This gluten and refined sugar free Lemon and Apricot Breakfast Bread is absolutely gorgeous. It’s light, citrussy and makes the perfect breakfast when served with a spoonful of yogurt and a large mug of coffee.
There’s been a massive rise in the number of people avoiding gluten in the last few years. More recently, there’s also been a large rise in the number of people reducing their refined sugar intake. Due to some recent health problems and resulting advice from a private doctor (in my opinion the NHS is absolutely fantastic but it was seriously failing me in this area) I presently stand, fully recovered, with a toe dipped in both camps.
This has meant I’ve had to think outside the box regarding my diet, especially when it comes to breakfast. Smoothies and eggs have been brilliant stand-ins but, as my regular readers will know, I love a good home bake for breakfast.
My Grain, Dairy and Refined Sugar Free Apple and Blackberry Crumbles are great for breakfast (needless to say, I avoided the ice cream!) and my Quick Berry Breakfast Bowl with Nuts and Seeds gives me a bit of variety. But I wanted to find a bake that I could eat instead of my Camomile Tea Loaf.
I did loads of experimenting with different ingredients and eventually found a base mix that I am happy with. I found that lots of nut breads that contain no flour at all can be a bit dry or heavy, and I think they often have a strange taste. The way I get around that problem is the addition of both tapioca flour and pumpkin or apple.
Tapioca flour is definitely an ingredient worth having in if you’re going to do much gluten free baking as it helps to give a more gluten-like texture to all sorts of gluten free foods. It’s readily available next to the flour in large supermarkets but you can also buy it here (affiliate link*) if you can’t get hold of it in the shops.
The addition of pumpkin or apple to the base may make you think of autumn, but don’t be fooled. Along with the tapioca flour it adds to the texture, helping to make it more ‘normal’. However, it is also bland enough to stay in the background – you can’t even tell it’s there. When I can get apples, I stew them down and use these (the shop bought stuff has loads of sugar in it, so I avoid that). I find apples quite wet so use just 150g (¾ of a cup) of fruit per loaf.
However, my regular go to is canned pumpkin as it is so much quicker than cooking apple down. Thankfully, it’s now really easy to find in the big supermarkets – try the American section or the ‘foods from around the world’ section. Alternatively, you can get it here (affiliate link*). When using pumpkin each loaf needs 112g (half a tin) of pumpkin so I make 2 loaves at a time. They freeze well if they hang around long enough!
Recipe adapted from Paleo Pumpkin Bread with Cashew Cream Frosting. Fit Mitten Kitchen.
*Affliliate link: I will receive a small percentage of the sale if you purchase the highlighted products through the Amazon links on this page. The price of the product is the same as if you went through the Amazon website directly.
Lemon and Apricot Breakfast Loaf
Ingredients
- Half tin (200g/1 cup) pumpkin puree (or 150g/¾ cup stewed Bramley apple*)
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g (2 cups) ground almonds (almond flour)
- 40 g (⅓ cup) tapioca flour (sieved)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander**
- ½ lemon (zest of)
- 60 g (⅓ cup) dried apricots (halved)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (use gluten free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350F). Grease and line a 2lb (900g) loaf tin.
- Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly***
- Pour into the prepared loaf tin and place in the pre-heated oven. After 25 minutes cover the cake with tinfoil to stop the loaf from browning too quickly and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. You will know the cake is cooked when a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- When cool, store in an air-tight container. Also freezes well.
Notes
Nutrition
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