FW: Repost: Experimenting -- from 08/14/08/Souffle Bread

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From: BTVC-SCD

[mailto:BTVC-SCD ] On Behalf Of Wizop Marilyn L. Alm

Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 3:56 PM

To: BTVC-SCD

Subject: Repost: Experimenting <evil cackle> -- from

08/14/08

Here's the origin of pecan souffle bread.... a repost from 08/09/09, which

is a repost from 07/01/09, which is a repost as above.

OK, so, here I am with a set of home made hot dogs sitting in front of me.

I love plain hot dogs with cheese and homemade Creole mustard and homemade

refrigerator dills.

But there's something about a hot dog in a BUN. Or a wrap. Or SOMETHING, dang

it.

I have a hot dog bun pan in which I've put the Lois Lang bread (my basic bread

variation thereof). Makes nice buns, but there is so MUCH of it that I just

can't eat even a whole one, let alone two with the hot dogs. Besides, as much

as I like almond bread, it's pretty high in calories, and I'm trying to keep my

count down so that even if I can't lose weight while I'm on these !@#$#@! pain

meds, I at least won't gain weight.

Multiple mentions of the nut-free / dairy-free bread on Pecan Bread. Okay, but

I don't have a half cup of cooked vegetables to spare, and don't feel like

cooking any. I also don't have any avocados.

Looked at Jodi's Souffle Bread on UCLBS, but I don't feel like defrosting and

opening a whole package of DCCC for that half cup.

I also am not up to the baking, and turning and re-baking the souffle bread.

Grrr.

Then I had an idea. Back before I got the Big C diagnosis, I bought myself a

big pizza stone. Which I hadn't yet used. I got Harry to stick it on the middle

shelf of the oven for me. Preheated the oven to 350F with the stone in it.

Then I started separating eggs.

Six egg whites, beaten stiff with a few pinches of salt.

Beat two egg yolks with 2 tablespoons finely ground pecan butter.

Drizzle on the egg whites. Whip together.

First effort was to spoon this into the eight well-buttered spaces on my hot

dog bun pan and bake. Turned out great, but like most souffles, it flattened as

it cooled. It also stuck like the blazes to the pan, although I eventually got

them out intact. (Not without a fair amount of swearing, however.) I had to use

two of them per hot dog, and the round hot dog kept trying to slide out from

between the two bun pieces. Tasted delicious, though.

Okay, Effort Two:

Six egg whites, beaten stiff with a few pinches of salt.

Beat two egg yolks with 2 tablespoons finely ground pecan butter.

Drizzle on the egg whites. Whip together.

Put a large sheet of parchment paper (slightly longer than the pizza stone) on

a stiff cutting board. Turn out the egg white mixture and spread it out into a

rough rectangle on the parchment. Opened the oven, and pulled out the rack with

the stone (next time I will make certain that the oven mitt I use doesn't have

a hole in it) and slid the parchment onto the stone. Retouched the egg whites

to a smoother layer, slid the rack back in and closed the oven.

Bake for 18 minutes. Slide the parchment back out onto the cutting board, and

turn off the oven. Use a pizza wheel to slice into bread-sized slices, or a

slightly larger rectangle which can wrap around the hot dog, cheese, and chili.

YES! (Though I wish you could have seen the look on my non-SCD husband's face

when I informed him I needed to grab his buns.... to measure for the size of

the rectangle, of course...)

But there's this annoyance of having to take the time to make the pecan butter,

since I do not have a food processor. (Well, I do now, as of my birthday in

2009, but I still haven't gotten used to using it.)

So, Effort THREE!

Six egg whites, beaten stiff with a few pinches of salt.

Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons finely ground pecans.

Beat two egg yolks, and drizzle on. Whip together.

Put a large sheet of parchment paper (slightly longer than the pizza stone) on

a stiff cutting board. Turn out the egg white mixture and spread it out into a

rough rectangle on the parchment. Opened the oven, and pulled out the rack with

the stone and slid the parchment onto the stone. Retouched the egg whites to a

smoother layer, slid the rack back in and closed the oven.

Bake for 18 minutes. Slide the parchment back out onto the cutting board, and

turn off the oven. Use a pizza wheel to slice into bread-sized slices, or a

slightly larger rectangle which can wrap around the hot dog, cheese, and chili.

YES!

I swear, this stuff comes up tasting like whole wheat bread. The pizza stone

eliminates the need to turn the souffle bread over to bake the bottom, which

makes it much easier.

Now then, what about those twelve spare egg yolks I have sitting around? Beat

until thick and yellow, sprinkle in 3 tablespoons of pecan flour, mix, and

spread on parchment paper and bake on a regular pan on the top shelf of the

oven while baking Version 3. Allow to cool. Slice thinly. Egg noodles.

(Actually, I've done this before with just eggs, but always had a problem with

the egg crepes sticking to the pan. My suspicion is that the egg yolks without

the nut flour would work fine, too)

But I just can't resist experimenting. So I took a couple of handfuls of the

" egg noodles " and put them in the dehydrator over night. Crispy,

crunchy pretzel-like sticks. Bet they'd do well as " Chinese noodles "

with a stir fry, too.

The next experiments will involve trying almond flour, cashew flour, and maybe

some walnut flour. I'm also going to try making a batch of the bread,

dressing it with pizza sauce and homemade pepperoni and provolone... I love my

nut flour Parmesan crusted pizzas, but they're still pretty heavy.

I've often thought that perhaps one reason people new to the diet have trouble

is because they're craving bread-substitutes. However, their bodies aren't

ready for large quantities of nut flours or even nut butters yet. But they may

be able to tolerate small quantities, if they tolerate the eggs. In my case,

I'm trying to keep my calorie intake to a modest level because of the obesity

which is the hallmark of my particular brand of digestive disorder. Full nut breads

are pretty calorie-dense -- a reason carb junkies sometimes find themselves

eating just nut breads because they fill up on the breads the same way they

used to fill up on grain-based breads and don't have room for healthy meats,

vegetables, fruits, yogurt, and broths.

It has the advantage of requiring one large mixing bowl for the whites, and two

smaller ones for the yolks -- two in one and four (for later noodles) in the

other. It also needs a mixer and some parchment paper. Minimal cleanup. Takes about

35 minutes from the time I turn on the oven to the time I'm pulling the bread

out of the oven. This bread is relatively light -- about 55 calories per

sandwich sized slice. I haven't calculated out the noodles.

Adding a couple of things here:

What I do, since I am usually making 4-6 batches in succession, is use the

beaters on my electric mixer to whip the egg whites stiff. I use a fork to beat

the eggs yolks until thick and yellow, then blend in the pecan butter when I

use it. If using the pecan flour, I sprinkle it more-or-less evenly over the

surface of the beaten whites, then drizzle the beaten yolks over.

Then I use a large whisk to stir everything gently to an even texture, without

beating any further, or the egg whites may collapse.

By using the beaters only for the egg whites, and the whisk only for the

mixing, I can make several batches in succession without having to wash the

implements in between. I do have to wash the bowl, because the egg yolk

and nut flours contain oils and, as you may know, oil in the bowl with egg

whites equals egg whites which don't puff up properly.

I usually make four batches in succession and freeze the bread with a piece of

wax paper between the layers. That gives me sixteen egg yolks which can thicken

a lot of gravy, make an egg-nog ice cream base, lemon-cream filling, or some

cooked mayonnaise. Or be added to Caesar salad dressing. Or all of above.

— Marilyn

New Orleans,

Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Recipe from Louisiana

SCD Lagniappe (forthcoming)