Dough Balls | 1 |
Weight Watchers Fluffy Buns | 2 |
1Point Banana Bread | 4 |
Irish Soda Bread | 5 |
Pumpkin Bread | 6 |
Garlicky Cloud Bread | 7 |
Bread is a staple piece in almost everybody's kitchen. The downside to many diets is that bread isn’t particularly diet-friendly and more often than not you will need to cut down on the amount you eat, if not completely stop consuming it altogether.
The good news is that nothing is completely off-limits with Weight Watchers, You are even encouraged to nibble on something you are craving once in a while as it prevents you from binging and overeating. Oh, how we at You Brew My Tea love a realistic diet!
Bread comes in all different shapes and sizes these days. You can get seeded bread, brown bread, gluten-free bread, Banana bread, dough balls… the list goes on and on.
The question is, how on earth are we meant to keep our points low when there are all these tempting bread options so readily available? Have no fear, You Brew My Tea is here! We have provided you with easy recipes to make your own delicious low point bread at home, after all, a bit of baking is always fun and food just tastes so much better when you have made it with love.
Related Reading: Weight Watchers Bagel Recipe
Dough Balls
Dough balls are a wonderful movie snack, or an impressive starter to serve your friends at a dinner party, or maybe you just like having them at home ready to nibble. Either way, this is the perfect dough ball weight watchers recipes.
The recipe below will provide you with enough dough balls for a dinner party, so if you're making it just for yourself, halve the ingredients and freeze some dough balls for later on in the week. The full recipe equates to 24 smart points, so you will just need to see how many balls you get from the whole recipe and divide it by 24 to get the total points per ball. Easy!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups plain low-fat natural yogurt
- 2 cups self-raising flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320-350 degrees for about 10 minutes or so before you prepare the dough balls to give the oven enough time to heat up.
- Beat the eggs and add the yogurt, mix the ingredients well.
- Sift the flour into the mixture slowly to avoid lumps
- Knead the dough for 4 minutes.
- Roll into little balls and place on a baking tray. (Lay baking paper on the tray first to avoid the balls sticking to it)
- Lightly brush on egg wash and add a sprinkle of sea salt.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
Watch out for overly sticky dough. If you can’t mold it properly or it seems to just be too wet and gooey then sprinkle a little bit of flour on it and keep kneading it. Repeat this process until the bough is workable and you manage to roll it into little balls.
Bread is always a little tricky to get right and even professional chefs perfect their bread-making skills for years before they are happy to serve it to their diners. Practice makes perfect and this recipe is perfect for you beginners that lack the confidence to make a more complicated loaf of bread.
TOP TIP: If your dough is sticky but moldable then do not add any flour to it. Sticky dough makes chewy dough balls… that's how we like them, right?
Weight Watchers Fluffy Buns
Fluffy buns are perfect for making sandwiches. You can make them as flat or as thick as you like. We recommend rolling the dough to a height of 3 centimeters or more if you're making the bread for sandwiches.
Having to make a meal to take to work with you and is low in points can be time-consuming, to say the least. If you are in a rush in the morning, then forget about it!
Well, now you can throw together a sandwich that will stay fresh until lunchtime and won't use up all of your points allowance for the day.
This recipe comes to a total of 10 points if you are on a green plan, 5 on a purple plan and only 4 points for the blue plan. That is for the whole batch, so be sure to divide the points up accordingly for how many buns you make.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- Baking powder
- Cream cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300-310 degrees.
- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.
- Mix the egg yolks with room temperature cream cheese.
- Sprinkle ¼ teaspoons of baking powder in with the egg whites and beat.
- Fold the two mixtures together.
- Using a small ladle or an ice cream scoop (depending on the size you want the buns) ladle the mixture on to a baking tray, ensuring there is plenty of room between each bun.
- Cook until golden brown.
This will most likely take you between 30-40 minutes from the start of preparation until the buns are ready. Do not place in a bread bin or a box until they have completely cooled down.
TOP TIP: The buns aren't meant to rise to over 4 cm or so. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the buns before baking for a little added texture. Freeze the buns for later so that you won’t need to use high point bread when you run out.
Weight Watchers White Bread Loaf
White bread is probably the most common bread to be bought from the shops. It can be used for French toast, sandwiches, toasted slices and whatever else comes to mind. White bread is usually a little higher in calories, however, this recipe will only cost you 2 points per slice.
If you are a big bread eater like I am you will appreciate how much of a big deal being able to eat white bread is while on a diet. White bread has been labeled as ‘bad’ for too long now, let’s change that with this Weight Watchers friendly recipe. Follow the instructions below and try it for yourself.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 cup whole wheat four
- 2 teaspoons dry yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant milk powder
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt (table salt)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the white flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, sugar and milk powder in a bowl and mix.
- Mix in the water and oil slowly and until all the dry ingredients are wet.
- Knead for 4 to 5 minutes, or until you notice the dough is smooth
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl.
- Cover the bowl with cling film.
- Leave for 1 ½ hours to rise.
- Knead the dough again for 30 seconds and place it into a bread pan.
- Cover the bread and leave to rise again until it reaches the top of the bread pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
Leave the bread to cool completely before cutting or eating. The baking time may vary depending on the oven used, we suggest baking until the inside of the bread reaches approximately 180 degrees.
If you notice your bread crust browning prematurely then turn the heat down to 320 or 330 degrees if that doesn't stop the browning put tin foil over the bread. This will stop the crust from burning before the rest of the bread is ready.
1 Point Banana Bread
Banana bread is right in between sweet and savory. Its popularity has boomed over the last couple of years and is enjoyed toasted with a knob of butter for breakfast, or sliced as it is for a make-it-through-the-day snack.
Would you believe us if we told you that you could indulge in banana bread while only using up 1 Weight Watchers Point? It’s true! Purchase the ingredients below and follow the instructions to try it for yourself.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ a cup whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 bananas (mashed)
- 1 cup sugar substitute (Splenda is a good one)
- ½ cup applesauce (natural is preferred)
- ¾ cups all purpose flour
Instructions
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- Preheat the oven to 340-350 degrees.
- Mash all of the bananas in a bowl and mix in the sugar substitute.
- Throw the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and mix well. (You can mix by hand or in a mixer)
- Spray the bread pan with non-stick spray and pour in the mixture.
- If this is your first time baking this bread, bake for 40 minutes on 340. Once it has baked for 40 minutes put a knife in the bread, it should come out clean when it is pulled out. If it is still a bit wet, crank up the heat to 350 for another 10 minutes and test again
- Remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.
You should get about 12 slices per bake. Slice the whole loaf into 12 slices. Leave yourself 3 or 4 slices in the bread bin and place the rest in individual freezer bags for later.
Better yet, write yourself a meal plan for the coming days and leave out only what is on the plan. Maximum, you will take a few more slices out of the freezer if you run out.
Check out this quick and easy Weight Watchers Cornbread Recipe here!
Irish Soda Bread
For those of you that haven’t tasted Irish soda bread before, it is a rather sweet bread. It doesn’t contain yeast, so the texture is a little different too.
This recipe is a little more indulgent and will cost you roughly 6 Weight Watchers points. We do recommend calculating the points according to the ingredients that you use, especially when we are talking about food that is a bit more 'expensive’ when it comes to your precious points.
Ingredients
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- 2 tablespoons sugar or sugar alternative (Splenda is a good one)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup low fat plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
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Instructions
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- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Place all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
- Stir in the oil until the mixture turns damp and crumbly.
- Mix in the yogurt, try your best not to over mix the dough at this stage.
- Knead the dough for a minute or so and roll into a ball.
- Cut an X on the top of the ball an inch deep.
- Spray the bread tin with non stick spray.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Stick a butter knife through the bread to ensure it is cooked through. If it isn’t, cook for another 10 minutes or until golden brown all over.
- Leave the bread on a rack to cool before cutting.
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You will get about 12 slices of bread per batch. If you like seeded bread you can add seeds of your choice to the mixture after step 3. Dried currants are also really tasty in sourdough bread and accentuate the bread's, natural sweetness.
Pumpkin Bread
Just the word ‘pumpkin’ gives the feeling of autumn. Even its colors are autumny! Pumpkin bread is more exciting than having a plain old slice of toast. It is like a meal in itself when dipped in some soup or eaten with yogurt and pumpkin seeds for a Weight Watchers friendly afternoon tea.
This pumpkin bread recipe is 5 points per slice regardless if you are on the blue, green or purple plan. Not bad!
Ingredients
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- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- ⅔ cup apple cider
- 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree (DO NOT use pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ cup buttermilk (low fat is prefered)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar (or sugar substitute like Splenda)
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Instructions
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- Preheat the oven to 350 at the start of the preparation.
- Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, pumpkin puree, sugar, and apple cider until smooth.
- Grab another bowl and mix all of the dry ingredients together.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bread mix, stirring as you add. Mix until there are no lumps.
- Oil and flour the bread tin, or line it with baking paper to stop it from sticking.
- Pour into the bread tin (ideally a large tin, about 20x10 inch).
- Place in the oven for an hour.
- Check the bread is done by poking a butter knife through its center. If the knife comes out clean, it is ready. If the knife doesn’t come out clean, cook for another 10 minutes and check again.
- Cool completely before cutting.
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You will get about 20-24 slices of bread from this recipe. Remember the points were calculated per slice if the loaf is cut into 24 pieces.
Garlicky Cloud Bread
Cloud bread is literally like a cloud version of bread. It is soft and fluffy throughout and looks a bit like a bread bun. Below is a recipe for garlic cloud bread with a little bit of cheese, so you don’t even need to eat it with a filling if you don’t want to. It’s that delicious all by itself. Each cloud is 4 Weight Watchers Points.
Ingredients
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- 6 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 6 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 12 slices mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese (low fat is prefered)
- 3 eggs
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
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Instructions
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- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites.
- Mix the cream cheese in a bowl with the egg yolks until smooth and silky.
- In another bowl, mix the baking powder with the egg whites until light and fluffy.
- Fold both mixtures together, be careful not to over mix.
- Spoon evenly on an oiled baking tray, the mixture should provide you with 12 clouds.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until you see the tops of the cloud breads turning brown.
- Melt the butter and stir in the garlic powder and oregano while the clouds are baking.
- Once the clouds have been baked for 18 minutes, top them with mozzarella and pop them back in the oven until the cheese is melted.
- Top them off with parmesan and parsley once they are out of the oven and done.
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You can make the clouds as garlicky as you like, especially if you plan to eat the clouds without a filling and eat it with a fresh salad.
All of the above recipes are flexible so you can choose what ingredients you wish. If all the ingredients you use are Weight Watchers-friendly then the points value for per slice will be even lower. So make sure to calculate the points according to the ingredients you use wherever possible.
Linda
How many slices does the white bread loaf make?