Keto Dinner Rolls

Approximately 3.4 g net carbs. About 10 minutes prep time and 50 – 60 minutes bake time. 

Too good to be true?

Will they turn out well or won’t they?

Skepticism. That’s my usual response to keto recipes substituting for favorite non-keto baked goods. A fair number of recipes I’ve tried have been a bit disappointing — quite frankly, they taste just close enough to the real thing to remind me how much I used to like it. But some substitutes hit the mark. This is one of those.

Here’s the original recipe, found on one of my favorite keto sites. As usual, I changed it up a bit to try to solve some problems other testers had with it: I add coconut flour and I use whole eggs, not just egg whites. And I used salt and caraway seed as a topping rather than sesame seed, but toppings are a free-for-all zone, so follow your taste buds.

These rolls have the texture, density and taste of a whole grain bread. I’m not a big fan of the taste of psyllium husk, but the small amount here doesn’t overwhelm the flavor. These rolls can be used as burger buns (although you’d have to divide the dough into only six portions rather than eight for them to be big enough). You can also make them long and thin so they’ll work as hot dog buns, in which case, I’d probably take 5 minutes off the cooking time.

Slippery slope alert: The buns are low in net carbs, but they do have quite a bit of fiber (see nutrition information, below). So if you count whole carbs, having one of these means the rest of your daily intake has to be super strict. I count net carbs, and the approach that works for me is to treat foods with high amounts of fiber and sugar alcohols as special treats and limit them. So on a day when I’d have this bread, I’d  avoid other treat foods like fruit or big portions of higher-carb veggies or anything with sugar alcohols.

Ingredients

  • 1¼ cups almond flour
  • 5 Tbsp ground psyllium husk powder. Note: some people report that psyllium husk powders can have an unpleasant purple color. I used Now Healthy Foods brand, and there was no weird color.
  • 2 Tbsp coconut flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1¼ cups boiling water
  • 3 eggs
  • Your choice of sesame seed, caraway seed, course sea salt, or rosemary to taste: 1 – 2 tablespoons

Next time, I am going to try these with some other additions such as fine-chopped olives.  And, OMG, garlic bread can be back on the menu!

Directions

      1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
      2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
      3. In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the vinegar.
      4. Bring the water to a boil and add it to the dry ingredients while mixing with a hand-held electric mixer.
      5. Add the eggs and vinegar and continue mixing, about 30 seconds in all, just enough to ensure a good even mix.
      6. With wet hands, shape the dough into the desired form. This recipe makes 4 =- 8 buns, depending on the size needed. Dividing into 8 makes ideal dinner rolls.
      7. Put the rolls on greased parchment paper on a baking dish.
      8. If you are adding toppings (salt, caraway seed, etc) sprinkle them onto the rolls and press gently so they stay on.
      9. Bake on a lower rack in oven for 50 minute–60 minutes (shorter time for small or narrow shapes; longer time for bigger, thicker buns).  When they are ready, they will look nicely brown and will feel firm when tapped. I divided into 8 rolls and baked for 50 minutes.
      10. Serve with butter or garlic butter.
      11. Store leftovers in the fridge or freezer.

       

      The answer was a resounding “YES!”

      Carb Count