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.