Coconut Flour.  

A pain in the arse to bake with, but when you get the combination right....oh my!

One of the first struggles I encountered when I took gluten from my diet was the vast array of "gluten-free" alternatives out there.  The supermarket shelves these days are packed to the brim with them and I found it hard to decipher between those that were actually nourishing and helpful to my body, and those that are synthetic, processed, bleached and potentially contain gut irritating soy products.  Clever marketing can be very persuasive.

I don't know about your story or reasons for going gluten free, however removing gluten from my diet was for health reasons, so I certainly didn't want to then start adding all that crap into my body, just because it didn't contain gluten.

So hence, my love for coconut flour.  Made of dehydrated and finely ground coconut flesh, it's gluten free and super rich in dietary fibre, good fats and protein - brilliant for maintaining a healthy digestion system.

Unfortunately, you can't simply substitute coconut flour for regular plain flour as it soaks up a HUGE amount of liquid, so suggestions I've come across talk of using 1/4 cup of coconut flour : 1 cup of regular plain flour with the potential need to still add an extra egg and extra liquid.

For me personally, I use it when I'm after a dense, moist cake that I'm not worried will rise in the oven.  When I started to use this flour, my initial approach was to follow other's recipes, getting the hang of how it likes to be treated.  Now I'm off and running.

Oh also, it tastes bloody brilliant!

This loaf freezes brilliant!  Just slice up, pop into individual zip lock bags and freeze.  You can then simply pop the slice into a toaster straight from the freezer and inhale the wonderful, heady aroma that fills your kitchen.