Soft and tasty keto bread

This keto bread made with coconut flour is the best pseudo bread I've eaten. It's a little crunchy on the outside, but spongy on the inside and the flavor is pretty similar to real bread, you just have to add yeast.

Have you recently started the keto diet and you are missing bread? I get you, I've been there, from all the non keto foods out there, bread is the one I sometimes still miss. I say sometimes because is not that I want to eat it regularly, it's just that when I walk near a bakery, I smell the fresh made bread and I salivate haha. I guess bread is the most missed food when you go keto and that's why so many people try to make the perfect keto bread.

Bread is eaten in a lot of cultures, for example in Chile it's eaten daily and that's sadly one of the reasons why it's the third country with more obesity in Latin America. This happens because bread's glycemic index (which is how quickly it increases blood sugar after eating something) is very high, higher than white sugar actually.

To make a good keto bread recipe, you need to take into account bread's characteristics and try to replicate them. If making gluten free bread is a hard task, imagine making good bread without carbs. There are a few types of breads out there, this time we are going to make something between a baguette and a burger bun which are softer on the outside.

Texture

The texture is soft and light, not so moist nor dry. To simulate the sponginess, we need to use baking powder to create air inside the dough. Keto doughs tend to be very dense and heavy, this makes it harder to get a fluffy and spongy texture, because gravity is a pain in the ass and makes everything fall down. To make sure we create enough air, add enough baking powder as well as baking soda which is more potent than baking powder.

Another way to add sponginess is to use psyllium husk. This husk is a little hard to find in some countries, but it's worth it. It absorbs a lot of water, adding moisture and with heat it becomes elastic. Bread is spongy, it comes back to its original form when you squeeze or stretch it. It's the gluten in the bread the one who gives it this property and the most similar ingredient we have on the keto side is psyllium husk.

Instead of using psyllium husk you can use xantan gum, in the same proportion as the psyllium, but I haven’t had good results with it. Another substitute is flaxseed flour, it also gelatinizes when you mix it with water, but flaxseed doesn't have the elasticity of the psyllium.

As I said, keto bread doughs are quite dense. This is due to the type of flours they use like almond flour which is kind of heavy. That's why I decided to use coconut flour, which is lighter as well as the cooked cauliflower, this way we add volume but not much density.

Flavor

Industrial bread doesn't taste much like yeast, but I think that to make keto bread that reminds you to real bread you need to add yeast, just to add that unique flavor.

Many keto bread recipes have an eggy flavor or taste too much like the flour they use to make the bread. This bread doesn't have any of these problems, the flavor is not strong, it's a little savory and similar to bread (because of the yeast).

Appearance

As you can see it looks like bread on the outside. You can give it the shape you want; I use this recipe to make pizza, burger or hot dog buns, etc.

I hope you try it!