keto bread

Gluten is a stretchy, sticky, proteinaceous substance that provides body to bread. Being protein, gluten can be used as a meat substitute by people who have no gluten intolerance or celiac disease, but in bread, it provides the necessary stretchiness for cooked loaves, mainly by allowing bubbles to form and expand without bursting and causing a soufflé-style collapse.

Keto bread is gluten-free, which means you can't rely on natural glutens for your bread's stretchiness. What's the solution for making keto bread, then? Well, based on my recent studies, there are at least two: (1) xanthan gum, a bacteria-based thickener that is a go-to gluten substitute, and (2) an eyebrow-raising combination of mozzarella, cream cheese, and egg. Watch the video below to see how keto bread can be used in a regular recipe (you can kill the audio if the repetitive music annoys you; there's no voice track):

Keto bread is fascinating to ponder, although I do have to wonder how good it actually is. The main components of the bread, aside from the gluten substitutes mentioned above, are almond flour (the least carby of the alt-flours) and baking soda (which acts as a rising/raising agent along with eggs, if eggs are in the recipe). Some recipes will also have cream of tartar. Despite the weird ingredients, though, I'm curious to try making some keto bread. I just saw an impressive recipe for keto lemon pound cake; after I do a regular loaf, I'll try making that as well. I'm normally a chocoholic, but among the non-chocolatey confections I adore, a good lemon pound cake ranks in the top five.