better.
 
Psyllium husk is also packaged and prescribed as Fibrogel in the UK, a laxative. Use it in very small amounts, or expect the worst!

For example I use just 5g and quite a bit of water to stick together 200g seeds for crackers
 
Nicksellick said:
Where have you found it for that price?
it’s more expensive than almond flour on Amazon!
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Morrisons £3.20 for 400g. Cheaper at Holland & Barrett but I have to travel 45 minutes on a bus to my nearest one or pay delivery which makes it more expensive.
 
Nicksellick said:
Where have you found it for that price?
it’s more expensive than almond flour on Amazon!
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Interesting? digression.. Lupin: legume - many species. ‘Poor man’s food’ in Roman times (and before and after). Still grown in (esp southern) Italy as food/ snack (look like yellow broad beans). Grow in almost any climate (bees/ other pollinators love them - amazing mostly purple flowers for those who don’t know). Prolific. Seeds need to be soaked to remove most of the alkaloids. Poisoning symptoms look a lot like the most distressing high BG symptoms. Roughly 35-40% protein, same for carbs; 10% fibre. Assume commercial flours are pre-soaked (but don’t know). Possibly husk removed. You’d have to eat a lot of bread to get symptoms though. Children more at risk. 2nd use: in a heat bag (husk left on) instead of wheat. Can be washed and dried with lupins left inside, (they’re tougher.) More environmentally friendly than silicon beads (huge energy to produce these). I was (am?) a Roman environmental archaeologist (fond memories of ethnographic research).

Further digression. Traditional Italian grown/prepped wheat pasta often has 30-50% more protein; and up to double the fibre than types routinely grown/ avail in Uk Us and Oz (including our so-called ‘wholemeal pasta’ - which often has almost no diff in protein:carb ratio, and only marginally more fibre). This info for those who can/ or wish to eat some pasta (read labels). I know most steer clear.
 
Kernow Debra said:
@JenniferM55 yes I use that particular one. Is a good product.
Wheat gluten, Lupin flour and 1 egg makes a more than acceptable pasta dough. Have yet to use Lupin flour in bread.
Please let me know if you crack it!
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The lupin sourdough starter appeared to have grown well, though reading about several different LC sourdough recipes using 'oat fibre' and 'vital wheat glutin', they all used dried yeast to support the starter to get the rise. So far I've made two loaves, and sad to say they went in the bin, the texture was like sand though not gritty.

I'm not giving up, I've decided to experiment with ancient wheats, such as 'Spelt, Emmer and Einkorn'.



Anyone who's read the book 'Wheat Belly' will have read that modern wheat grains have had their genetics configured by none other than Monsanto.

Also this article helped me on my decision to experiment. What have I got to lose.... See Sourdough Bread and Diabetes

.........

Can bread be part of a diet for people living with diabetes?​

As Alex explains, she educates people with type 2 diabetes that “carbohydrates in foods have the biggest impact on blood sugar, so it is important they avoid refined and processed sources of carbohydrate such as white flour, cereals, white rice, and potatoes, as well as pasta”. These types of dietary carbohydrates can lead to a spike in blood sugar levels. But as Alex says, this means that many people with diabetes get confused and think they should avoid eating all types of carbohydrate, including fermented breads made from whole-grains.

Elisabeth agrees with Alex that confusion can play a part when people with type 2 diabetes try to make optimal dietary choices. She says that “it’s important to remember that there is a huge range of bread available, and not all loaves are equal when it comes to nutritional value”. Highly processed white breads are not a great option for anyone. But breads incorporating wholegrains, particularly those that have been produced using a long, slow fermentation as with sourdough, are high in fibre, and contain micronutrients in a form that is easily digestible, are very different.

Choosing which bread is most suitable can be difficult. But, in general, breads and loaves that are homemade or from artisan bakeries are likely to be less processed and won’t contain the long list of additives (which may include sugar) that are common in industrial breads. Advice on which bread to choose is given by Diabetes UK.

The importance of wholegrains and fibre​

Bread is often seen as a food to avoid, not just for people with diabetes, but for people trying to lose weight or follow a gluten-free diet. One of the concerns for Elisabeth though is that, as a nutrition practitioner, she sees that eliminating bread from your diet may, for some, also be removing a potentially good and readily available source of fibre. The importance of fibre to promote a healthy digestive system has long been known. But recent research identified from the Sourdough School research team has shown that insoluble fibre, which is found in breads made from wholegrain flours, is important in promoting a healthy gut microbiota. Having a diverse and healthy community of microbes in our gut can have a number of positive effects on our own health. Insoluble fibre (which cannot be digested by the human gut) provides food for these microbes and they, in turn, aid our digestive process and have been found to support a healthy immune system.

A recent study in Finland linked the actions of gut bacteria with a lower risk of the development of type 2 diabetes in people who were considered at risk. The study followed 200 people who were taking part in the wider Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study. Researchers found that higher blood levels of indolepropionic acid were associated with those who did not develop diabetes. Indolepropionic acid is produced by our gut bacteria, and the study also showed that levels of the acid appeared to be positively correlated with the amount of fibre and wholegrains in the participants’ diets.

Sourdough bread and blood glucose​

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JenniferM55 said:
<snip>

Anyone who's read the book 'Wheat Belly' will have read that modern wheat grains have had their genetics configured by none other than Monsanto.

<snip>
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Most modern wheat varieties are nothing to do with Monsanto, who have produced glyphosate-resistant varieties. Wheat has been being changed for over 10,000 years as farmers and their farm environments selected what grew best in their conditions, but the rate of change has greatly increase over the past 150 years. Additionally many of us are less active, some people eat almost nothing except pre-processed food and the trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup they contain, and a great many people for a whole variety of reasons eat very little in the way of fresh vegetables & home-cooked foods.
 
CatsFive said:
a great many people for a whole variety of reasons eat very little in the way of fresh vegetables & home-cooked foods.
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IMO this is largely to do with the growth of supermarket chains.

40 years ago I would go shopping with my parents and the first 2-3 aisles would be all fresh produce, frozen foods were consigned to a small section at the back of the store and ready meals were non existent. You only found milk, yoghurt, cheese and meats in the chillers.
Butchers were real butchers with the skills to take half an animal and cut it into whatever proportions you desired. They didn't reside behind a counter inside a supermarket either. Fishmongers were the same.

Markets were in every major town with mainly fresh produce, not the cheap knockoffs of today if you are lucky enough to have a market nearby that has survived!

And this is all in the name of progress ladies and gents. (No apologies if I just misgendered somebody!)
 
I'm referring to the variety of wheat we now have as opposed to the wheat that was available to our grandparents. BTW, Dupont looked to be as 'guilty' as Monsanto. On a side note, perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to have a strain of wheat that resists weed killer? Afterall the grains aren't washed before they are milled. That's my opinion for what it's worth.

"According to Wheat Belly author Dr. William Davis, “this thing being sold to us called wheat—it ain’t wheat. It’s this stocky little high-yield plant, a distant relative of the wheat our mothers used to bake muffins, genetically and biochemically light-years removed from the wheat of just 40 years ago.”

And now scientists are starting to connect modern wheat with all manner of chronic digestive and inflammatory illnesses. And based on our personal and customer experiences, we would have to agree."

From.....
 
Did have another go with another recipe, it's my best so far. A 25g slice has 2.7g carbs. There's no egg or sweetener so it doesn't taste cakey. Here's the recipe. There's no lupin flour in this loaf, ground linseed/flaxseed is used instead. It still has a bit of 'sandiness' in the texture which I think most probably is the oat fibre. May experiment with using psyllium instead.

 
Thanks for recipe, I’ll give it a go. Last recipe I tried was very cakey.
I’m still unsure of oat fibre/ psyllium, please update with your experiments.
 
I have just found Dillon keto bread. Its nice as a treat, does not spike me and contains no gluten. Very expensive for what you get but I have sliced it and stuck it in the freezer, tastes like rye bread. Hubby likes its and that's saying something!
 
Kernow Debra said:
Thanks for recipe, I’ll give it a go. Last recipe I tried was very cakey.
I’m still unsure of oat fibre/ psyllium, please update with your experiments.
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My last and final experiment

It's taken a good three weeks to develop the starter (mainly made with rye flour). Made my first loaf with the Heritage Flour. Was rather pleased with the way it turned out. Think it's got around 21g carbs for just a 50g slice. But... sourdough is classed as a fermented food so it's good for my gut health. It's supposed to have a lower GI as it transitions through your gut at a slower pace (so the 'spike' should be less).

Personally as I've been strictly on keto for the past 5 1/2 months and under 20 carbs a day, having the 21g of carbs for breakfast was a real treat and possibly a 'threat'. I did generously spread butter over the slice as I've read somewhere that fats can help negate the effects of carbs. I've now sliced the loaf in 30 to 50g per slice and frozen them. Hope to take the slices out of the freezer when needed for toasting, making cheese on toast, and mopping up soup, and more.

It was an experiment, so my personal results are:

10.30am BG 6.2 - ate 50g of buttered sourdough bread, with a poached egg.
11.30am BG 7.2
11.40am BG 7.5
11.50am BG 7.4
12.05pm BG 7.7
12.15pm BG 7.8
12.30pm BG 7.5
12.50pm BG 6.9
13.05pm BG 6.2

Don't know whether the above is acceptable, but for me I'm comfortable to reset my carb intake to be between 40 and 50g of carbs per day, so long I don't go overboard. Plus I've been having a few 24hr fasts which could counteract changes.

It's a controlled voyage of discovery, with the accent on 'control'.

Scorched it a bit

 
Nice looking loaf!
 
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