We’ve been making a huge effort to cut out carbs from our diet. The one thing I have been really missing is bread. Not that we ate that much bread, but a sandwich every now and again is a nice treat so I have been trying to make carb-free bread and failing miserably until I came across a delicious keto bun at a local craft sale. It had a similar texture and crumb as flour bread, but made with almond flour and coconut flour. At the time, the lady would not share her recipe, so I made every recipe on the net trying to find her secret, sadly failing. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I get an email from her out of the blue sharing her recipe! How serendipitous! It turned out that it was one of the first recipes I tried but obviously did not get it right so I had abandoned it. She had made a few adjustments to the original recipe and shared them with me, and I made further adjustments to make it my own. It’s easier to make than normal yeasted bread (really is more like quick-bread as you make it) and the result is quite surprising. It’s a lot more expensive to make this bread than it is to make regular flour bread (the recipe below is about $12 for 8 buns).
Most flour-free buns are usually eggy and super dense because of the nut flours used and the lack of leavening, but these buns are light and have a great spongy texture and fantastic crumb, they never disappoint, time after time! The original recipe had great texture but lacked the flavour that yeast imparts in real bread so I experimented and came up with this augmentation. If you don’t feel like messing with the yeast, just omit it along with the granules of sugar but keep the water the same. You will not be disappointed.
The Worlds BEST Low Carb Buns
Makes 6 medium-sized buns. For the original recipe, please click here.
Ingredients:
- 100 g Almond flour (see notes)
- 30 g Coconut Flour
- 33 g Psyllium Husk Powder, finely ground (see notes)
- 10 g Baking Powder
- 6 g Sea salt
- 10 g Cider vinegar
- 100 g Egg whites
- 8 g Instant Yeast
- a few granules of sugar
- 280 g Boiling Water, divided
- 1 egg yolk
- Sesame Seeds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (170° C). Prep a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper. Prepare a hand mixer ready to use and a timer.
- Combine the yeast with the sugar in 57 g of warm water (about 43° C or 100° F) and allow to froth.
- To a large bowl, add almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk powder, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the cider vinegar, egg whites and proofed yeast and mix on low speed, for a short time, to combine evenly.
- Boil the remaining water (223 g). Pour the water all at once into the almond flour mixture and blend for 30 seconds to make a smooth dough (do not over blend).
- Divide the dough into 6 equal portions (mine worked out to be about 94 g) and roll into a smooth ball with generously wet hands. Slightly flatten each roll so it’s more like the shape of an English muffin (don’t worry, they rise enormously).
- Brush each bun with the egg yolk and top with sesame seeds and bake for about 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is 95° C (200° F).
- Cool completely on a wire rack, before slicing. Serve toasted or plain with your favourite topping.
Notes:
- I use Anthony’s Premium Blanched Almond Flour which may be purchased on Amazon. I have heard that the Costco Kirkland brand also works, but I haven’t tried it. I will eventually try the finely ground almond flour Bulk Barn sells because Anthony’s is pretty expensive.
- I use psyllium husk powder from Bulk Barn, but I grind it to a super fine consistency with my coffee/spice grinder.
- 100 g of egg whites is more or less 3 large egg whites.
- Many of these recipes call for room temperature ingredients, I have done both room temperature and right out of the refrigerator and they resulted in more or less the same buns.
- When working with the dough, generously wet hands are imperative for a nice smooth crust.
- Mixing the boiling water into the batter with a hand mixer for 30 seconds ensures that it’s entirely blended but not overworked.
- For Christmas, I received a bottle of Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning and it is awesome on these buns!
Nutritional Breakdown:
Per 1 piece
- Calories: 178
- Net Carbs: 5 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Fat: 12 g
These look so good. We also try to cut out carbs but it’s challenging as I seem to crave them. Last night I cooked pasta but it was with spelt so not as bad for me as regular wheat pasta. I would like to try these rolls when I finally get my new kitchen (living in a camping situation at the moment) xx
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Thanks Charlie, hope you get your kitchen soon, I’d go nuts in that situation!
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Low-carb buns??? It sounds so perfect! On the other hand, isn’t this version of buns high-kcal compared to wheat flour version? (I often bake almond cakes for my husband practically without wheat flour and I start wondering only now if they aren’t high kcal).
Whatever the kcal content, your buns look absolutely delicious and an excellent idea for someone who wants to eat less carbs!
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The calories and fat are a bit of a dilemma but if one is really trying a low carb diet, these are the best I’ve ever had!
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✨ oh my…that rise…! They turned out so well and look fantastic. Sounds like you made some helpful adaptations. I always have little packets of instant yeast around so will give this a go some time; I may risk trying finely ground flaxseed instead of the psyllium only because it’s what I have on hand; despite what I read in comments section of original recipe, ground flax is also a soluble fiber with water attracting properties … we’ll see. Thank you for the inspiration Eva!
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Oh now I am excited that you will try these. Please do let me know how they work out with the flaxseed. When I first made these, I had experimented so much and wasted so much $$ (although Jt is a trouper and ate every one of them, with gusto!) that I didn’t want to sway too much from the recipe
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Wow, what great crumb! Hard to believe these are low carb — look like a sinful treat. Thanks!
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Thanks John, it is really a treat to have bread on this diet.
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Wow. What a fascinating recipe! I don’t worry about carbs so much because cheese is my go-to, but it’s really nice to know about these!
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These toast up beautifully so they make an excellent grilled cheese sandwich. Thanks for your comment Mimi.
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They look fabulous! I love low-carb treats.
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Thanks Angie, I hope you will give them a try.
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I have to say, the texture looks fantastic. Things like this can be so surprising. My favorite donut shop always has gluten-free selections, and I used to dismiss them. Once, though, they didn’t really have anything else that appealed to me, so I tried one, and I found that I liked them even better than the regular donuts!
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Thanks for your comment Jeff, I was totally surprised when I tried these, they have an excellent crumb.
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I have been avoiding baking yeast breads b/c my body does not do well with carbs and it’s hard to behave after smelling freshly baked bread. I’ll add your ingredients to my shopping list and give these a go next weekend!
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I do hope you give these a try Liz, they are surprisingly tasty and easy to make.
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These look amazing! And how nice of her to email you the recipe. Do you know what caused the change in mind?
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She said she was changing her direction. I’m just so happy to have a great tasting bun that is low carb!
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