?
Pizza Bread | Nutrition Stripped
Eat Well Sep. 25. 2018
Sides

Pizza Bread

Sep. 25. 2018
Sides
McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

McKel Hill Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

Founder of Nutrition Stripped and the Mindful Nutrition Method™

It’s so easy to go to the grocery store and pick up a loaf of bread, but what if you made your own delicious pizza bread from home?

This sun-dried tomato filled Pizza Bread is for you if you 1) have never made bread before, 2) haven’t made bread before but would like to without it taking hours, or 3) if you want to have fun in the kitchen making something homemade and delicious that tastes exactly like pizza, but isn’t pizza!

The Best Pizza Bread

I’m biased here, but truly, this gluten-free sandwich bread is as good as making a quick, healthy, and the delicious homemade bread gets. Our family makes homemade sourdough, which I would love to get into and learn more about, but until then, we have this easy blender bread that gets only a couple dishes dirty and cooks for about 40 minutes.

The batter is incredibly simple to make by putting all the wet ingredients in a high-speed blender until creamy, then stirring the dry ingredients including the star ingredient sun-dried tomatoes, which really gives this bread a savory and slightly sweet flavor. If you don’t happen to love sun-dried tomatoes or you want to try another variation of this bread, here are a couple you might enjoy too:

  • artichoke hearts
  • black olives
  • golden raisins (omit the dried herbs in the recipe and add ground cinnamon)

I can easily eat a whole loaf of this bread by myself in one week. I love enjoying it for toast with avocado, like sandwich bread, or slathered in non-dairy Classic Cashew Cheese with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and fresh basil.

Another delicious way to enjoy this is Cheesy Dust and a drizzle of high-quality olive oil with fresh black pepper, it’s so delicious. But if you’re not so keen on eating it all in one week or sharing, you can easily freeze this for later. To freeze, I recommend allowing the bread to completely cool, slice, then lay each sliced in a single layer in an airtight glass container.

Stripped

Healthy Fats

What about baking with heat sensitive oils and fats? Omega-3 oils are a bit heat sensitive, so use whole flaxseed in this recipe and start with raw cashews. However, the monounsaturated fats in the cashews do not change during baking or decrease.

Some studies show there isn’t a significant breakdown of or loss of healthful fats during baking (1). If you’re following the NS lifestyle and consuming nuts and seeds the majority of the time in a raw, unsalted state, having some baked goods with nuts and seeds is still healthful and a great alternative to store-bought gluten-free bread.

Lycopene

You know the beautiful red color from tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes in this recipe? Red, orange, and pink whole foods are rich in antioxidants, mainly lycopene (a carotenoid) which is responsible for giving these whole foods it’s the beautiful color.

Lycopene has been studied and shown to help reduce a variety of cancers, help improve circulation, decrease high blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, reduces cardiovascular risk, and reduction in metabolism syndrome (2)(3)(4)(5)(6).

We need antioxidants from our diet because they protect our body and help fight off free radicals — free radicals can damage our healthy cells causing oxidative stress, which may cause harm to our hormones, blood vessels, proteins, lipids, and genetic code; causing cancer, inflammation, pain, degenerative diseases, heart disease, and aging itself.

The Recipe

Serves 10-12

Print

Ingredients

1 cup cashew butter

5 whole eggs

1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (soaked in olive oil, if not, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil)

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

Juice of 1 lemon (about 1 heaping tablespoon)

1 tablespoon maple syrup 

2 tablespoons whole flaxseed

1 tablespoon ground dried oregano (or 2 tablespoons dried not ground)

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Using a high-speed blender, add all wet ingredients (eggs, maple syrup, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and cashew butter) to the blender and blend until creamy, for about 1 minute.

Step 2

In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients to mix with the wet ingredients from the blender: almond flour, baking soda, salt, lemon juice, dried oregano, and flaxseed until well combined.

Step 3

Pour this mixture into a greased (with coconut oil) 5 x 9-inch bread loaf pan or a silicon baking dish. Spread the dough evenly into the bread loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes until a tester comes out clean. I recommend checking it at the 45-minute mark.

Take out of the oven once cooked and let cool for at least 1 hour before removing from the pan, further cool before slicing.

Have Leftovers? Here’s What To Do With Them:

As always, store in an airtight glass container that we recommend from the NS Shop. You can also slice and freeze for later, toast upon serving, or keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Can’t wait to see you try it!

Did you know that you can submit your own photo of whatever recipe you make from NS? Scroll down to the bottom right and you’ll see a section for you to show off your creations from home!

Can’t wait to see how you make these and share your meal with me! Tag us on Instagram @nutritionstripped #nutritionstripped

References
  1. Manthey FA, Lee RE, Hall CA 3rd. Processing and cooking effects on lipid content and stability of alpha-linolenic acid in spaghetti containing ground flaxseed. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Mar 13;50(6):1668-71.
  2. Etminan M, Takkouche B, Caamaño-Isorna F. The role of tomato products and lycopene in the prevention of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Advances in pediatrics. Published March 2004.
  3. Silveira JQ, Dourado GK, Cesar TB. Red-fleshed sweet orange juice improves the risk factors for metabolic syndrome. Advances in pediatrics.
  4. Li YF, Chang YY, Huang HC, Wu YC, Yang MD, Chao PM. Tomato juice supplementation in young women reduces inflammatory adipokine levels independently of body fat reduction. Advances in pediatrics.
  5. Burton-Freeman B, Sesso HD. Whole food versus supplement: comparing the clinical evidence of tomato intake and lycopene supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors. Advances in pediatrics.
  6. Han GM, Soliman GA, Meza JL, Islam KM, Watanabe-Galloway S. The influence of BMI on the association between serum lycopene and the metabolic syndrome. Advances in pediatrics. Published April 14, 2016.

Be Free With Food.

Embrace a Balanced & Peaceful Relationship with Food.

Learn the proven method to feel confident, calm, and in control with food without obsessing or stressing. Start your journey now to experience the freedom and peace that comes with a healthy relationship with food.

🌿 Mindful Nutrition Method™ Course
🌱 Downloadable Worksheets & Templates
✍️ Practice Lab Trainings
🧠 Group Coaching Call Replays
💬 Journal Prompts
🔑 Practical, Effective, & Enjoyable Tools
📱 Self-paced Lessons at Your Fingertips
💫 Built-in Accountability
Start Today →