Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Grain-Free Butter Bread – Going Full Keto

I've always wanted to try making one of these grain-free loaves, and since I've received tons of food wishes for it, I decided to finally give it a go. I very slightly adapted this recipe from one I found at Keto Connect, where they call it the “Best Keto Bread.” Since I basically stole their recipe, I decided not to take their name too, and went with the hopefully appetizing sounding, grain-free butter bread.

Here is the link to the original recipe, and I welcome you to check it out, since they give a lot of tips, as well as other variations, but I did change the technique somewhat. They used a food processor to mix in all the egg whites, whereas I finished by folding. Not sure how big a difference it makes, but I do like to occasionally use a few things I learned in culinary school.

While I really did enjoy this, and it was much more bread-like than I had anticipated, please be sure to manage your expectations appropriately. Without wheat flour and yeast, it’s impossible to get a true bread taste and texture, but if you’re off carbs, and have been dreaming about a nice slice of buttered toast with your eggs, this is well worth a try.

It has a subtle egginess, and faint almond flavor, but overall it’s relatively neutral, and the texture is reminiscent of an extra moist, and spongy white bread. If you wanted to run with my strawberry shortcake idea, you could add a spoon of sugar to the batter, and you’d just be some whipped cream away from a pretty decent, low-carb treat. Either way, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for one loaf:
1 1/2 cup fine ground almond flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 cup melted butter
6 large egg yolks
6 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

- Bake at 375 F. for about 30 minutes

25 comments:

Tamara said...

I am emailing this recipe to my daughter as she can't eat carbs due to a medical condition. Hope she likes it as she loves bread.

Mango said...

I don't own a food processor; would a hand mixer suffice?

Unknown said...

What about the opinion about adding Bananas and nuts -- i.e. Banana Nut grainless bread? Would this work or would it be too heavy?

Hilversum said...

This comes at a perfect time. My wife and I started a kept diet this week and 5-days in we're gnawing for bread. Looking forward to seeing more ketogenic recipes!

Gary said...

I've been learning from your videos since 2010 and I've recently made a commitment to be 100% keto so this is a welcome recipe! If Chef John says it's good then I trust it!

AFB said...

Noooo Chef John! As someone who's been baking low carb for a couple of years, coconut flour is NOT interchangeable for almond flour. Other but flours should be ok though, but coconut flour is pretty unique. It soaks up a ton of moisture and will dry up any mix. If someone HAS to do it, a common rule of thumb is to cut the amount of flour by 2/3rds at least.

Otherwise, thanks for the recipe. As always it looks amazing, and it is very exciting to see a low carb recipe here. Thanks a lot!!

Unknown said...

Having made something similar myself, it was great freshly baked, but didn't age well. Any recommendations for storing this, or should one eat it asap?

Unknown said...

I've learned a lot about nutrition over the past few months, looking for a healthy way of eating, and decided to go keto for multiple reasons. As I was turning on my computer just now I was wishing Chef John would have a category in the index here on the blog for keto-friendly recipes, and lo and behold, a keto bread-like recipe shows up! Sweet! I want to eat healthy but I still gotta have me some Chef John in my life, come on people!
I'm going to try this today. For the sweetened version, I would use erythritol rather than sugar (I can't stand stevia and I don't like the GI problems with xylitol, or the "minty" cooling effect either). Erythritol is ~70% as sweet as sugar, but I'm dialing down the sweetness if I eat sweet food anyway.
Glad you're still calling on the old culinary skills Chef John! I've been lurking around here for years (made french toast the chefy way for my guests last weekend, literally while watching/pausing the video using my earbuds in the kitchen lol) I've learned so much and don't know how I'd cook without your videos! My natural instincts are consistently wrong, but I've learned a lot, so thank you!!

Unknown said...

Great job, Chef John. I've heard others in the keto community suggest adding yeast to the recipe simply for the flavor of it. They've started that although it doesn't give any rise, it makes the bread taste less "eggy" and more like traditional bread. Hope this helps.

Hyde/Jekyll said...

Hello Chef John,

Why this recipe is sugar free? Does it taste salty?
No sugar needed at all?
If that´s the case WOW! amazing, I can´t wait to make this one. :)

S/V Blondie-Dog said...

YiKeS! It occurs to me dat' it be a good thing dat' my finicky lady-friend ain't done watched this here video. For ya' see, she be OCD and would most certainly be freaking out at around the 1:17 minute mark because of that one inch gap between the parchment paper and the edge of the baking dish.

Yep. I do be purse-whipped all day long and do knows better to use a marker to outline my parchment paper before cutting. In any event I'll just stick to baking your banana bread instead of this here fake bread if ya' don'ts mind. Thanks anyways! You're still da' best!

allenm said...

How about using masa harina? Any chance that wouldn't result in a catastrophe of biblical proportions?

Unknown said...

Just FYI, if you add sugar to the mix it is instantly no longer low-carb/keto. Sugars are carbs.

Steve said...

Hi Chef John,

Is it 1 1/2 cups almond flour? I tried the recipe using the ingredient list here, but the dough is very dry.

Thanks,

Steve

Nooreen said...

I have this in the oven now! Keto’s been tough on us, but I’m really excited about this!

GW said...

I made this recipe. It tastes a little salty, and somewhat similar to over cooked scrambled eggs. Maybe it would be better with fewer, or even no egg yolks. I would prefer a flavor closer to angel food cake, and less scrambled egg. I wonder what would be a nice substitute for the yolks.

Unknown said...

Chef Johncan this recipe be doubled to make regular sized slices of bread?

LythaStudios said...

Hi Chef John! Your recipe couldn't have come at a better time for me. I'm trying to learn an anti-inflammatory diet toolbox of recipes and cooking techniques. I've been afraid to dive into grain free baking, and your video gave me the courage to give it a try.

I made this tonight, and it came out beautifully! I'm afraid I topped it with strawberry jam (whoops, inflammatory sugar!), but I'll get there eventually. :)

Thank you for doing this video.

Roman said...

I can only agree with what Steven said, followed the recipe and it came out dry. Not at all like in the video.

My almond flour has a finer grind though, so I guess it soaks up way more moisture than the coarser grind Chef John used.

Hey Chef John, can you help out?

Roman said...

I can only agree with what Steven said, follow the recipe and it came out super dry. Not at all like in the video.

My almond flour has a finer grind though, so I guess it soaks up way more moisture than the coarser grind Chef John used.

Hey Chef John, can you help out?

Conceptualviral said...

Great for Keto diet! Made a BLT and it was shockingly good!

Unknown said...

Another lovely low carb 30 minute meals recipe idea, thank you.

What's the frequency, Kenneth? said...

I love that you did this, and would like to see your take on more keto recipes.

Martin T. said...


This sounds like an excellent recipe, and I will try it for my wife, but two quick substitution questions.

First, what would happen if I used coffee flour?

Second, would Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose flour work?

Third (okay, three questions) Bob's recommends a bit of xanthan gum in gluten free bread. Yes, no, or what the hell let's find out what happens?

Unknown said...

just a quick noted. the measurement for almond flour is wrong. should be 1/2 cup only