Repost: Experimenting <evil cackle> -- from 08/14/08

[Guest guest]

Here's the origin of pecan souffle bread.... 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.

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.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund