There is no greater motivation to develop a new recipe than being able to help a dear friend.
Rachel is coeliac, and over many years her diet has fluctuated due to her condition as well as other digestive issues. So there are times when her food intake is very restricted due to inflammation … and when I hear this from her I just want to give her a big hug!
Last week Rachel mentioned she had chanced upon a “coconut bread” being sold at a local cafe which was gluten free, and because she was so hungry (she was in a period of inflammation so her food intake was limited) she bought some to try. She went slowly to start with and found it didn’t react for her, so she asked if I knew of a recipe for something similar that she could make herself.
Of course I immediately went to the cafe to buy a piece to help me determine how it was made.
Straight away I thought of the Gwinganna Soul Loaf I shared on my website a couple of years ago (see here), and told Rachel I will have a play with that recipe to see what I could come up with. I eliminated the dried fruit as that can be a problem for some people, and replaced it with a combination of shredded and desiccated coconut (for the coconut flavour and texture). I also added a little bit of coconut flour to give a firmer finish to the loaf so that it would hold up well to toasting, and tried it with both raw almonds and blanched almonds (the only difference being in the colour of the loaf as raw almonds gives a darker colour, blanched almonds gives a lighter colour). I also eliminated the spice so that it didn’t detract from the coconut flavour, and tested it three times using (1) a large banana; (2) fresh pineapple (I was sure I could taste pineapple in the shop bought one): and (3) an apple to see what difference it made in flavour, and hands down the apple was my favourite.
So here is the final result … if you don’t have a Thermomix it is easy enough to use a food processor to mill your nuts and blend the batter together.
I would also recommend you use organic coconut to ensure there is no added sugar, sulphates or other preservatives if making this for someone who has food sensitivities (coconut is one ingredient I always buy organic to ensure I am getting pure quality).
The bread is perfect used for sweet or savoury, and I have tried it with jam and labne (as per the picture), and also sliced avocado and tomato with sea salt flakes and freshly cracked pepper and it’s delicious.
It will keep for up to a week, and freezes well.
Ingredients
Method
- Grease and line a small loaf tin (base measurement 8.5cm x 22cm)
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees fan forced, and place rack into middle of oven
- Place shredded coconut into a large mixing bowl to do your final mixing in
- Place almonds into TM bowl and chop 6 seconds / speed 7
- Place rest of ingredients into TM bowl and mix 10 seconds / speed 6, scrape around bowl and repeat 5 seconds / speed 6 until well combined (mix will be quite wet)
- Pour mixture into the bowl with the shredded coconut and stir to combine thoroughly
- Place batter into tin and use the back of a spoon to level evenly
- Bake for 50 minutes, test with a skewer and continue for another 10 minutes or until skewer comes out clean (baking time will depend on size of tin … it took exactly 1 hour in my oven)
- Allow to rest in tin for 15 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely before cutting
- Lovely served plain or toasted ... keeps well for up to a week
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