You all know I love my bagels and bread, so on the lower carb days I was just not having any bready type things. I have made oopsie rolls in the past, but they are a little fragile. Then I came across this cookbook at the library (and I do like Dr. Eades blog).
The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook
This is their recipe for magic rolls.
They remind me very much of pate a choux (aka cream puff dough), only less flour (replaced with gluten) and they don’t get a big air pocket in the center.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup plus 2 TBSP of water
- 6 TBSP of butter (3/4 stick)
- 1/4 cup of white whole wheat flour (or any flour, really)
- 3/4 cup of vital wheat gluten (Bob’s Red Mill)
- 3 eggs
- pinch of salt (my addition)
- 1 egg white (optional)
Heat oven to 425 F. Line 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper.
Mix water (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) and butter in a saucepan over medium heat until butter melts and simmers.
In a bowl, mix together the gluten and the flour. Add a pinch of salt if desired.
Add this mixture to the pan and stir and mash until all of the dry material is absorbed.
Remove from heat, let rest for a couple minutes, and beat in the eggs one at a time.
It will seem lumpy after the first egg, but don’t worry about that. Don’t use an electric mixture or you will work too much air into the batter, although a paddle attachment of a stand mixer would work on slow speed.
More egg added:
After mixing in the eggs, the batter should be somewhat stiff, but soft.
Here is where the optional egg white comes in. If the batter is too dry and really stiff, add the egg white. If the dough mounds well on a cookie sheet, don’t add the egg white. I did not need to add it. I think it depends a little on the size of the egs.
Using a disher or spoons, mound the batter onto the cookie sheet into 6 mounds on each sheet pan for a total of 12 rolls. I used a small disher and did 2 scoops for each roll. I think that is just shy of 1/4 cup?
See how it settles a little, but still holds it shape and doesn’t spread out much? That is what you want. I lucked out on my first try! Leave space because they get big in the oven!
Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.
I was really surprised to see these all puffed up!
Remove from oven and move to a rack to cool. If you don’t eat these all the same day, freeze the rest in a zip bag.
This is one sliced open:
Fun, eh? John had one toasted with butter and he loved it! I was surprised that he liked them so much. I can see doing a lot of fun things with these, like making a danish or french toast. Or even adding something like parmesan cheese and spices to the batter before baking.
Nutritional stats:
Based on making 12 rolls per batch (egg white included in this calculation):
Calories: 107
Fat: 6.8 g
Carbs: 3.3 g
Fiber: 0.3 g
Protein: 7.9
These seem pretty much like a danish or cream puff in texture. They are sturdy enough to be used as sandwich bread:
Split and toasted with cream cheese. I think I liked this best:
This could easily be turned into a dessert as well. Definitely a keeper recipe.
Pingback: Recipes I want to try | Why I got fat, and what I'm doing about it
Pingback: Anyone make this flax meal bread? Reviews, please:)
Pingback: Magic rolls | Why I got fat, and what I'm doing about it
My second attemp at Magic Rolls and dough still far too soft. First time used 3 eggs but not egg white. This time used smaller eggs. I have never made any sort of bread before so no idea how to rescue too soft dogh. Any tips please? (They looked hideous last time – flat flat flat and quite black – but tasted good!)
Hi Linda. The dough is supposed to be soft. It’s not like a real bread dough. I might suggest dropping down to 2 eggs or lowering the temperature of your oven.
I tried this recipe a few times but the rolls never get that high, they are flat. What am I doing wrong?
Measure the water exactly. This is the most important step–Before you do anything else take the eggs out of the fridge and put them in a bowl of hot tap water while you get the rest ready. Room temperature eggs makes them rise better
Thank you thank you thank you! The best low carb rolls I have ever come across. After ready the comments, I seem I am also one of the lucky ones that had them turn out perfect first time – just amazing!
I have made these rolls for quite some time. Sometimes they turned out and other times they don’t rise like they should but still tasted good. However I have discovered a few things. Number 1 is the eggs must be at room temperature not cold from the fridge. I take mine out of the fridge before I start and run them under warm tap water then let them sit on the counter while I’m mixing the rest.(2)If you use large eggs you don’t need the extra egg white. (3) you must follow the measurements exactly. Now my rolls rise beautifully. I’ve been thinking of making a long roll and slicing it. Then brushing on olive oil and toasting it under the broiler for crackers. I don’t think it would take the same time to bake though.
these are amazing!
A couple of things…
I found it easier to use a large whisk than a spatula.
Also, I baked one tray with parchment and the other tray with a silicon cookie sheet liner and they can out the same.
🙂
Holy cow! I’ll have t say I was hesitant to try these thinking I’d mess them up somehow or they’d be flat! this gal must have done something right cuz they turned out AMAZING!!! They rose perfectly but only got 6 out of the batch…no biggie they are just a bit bigger! Being a type2 diabetic I have longed for any kind of bread that didn’t raise my BS. Hallelujah and thank you from this gal who has rarely eaten any bread for the last 2 years!!!!!
Just came across this recipe, gotta get the vital wheat gluten. Can’t wait to try them. Thanks for the recipe. ????
Put some left over dough/batter on a waffle iron, came out pretty nice.
As anyone ever tried to spread this and bake it for pizza? Now that would be really magical to me!
I wonder if these rolls can be used to make dressing for Thanksgiving?
I made these with all vital wheat and 3 large eggs, no other flour, but baked them in my silicone muffin pans, the recipe made a dozen nice rolls. There was no need for any other flour, they turned out fine. They are good with cream cheese & sugar free jelly or preserves for a quick breakfast. They look like dinner rolls when made in the muffin pan. We are going to make these regularly.
Very easy! Top shelf in oven spread out. Bottom shelf tray were puffy. Wanted to post picture 🙁 but I am not very social media savvy.
These were SO good! Mine turned out exactly like yours. I made them for hamburgers and my kids even said they were better than regular hamburger buns…I agree! I look forward to experimenting with different flavors (think jalapeno/cheddar, rosemary/olive oil).
Anyway to substitute eggs?
Eggs are so important to this type of batter that I don’t know what you could sub to get the same effect.
hi! i never leave comments on the internet….but oh boy do you deserve one!
i cant tell you how grateful i am for this recipe! i’m following a ketogenic diet and was looking for some sort of keto-bread (lets be honest: most recipes out there suck)….since i had no flour i made it purely with gluten and still they turned out great. next time i will add a little flour to see if it makes a difference. later on i will send this recipe to all diabetics i know and encourage them to forward it to others. so on their behalf: THANKS A MILLION!….. this helps to control blood sugar tremendously!
i will experiment with this more and contact you if i make some sort of “bread-through”….
I love this recipe! Used to make these rolls years ago for my diabetic father-in-law. I’ve been unable to find vital wheat gluten lately but I had a small bag of gluten free baking flour (rice and tapioca flours) from Bobs Red Mill. I subbed 1 cup of that instead and it still produced a big puffy roll….just like cream puffs! Thanks for posting this! I’ve missed this recipe!
Pingback: 76 Low-Carb Comfort Foods for the Health Conscious - All Time List
I’m a little late coming to this discussion, but thanks for this recipe! I am SO tired of “gluten-free” recipes. It’s PROTEIN, for goodness sake. And holds the bread together.
After the 3 eggs, actually, even before the eggs, the batter was more like pancake batter. I double checked my measurements… the eggs were large… anyway I made it with 3/4 c gluten and 1/4 cup 100% rye flour, so I just added a little more of each. They were a little flat, but delicious. Any ideas on what I could have done differently?
Also, do you know if less eggs were used, and yeast added, would the batter rise?
Thanks again!