Hi guys
To find time to write these days, is no small feat. Every time I come on here, if I haven't been for a while, my favourite thing is to find that my weightloss ticker hasn't been updated in forever (duh). This time, I've found that I've lost a whopping 3 kilo's in 5 months...
But, this is most definitely not to be snubbed at. I've come to accept that my body will settle where it's happy and that I can only help it to get there, but not tell it by when it should get there. This realization happened after I missed my January goal by about 18kg, and now I'm going to miss my July goal by 15kg.
But, dear body, I'm okay with that now, and you can take your sweet time.
I'm also happy to report that I've thoroughly settled into the idea that discipline does not mean deprivation. I've started to bake up a storm in the past few months and have produced some amazing grain-free, sugar free, very low carb baking. It is truly astounding though, how little this kind of baking resembles the more traditional fair that I'm accustomed to, mostly in technique though. I've literally had to take everything I know about baking and chuck it out the window.
This said, clearly, there are some things that were just never meant for wheat flour, its low-carb alter-ego is just so awesome, that I can't believe the wheat alternative still even exists!
One such thing is a quiche crust. You'll know that when making a perfect savory crust, it is key to keep things cold and not to overwork the dough, otherwise you are developing too much gluten and your crust becomes all hard and horrible instead of light and crumbly. Enter: ALMOND FLOUR.
There are few things on this earth as wondrous as this simple ingredient. One has to bear in mind that it carries much higher moisture than wheat flour and is very high in fat, and therefor doesn't need any extra fat, but most of all - you can pretty much knead it for an entire afternoon and your end product will be light and crumbly and wonderful.
So, here's what I do
2 cups of almond flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of mixed herbs (or what ever suits your filling)
Blitz this in the food processor and you'll end up with a firm ball of dough. Press your dough evenly into what ever pan you choose to make your quiche in.
Bake it at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes until it's a beautiful golden colour. The best part is there is no need to blind bake this puppy, it is utterly well behaved and will cook exactly where you left it on the edges of your quiche pan.
For the filling, I took a packet of streaky bacon, diced it and very slowly rendered it until every little piece of bacon was crispy and lovely and yummy. I scooped out the bacon with a slotted spoon and slowly caramelised about 6 large sliced onions, until they started to look real jammy.
I then proceeded to add the final flourish to this ridiculously decadent quiche - grate 1/2 a cup of Gruyere over the base of the cooled down crust, sprinkle over the onions and bacon and pour over a little custard that you've make of 250ml of cream and one egg, beaten and seasoned.
Bake this at 160 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes, or until the centre is just jiggly.
Cool this beaut down to room temperature and enjoy! It's very rich and very filling, but is so satisfying. You may want to serve it to non-believers with a nice salad, in case they feel completely unjustified pangs of guilt.
I hope you enjoy this and as always,
God bless
Janie B
