Experimenting with VWG - Squishy Almond Bread
 

So I searched and searched online for recipes making "bready" low carb bread using almond flour specifically, and everything I found said that almond flour is only good for "cake" breads like banana bread. Undeterred, I decided to do some experimentation with Vital Wheat Gluten and Almond Flour.

First I tried using a "no knead" recipe with about a quarter VWG and 3/4 almond flour, half the normal amount of sugar and a little extra yeast. It did not work and I ended up with something mealy, crumbly, and gross. However, I noticed that the "dough" was starting to exhibit some elasticity, so I thought maybe a kneaded dough would work.

Today I made a single dinner roll as an experiment with amazing success. The bread had a different taste than I'm typically used to, but it was stretchy and chewy like a good dinner roll. I'll post some pictures up later. I'm going to try a whole loaf using similar ratios, but for now, here's what I did, with measurements and ratios:

1/4 cup almond flour (4 parts)
1/16th cup VWG (1 part)
1/8 tsp sugar
1/8 cup water (2 parts)
1/8 tsp yeast
a bit (dunno, maybe a tsp) of butter

I let the yeast bloom with the sugar water, then just poured it into a little well in the almond flour and VWG. Then I proceeded to knead it with my fingers. At first it was kind of "gluey" but as I continued to work it it slowly came together and felt very much like real bread dough, albeit with some grittier bits from the almond flour. At one point I did add another pinch of almond flour to make it a little less sticky, but not much. I continued to knead the tiny little ball of dough for about 10 minutes. When I was done it was probably a bit bigger than a ping-pong ball and the stretchy feel of real bread dough, although it was a bit more oily. I put it in a little silicon cupcake cup and let it rise for a couple of hours. When I got back it was closer to golf-ball size. I flattened it out, kneaded it a little more, and let it get a second rise for another hour. Then I baked it for about 20-25 minutes at 350. It grew a bit more during baking, and the texture was amazing. Stretchy, chewy, with a crisp crust, just like a roll made with AP flour. It may have been a little dense, but definitely not what I'm used to with LC breads. The taste was different, as it was made with almonds and I didn't use any salt. Depending on whether or not the sugar counts (I've seen recipes that say the yeast "eats" the sugar) it had about 5 carbs.

Anyway, updates to come with pictures and a full-scale loaf of bread trial.

The pictures are unfortunately a bit out of focus:

Risen Dough


Finished Roll


Cracked open and buttered


EDIT: Updated the title for clarity

The bread did not live up to the promise of the roll. I'm thinking that the ratio of ingredients does not scale in a linear way, I need to knead more, and/or it needed a longer cook time. It did rise significantly for both rises and it is tasty, but it came out wetter and denser than the roll. I'll put up some pictures of the finished loaf later today. Any suggestions on what I should tweak? More kneading, lower AF:VWG ratio maybe (3:1 v 4:1), more yeast, less oil/butter (maybe no oil, the almond flour seems like it may be oily on its own), more/less water?

When I toast it, the top crust burns and the rest of the bread stays pretty blonde.

EDIT: It also rose unevenly, with half of the bread raising up to a nice, floaty dome with a better hole structure than the other half and bottom part of the bread. Maybe another thing would be to not cook it in a loaf pan to allow for as much expansion as possible.

Maybe make it more like a Cobb loaf?

Even though this didn't scale up well to loaf size, did you try making a flat bread out of it?

I'm def going to give this recipe a shot and make a bagel out of it. Quick breads just aren't satisfying for me the way yeast breads are.