Experimenting in the Kitchen...yet another #lowcarb bread sub recipe? (groan)

I have 2 favorite "bread" recipes that I like to make. Both are cheap, both are easy, so they fit the personality of this blog. And I enjoy them both. But of course, I can never leave well enough alone. While they each have their merits, I've been thinking, a combination of the 2 would be delightful! So today I set out to see if my thoughts were on target, or not.

The first recipe that I make are Jamie VanEaton's Oopsies. (Note to Jamie: you do know that this recipe will outlive all of us, right?) There have been myriad successful and delicious variations made to this basic recipe, which proves its brilliance in the original form.

The second recipe is the one-minute microwave bread I found on YouTube, and have experimented with and made changes to without losing the basic concept; all have been good.

However, while the oopsies are great for so many things, they are a little light for my taste. And the microwave bread runs a little heavy. Oh, to marry them and feast on the resulting offspring of a more hearty oopsy, or a softer microwave bread...

Today I accomplished that. First try too. I'm quite pleased! Since I don't measure anything I will approximate the amounts...

I used 7 eggs, separated. While whipping the whites with a scant tsp of cream of tartar using the whisk attachment I started working on the yolk bowl. To those, I added
8 oz. block of cream cheese, cubed
approx. 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 packet sweetener
3 Tbsp ground golden flax meal
2 Tbsp oat bran

After the whites were stiff I removed them to another bowl, and added the above ingredients to the mixing bowl. With the mixing paddle I started slowly until the mixture was smooth but very thick. Then I dribbled in heavy cream to thin the mixture to a batter consistency, and turned the mixer up to med-high. Once the mixture had lightened up a bit, I was able to fold the egg whites into it.

(Although the yolk mixture was lighter after adding the cream, it was still too heavy to fold into the whites; I had to fold about 1/4 of the whites into it, then another 1/4, then another 1/4, then the last of the whites - otherwise the whites would have surely broken down. The end result will be fairly sticky!)

On parchment-covered baking sheets - sprayed - I made tuna-can-sized mounds, which I then flattened slightly with a spatula DIPPED IN COLD WATER (very important). Got a half dozen on the first sheet.

The 2nd baking sheet I spread the batter out in a single layer. (This was an experiment after all.)

Both I baked in a 325ºF oven - separately, not at the same time - until they browned a couple of steps past light golden. Then I immediately slid the parchment onto a wire rack. After letting them cool for just a couple of minutes I removed them from the parchment.

(NOTE: I learned that there is just a few-second difference between cooling the breads enough to release from the parchment, and the bottoms of the breads getting sticky from moisture trapped under them.)

I have to declare both methods successful. And the 2nd method easier :). They resemble oopsies more in the end, but have those little bits of bran and flax in them that give a sense of a very light whole grain bread. They do have to be browned, or they will be sticky - that's gotta be the xanthan gum, I'm a'thinkin', since this is the first time I've used it (after reading that it is sometimes used as a substitute for gluten in gluten-free baking).

As I always do, I will probably continue to tweak this a little here and there each time I make it, and I hope that you will too, if you decide to try it. And if you do, please let me know about it, I'd love to hear!

Thank you Jamie, thank you "lowcarbmeals" on YouTube.

Now I'm going to go make a grilled-cheese sammich!