European Style Bread

[kirra]

European Style Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1 package dry yeast (Rapid Rise/Highly Active)
1 cup warm water (95-105°F)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg (room temperature), beaten
2 Tablespoons Splenda
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Preparation:

Machine Bread:
Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and sift together well. Add ingredients to bread machine in the order recommended by your machine's instructions.

Set your machine to the basic cycle (3 – 3 1/2 hours) and bake. With most machines it benefits low carb breads to allow only one kneading cycle, then allow to bake. This recipe makes a bread that's a chewy cross between Italian and French. This bread works best in a machine, but if you want to try it by hand, use the following method:

Oven Baked Bread:
Follow the recipe in the same order as for the bread machine.

After you mix and knead all of the ingredients together, put the dough in a clean bowl and set it into a warm, draft-free place for about 45 minutes to an hour (one option is to turn on your oven for a pre-heat for a minute and a half to get it warm, then turn it completely off before setting the dough in to let it rise in the oven.) The dough should rise to about twice its original size. Afterward, knead slightly (do not over-knead — the gluten content will keep this bread from rising well the second time unlike "regular" bread! You'll want to be careful not to handle the dough too much after it rises the first time.) Put it in a loaf pan, cover and set in warm draft free place for another 30-45 minutes, and then bake at 380 degrees until done. (35-45 minutes — depending on your oven, you may have to shorten or lengthen the time.) Makes 16 slices.

Carbs: Entire Loaf: 55 grams net carbs / 3.5 grams net carbs per slice.