Recipe for Heart Healthy French Bread

Here is how I transformed a traditional (e.g., sodium-packed) recipe for French Bread into an incredible Heart Healthy Recipe for French Bread.


The key: (1) replace the butter in the original ingredients with "unsalted butter"; (2) replace the salt in the original ingredients with NoSalt (sodium-free salt substitute).


Classic French Bread Recipe

1 cup + 2 tbsp Water
2 tsp Unsalted Butter
3-1/4 c Bread Flour
1 tbsp Sugar
1-1/2 tsp NoSalt
2-1/4 tsp Yeast

Place ingredient in bread machine in the following order: water, butter, bread flour, sugar and salt. Make a small indentation on one side of the flour for the yeast (making sure it does not come in contact with the liquid ingredients).

Make using the "French Bread" program with medium crust and 1.5lb loaf setting (3.5 - 4hrs). Remove from bread pan & cool.

12 servings:
Fat: 0.9g
Sodium: 0.9mg
Potassium: 361.5mg
A mind boggling 402:1 Health Ratio! Wow...

NoSalt instead of salt, Unsalted Butter instead of butter and you can transform a traditionally sodium-packed bread recipe into a Heart Healthy Bread Recipe!

The World's Most Heart Healthy Banana Bread

Imagine this - a banana bread so good for you it should almost be required in your diet. It is true, here you go:

- 4 medium sized fresh/ripe Bananas
- 2 tsp ground Cinnamon
- 1 cup unsweetened Applesauce
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 cups White Flour
- 2 tsp Ener-g Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Ener-g Baking Soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash bananas into a mixing bowl (I use a Cuisinart food processor to mash really good).
Add applesauce, cinnamon, backing powder, baking soda and sugar and mix well.
Add flour and mix well.
Spray bread pan with PAM and add batter.
Bake in oven for 60-70 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean).
The resulting bread will be extremely moist: no need to add any spread - it is perfect as-is.

Nutrition Summary - one loaf has 12 servings:

• Potassium: 2616mg per loaf = 218mg per serving!
• Sodium: 64mg per loaf = 5.3mg per serving!
• Fat: 4.52g per loaf = 0.38g per serving!
• Total serving: 218mg potassium, 5.3mg sodium, 0.38g fat - a 41:1 heart healthy ratio!!!!

You read that right - this banana bread has a 41:1 heart health ratio with only 0.38 grams of fat per serving. As I said - this is the world's most heart healthy banana bread - so good for you it should be a required part of your diet!

Recipe for Heart Healthy Garlic & Chili Bread

An "easy to make" heart healthy (high potassium/low sodium/low fat) bread recipe I recently perfected....

Garlic & Chili Bread

Nutrition (per serving, 12 servings per loaf):

• 82mg Potassium
• 9mg Sodium
• 3g Fat
• A 9:1 Health Ratio

Effort: About 10 minutes to collect and prep the ingredients; about 3 hours of "bread machine time".

1 1/4 c Water
2 T Unsalted Butter
3 Garlic Cloves (finely chopped)
2 T Green Chili Peppers (chopped)
2/3 c Frozen Corn
3 1/4 c Bread Flour
1/3 c Cornmeal
2 T Sugar
1 1/4 t Yeast

Place ingredients in bread maker and process on white bread (or basic bread) cycle. Makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf.

This bread makes great sandwich - allowing you to keep sandwiches in your heart healthy diet. It also make a great "soup dipping" bread.

Recipe for Heart Healthy Whole Wheat French Bread

Another easy to make, heart healthy to eat bread for your menu:

Whole Wheat French Bread

• Nutrition Facts (per slice): 104mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 1g fat (52:1 health ratio!)
• Effort: under 15 minutes my time (10 min ingredient prep, 2 min rise prep, 2 min bake attention), 2.5 hrs machine time.

3/4 t yeast
1 1/4 T honey
1 1/4 c water
2 c Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 c Bread Flour

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in order specified by the manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. Remove bread from machine. Shape into a tapered loaf. Place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Cut diagonal slices about 1/4 inch across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Brush with cold water. Bake at 400 until done, about 15-20 minutes.

This recipe makes a pretty "hefty" bread. It is a great with soups or any dish with sauce for dipping a slice of bread. The recipe was adapted from the Low Sodium Cooking website - adapted to add additional flavor & reduce the density of the bread.

Recipe for Heart Healthy Garlic Herb Bread

Following from my recent bread analysis - I claimed it is possible to make heart healthy bread without being an expert chef tied to the kitchen. So, here you have one example:

Garlic Herb Bread 

• Nutrition Facts (per slice): 49mg potassium, 2mg sodium, 2g fat (25:1 health ratio!)
• Effort: under 15 minutes my time (10 min ingredient prep, 2 min rise prep, 2 min bake attention), 2.5 hrs machine time.

1 1/4 c Water
1 T Unsalted Butter
2-4 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped) [increase based on your garlic palate]
3 1/4 c Bread Flour
2 T Sugar
1/2 t Rosemary
1/2 t Oregano
1/4 t Thyme
1 1/4 t Yeast [increase to 1 1/2 for lower altitudes]

Place ingredients in bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. Remove and shape into two long loaves. Place on greased baking sheet, cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Pretty simple: less than 15 minutes of my time as a chef, around 2.5 hours of letting the bread machine, nature & oven do all the work. This bread makes great sandwich bread - allowing you to bring sandwiches back into your heart healthy diet.


Note: this recipe was adapted from the Low Sodium Cooking website (modified for more garlic emphasis and high altitude cooking).

Need a great bread machine without breaking the bank? Try the Sunbeam 5891 Breadmaker. I use this for all my breads - the price is great, as is the machine itself.