This Paleo recipe for banana bread is a high protein gluten free treat that is quick and easy to make. When I posted my recipe for Paleo Bread, the feedback was so amazing that I knew I'd need to come up with more gluten free Paleo bread recipes for you all.

I've been working on this Banana Bread recipe for a couple of weeks and will be serving it to my guests when we break our fast for Yom Kippur this year.

We are having about 30 people over next week after Yom Kippur services and it will be the biggest break fast I have ever hosted. All of the families that we invited have sons in the boys' Hebrew school classes at our synagogue. And all of the older boys (my son J's age) are about to be Bar Mitzvah'd in the next year as is J.

If you are looking for a healthy gluten free menu designed to break your fast on Yom Kippur, then check out my Yom Kippur Break Fast Menu.

When you make this banana bread, be sure to use ripe bananas. Also, if you want the loaf to be as tall as mine, then use the recommended size loaf pan, if you use a larger one, your batter will spread out to fill the horizontal dimension of the pan and will be short when it comes to the vertical dimension.

If you do not have (or are allergic to) the recommended ingredients and wish to make the loaf, feel free to experiment with your own ingredient choices and let us know how it goes. I am not sure how your desired substitutions will work out; as I often say, I wish I had a crystal ball and could automatically know if an ingredient change would work (or not). However, I do test each recipe, each time I make the slightest variation (think ¼ teaspoon of baking soda --if I add or subtract that, it's a whole new batch of bread in the oven).

So, since I'm out to make the most recipes I can for my family (and you all), I'm moving on from this recipe and heading out to conquer others and make more gluten free Paleo recipes for everyone.

Gluten free isn't necessarily healthy, especially when it comes to bread.  Here's a gluten free bread recipe, made of high protein ingredients that won't leave you dragging.  I'm loving every slice that comes from this new Paleo diet friendly bread recipe.

This bread is just a bit lighter and fluffier than my other breads.  It has a nice nutty flavor from the flax meal which makes it almost have a kind of "whole wheat" thing going on, and it has a lovely little bit of sweet flavor from the honey (I used honey that my friend Shirley harvested from her bee hives and sent to me as a gift --I treasure it).

I've been working on this gluten free bread recipe for several months and have tested it a couple of dozen times. In fact, every time I create a recipe I test each and every ingredient addition or subtraction. That's why I think it's kinda funny when people leave comments below recipes (or on Facebook, Twitter and in my forums) asking if such and such ingredient substitution will work.

For example, with this recipe, I tested changes as minute as 1 teaspoon baking soda versus 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda. Same with the apple cider vinegar. I tested this recipe with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. I could go on and on. I varied the number of eggs in several batches. I played with numerous ingredient combinations to come up with this recipe.

It's just hard work folks. I wish I had a crystal recipe ball that I could look into to answer all of your substitution questions. I don't. So be adventurous. If you have an idea, test it. Then come back here and let us know if it worked!

This gluten free bread recipe is somewhat similar to my Bread 2.0 recipe. However, this bread does not contain arrowroot and agave so it is a much more Paleo/primal friendly bread recipe. I've also added coconut oil and switched around the amounts of other ingredients.

I like this healthy bread recipe. For now. In a few months I'll probably get bored of it and decide I want to come up with something different, better. Then I'll start tinkering again. Presently though, I'm really enjoying this gluten free bread and I hope you do too.

Special thanks to Amanda who left a comment on my Bread 2.0 recipe that inspired me to get to work on something even tastier and more nutritious.

As a Jew, Irish Soda Bread would not be something that comes naturally to me.  However, over the years, I've received numerous requests for a gluten free, dairy free, gum free, high protein Irish Soda Bread.  Well, here you have it.

Given that all things Irish are not my native habitat, I had to do some research to actually figure out what Irish Soda Bread is.  Here's what Wikipedia had to say about it:

"Soda bread are a variety of quick bread traditionally used in a variety of cuisines in which bread soda (otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) is used as a raising agent rather than the more common yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. Other ingredients can be added such as raisins, egg or various forms of nuts."

I also looked to Elise from Simply Recipes for inspiration. She's my online version of the Joy of Cooking, as she has recipes for just about every dish you can think of and gives interesting and informative tips along with those recipes.

As you can see, Irish Soda Bread typically contains buttermilk.  It is the acid in the buttermilk that reacts with the baking soda to create a chemical reaction which makes this bread rise.  In order to make a dairy free Irish Soda Bread, I used apple cider vinegar in this recipe for the acid, rather than buttermilk.

Irish Soda BreadNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
2 ¾ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ cup raisins
2 eggs
2 tablespoons agave nectar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
pinch of caraway seeds

1. In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and raisins
2. In a smaller bowl combine eggs, agave and apple cider vinegar
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
4. Place dough on a piece of parchment paper and form dough into a large, flat circle that is 8 inches across and 1 ½ inches tall
5. Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and (thanks Jessica!) a half an inch deep in shape of a cross
6. Sprinkle top of bread with caraway seeds
7. Transfer dough and parchment to a baking sheet
8. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, then turn off oven and leave bread in for 10 more minutes
9. Cool bread for ½ hour then slice and serve with butter and jam

I hope you all enjoy this classic St. Patrick's Day soda bread.  Stay tuned for Green Eggs, and don't forget about the Peppermint Patties from last year.

Here are some more yummy gluten-free quick bread recipes you may enjoy:
-Cinnamon Raisin Bread from Simply Sugar and Gluten Free
-Amaranth Soda Bread by Book of Yum
-Mock Cornbread Recipe from Ginger Lemon Girl

I am thrilled to let you all know that I am working with the Almond Board of California to promote healthy and delicious eating.

Why am I doing this?  As you can imagine, I love almonds.  They are a superfood and of course one of my favorite things to nibble on.  I like almonds so much that I wrote an entire book about them.  The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook uses almonds in all of its recipes and is a wonderful symbol of my love for that most nutritious of all nuts.

In my work with the Almond Board, I have written 4 recipes just for them (and you all, of course).  Here is the first one for a Cranberry Almond Loaf.

Cranberry Almond LoafNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
¾ cup creamy roasted almond butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large eggs
¼ cup arrowroot powder
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup dried apricots, chopped into ¼ inch pieces
½ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
¼ cup sliced almonds, plus 2 tablespoons to sprinkle on top
olive oil for greasing
blanched almond flour for dusting

1. In a large bowl, blend almond butter, olive oil and eggs with a hand blender until smooth
2. In a medium bowl, combine arrowroot powder, salt and baking soda
3. Blend arrowroot mixture into wet ingredients until thoroughly combined
4. Fold in apricots, cranberries, seeds and sliced almonds
5. Grease a 7.5" x 3.5" Magic Line Loaf Pan with olive oil and dust with almond flour
6. Pour batter into loaf pan and sprinkle remaining sliced almonds on top
7. Bake at 350° for 40-50 minutes until a knife inserted into center comes out clean
8. Let bread cool in pan for 1 hour, then serve

Yield 1 loaf

Slice this Cranberry Almond Loaf and enjoy it as a jazzed up base for your Turkey Club Sandwich. Or toast it and dip in olive oil for a delicious breakfast or after dinner treat.  Personally, I like mine toasted and smothered in goat cheese.

As part of my work with the Almond Board, I will be traveling out to California next week to publicly discuss my love of almonds.  I'll be doing a couple of interesting things on Friday (stay tuned) and a book signing at Erewhon Natural Foods on Saturday.  Hope to see you at the signing!

After receiving this comment about my gluten free Cranberry Nut Bread from a reader named Caroline I became somewhat concerned about the recipe.  I proceeded to test it several times in response.  First, though, before I share my results with you, here is Caroline's comment:

Hello - I have just made your cranberry walnut bread using your exact recipe and strangely, my bread turned out very, very dark, as if there was molasses in it.  The batter looked much lighter in colour before it went in the oven, so something must have happened during baking!

As well, the bread tastes very nice but has a 2cm thick gelatinous layer on the bottom; quite strange!  I wonder if anyone else had the same experience? Any thoughts?  (I used a silicon pan; maybe there was some weird reaction with the agave? Doubt it though).
thanks! Great website.

Let's start by saying that this is not one of my easier recipes.  While coconut flour is delicious and full of fiber, it can be a bit fussy.

Here are my findings; for the original recipe I baked the bread in a 8.5 X 4.5 X 2.5 inch loaf pan, yet when I baked it again, I found that it was a bit of a challenge to get the bread to bake through without making the outside of the loaf very brown.  Because of this I decided to split the batter into 2 mini loaf pans.  The results were good.

With the change to 2 mini loaf pans, I altered the baking time as well from 50 minutes to 35 minutes since the loaves were smaller.  While the outside of the loaves were brown, and even the inside of the loaf became somewhat brown, there was no burnt taste whatsoever (not that there was when I baked it as 1 loaf in the larger pan), so don't worry (Caroline and others) if your loaves brown both inside and out.  This is normal and the bread still tastes delicious.

I did not in any of my 5 retests encounter any loaves with a gelatinous layer at the bottom and am not sure to what this could be due.  I'm wondering if it's an egg issue and if you do happen encounter this problem, you may want to add a step into this recipe and whip your eggs before you mix them with the rest of the wet ingredients.  I have not had to do this myself and only recommend it as a possible solution if you encounter the gelatinous problem Caroline had above.

So, here is my revised version of this recipe.  Just so you know, when I create a recipe for my website, I test it several times and then post it here.  How is this different from the testing process for the recipes in my book, The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook?  Each of those recipes has been tested by at least 3 people and many of them were tested a dozen times before they were perfected.

I consider this blog to be somewhat of a space for creativity and more of a laboratory, whereas the book is, well, a book.

Gluten Free and Dairy Free Cranberry Nut BreadNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
½ cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 eggs
½ cup grapeseed oil
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup cranberries, frozen
½ cup walnuts, chopped

1. In a medium bowl combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a large bowl blend eggs, grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla
3. Blend dry ingredients into wet, then fold in cranberries and walnuts
4. Pour batter into (2) greased 6.5 x 4 inch baby loaf pans (This loaf pan may have been discontinued. Stay tuned...)
5. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes
6. Cool and serve

Speaking of my book, several bloggers have been reviewing recipes from it of late.  As I mentioned previously, Diane from thewholegang.org spent a day in the kitchen with her son and made a bunch of recipes.

More recently, Kalyn of kalynskitchen.com made the gluten free Cheese Crackers and her own low calorie, gluten free version of the zucchini bread from the book.  And just yesterday Wendy from celiacsinthehouse.com made crackers and quiche from the book.

Tomorrow I'm packing the family off to San Francisco where I will be speaking at the Blogher conference on "How Blogging Best Practices Apply, No Matter Your Blogging Niche."  I'm looking forward to meeting Kalyn and Diane and hopefully, Wendy too.

I will also be doing a book signing while in SF at Crepe O'Chocolat 75 O'Farrell Street 3:00 to 4:00 PM.  Hope to see you there!

As I mentioned the other day, Laura Dolson's flax bread recipe has been more than inspirational. I have used it as a starting point for many other recipes which you will see here in the days and weeks to come. Today's recipe is for a dark "rye" bread.  I like to eat this plain or lightly toasted.

Again, I was surprisingly pleased that my tasters enjoyed this bread as much as I did.  It's very versatile and also works quite nicely for sandwiches.

As you may notice, the pan for this bread is a bit of an odd size.  It is one of my favorite loaf pans for gluten-free baking because it works so well, cooking quite evenly.  I purchased mine at a local store called McGuckin's, here in Boulder.  I went back to get more and was told by them several times that they had not ever carried it.  Finally, I went back another time and must have found the right person, since she remembered the pan and placed a special order for me.

I have not ever seen this optimal little loaf pan on the internet.  I will give you what little clues I have as to its makings.  It is manufactured by Luminarc, says "MADE IN FRANCE" and the new ones come with a label on the bottom that says "PLAT  RECT 16 x 10"  The UPC numbers on this same sticker are 26102 63303.

If any of you find this glass loaf pan on line, please leave a comment for others.  It is a fabulous little baking dish that I recommend as a helpful little kitchen staple.

Update: I have found the coveted glass loaf pan online.  It is linked in the recipe above!

Update: This loaf pan may have been discontinued. Stay tuned...

Now, for today's Friday Freebie, I am more than happy to announce the giveaway of a copy of my book, The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  Leave a comment below this post and you will be entered into the drawing.

Have a lovely weekend everybody!

This is the bread recipe that changed my life --well, at least temporarily, in a small way.  As you will see from the bruschetta below and more recipes in the days to come, I have turned this focaccia bread base into several other interesting types of baked goods.

First, however, I  do need to disclose that this focaccia recipe is really not my own.  It is Laura Dolson's and was pointed out to me by someone in the low carb group that I frequent regularly.  I made minor changes to it, removing the artificial sweetener and a couple of other items.

I'm now on a flax kick --this flat type bread is full of super healthy fiber and is delicious to boot.  And since it is so very nourishing I was a bit surprised that my guinea pigs liked it every bit as much as I did.

Flax Focaccia Bread BaseNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
2 cups golden flaxseed meal
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 tablespoon agave nectar
5 eggs, whisked
½ cup water
⅓ cup olive oil

1. In a large bowl combine flax meal, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt
2. In a smaller bowl, mix together agave, eggs, water and olive oil
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry, mixing well, then allow to stand for 2-3 minutes so that batter thickens
4. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch Pyrex baking dish
5. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or so until a knife comes out clean
6. Remove from oven and cool

Note: After reader feedback and a retest of this recipe, I lowered the amount of baking soda from 2 teaspoons to 1 and the amount of cream of tartar from 1 teaspoon to ½; the bread still rises very nicely with these new amounts of baking aids.

As I mentioned, the recipe above is my version of Laura Dolson's low carb bread.  However, the creation below is 100% my own.  So, go ahead and eat the above bread plain, or proceed onward to toast the bread and make a delicious savory topping for it with wholesome, fresh herbs.

The boys and I have been baking a lot and really enjoying summer.  It is full of baseball, jumping on our trampoline, bowling, board games and walks down to the creek.  We are having an amazing time.

They have also been fabulous sports in helping me get work done for the launch of my book.  The countdown for my book is on (it hits retailers this Tuesday, July 28th), however, I have heard from a couple of folks that it is already on the shelves of some stores.

And today the book received this lovely review from Delicious Living.

Here is one of my favorite sandwiches --the Turkey Club.  It's a sandwich on Nutty Bread with avocado, mustard and of course, turkey.  It's hot here, so I'm very happy to make sandwiches for dinner and not have to spark up the oven, stove or grill.

These gluten-free sandwiches are full of protein and tasty to boot.  For me, the avocado makes a great whole food substitute for mayo (I'm not in the mood to make homemade mayo today either, though when am I?).  Here's a meal in a sandwich.  Goes great with any number of fresh green salads.

Note: I've received several questions about how to store the Nutty Bread that is found in this recipe. After baking, I let my bread sit on the counter overnight to cool, then wrap it in a paper towel, put it into a zip lock plastic bag and refrigerate. Stored this way it keeps for at least a week.

In my last post I had asked what types of recipes people were interested in seeing here more often. Thank you for all your suggestions and requests!

Now I've got a good list with which to head to the food lab (that would be my kitchen). In the meantime, I've compiled a list of links to several of my already published recipes that I think might be helpful until I can start posting new ones!

Coconut flour recipes for zebe912, Karen and Carlie.
Gluten free snacks for lunchboxes and more for Helen and Tracee.
Breakfast recipes for Annette and Ann.
Almond flour recipes for Hänni.
Raw recipes for Baden and Alchemille.

Thanks again so much, I love all of your ideas!

Toast it for breakfast and serve with a side of scrambled eggs.  Works great along with a big salad at lunch.   Or, for a quick and easy dinner, it makes a great sandwich with organic turkey, avocado, romaine, tomatoes and dijon.

I think this bread would also be delectable as an after dinner treat with a smear of dairy-free butter (I'm very into this Earth Balance's Vegan Buttery Spread of late) and a dab of jam or honey.  If you're looking for the Earth Balance, I purchase mine at Vitamin Cottage or Whole Foods.

Note: I've received several questions about how to store this bread. After baking, I let it sit on the counter overnight to cool, then wrap it in a paper towel, put it into a zip lock plastic bag and refrigerate. Stored this way it keeps for at least a week.

Here's your Comment Zen for the day:

I eat Paleo/Zone for health and athletic benefits, but typically use your recipes for "treats" that don't fall off the plan (too far anyway).  Thanks for the excellent recipes and info, keep it coming. - Steven

What I love about this comment is that he really gets how to use my site and recipes in an optimal way. Amen Steven, couldn't have said it better myself!

Hello Mark's Daily Apple readers! Be sure to check out my Paleo/primal Bread recipe.

I've been a bit lazy in the kitchen this past week --we've had sandwich night twice already.  I slice and toast the gluten-free bread (pictured) and then put it out with organic turkey slices, romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes, dijon mustard, grapeseed oil [Vegenaise] and sliced cheese (dairy for the boys).  I serve the sandwich fixings along with a big tossed green salad (which we each dress ourselves with oil and vinegar).

Alternatively, this gluten-free bread is great toasted and spread with goat cheese (as in the photo above), nut butter or dipped in olive oil.

I hope you enjoy this quick and easy bread; it's full of fiber (from the flax and almond) and tasty in oh so many ways.  I call it "Gluten Free Bread 2.0" because it is my second gluten free bread recipe for this site.  The first gluten free bread recipe was my Simple Bread, made way back when.  I like this one better.

This loaf yields a medium size slice, not as big as a regular slice, though is very filling, so I'm always sure to slice it thinly, as not to overload on bread.  I use this magic line loaf pan for just about all of my bread baking --it distributes the heat evenly and bakes the bread through, which is not always easy when baking with almond flour which tends to be rather moist.

Storage: I wrap my bread in a paper towel and then seal it in a Ziploc bag; stored this way it can keep for several days refrigerated.