How to replace wheat flour with low carb flours in a low carb and keto diet.
Many times I receive messages with questions such as:
- The recipe has 500 g wheat flour..what can I replace it with?
When one decides to follow a keto diet or just a low carb diet, it makes sense to wonder how one could modify a conventional diet recipe (containing wheat flour and sugar) with permissible ingredients.
We all know that in addition to sugar (it is easier to be replaced with permitted natural sweeteners) of course wheat flour is also avoided by low carb diets.
For this reason we usually use almond flour because it is neutral in taste and with minimal amount of carbohydrates.
However, we can not replace the wheat flour mentioned in a recipe in a ratio of 1:1 with low carb flour.
We must think about the other ingredients of the recipe as well, so it is not possible to have standard proportions.
That is why I cannot answer this reasonable question directly.
Many times a recipe does not succeed with the first attempt .. so you have be in the mood to experiment constantly.
What to look out for:
At first you need to learn to evaluate the behavior of different flours that are low in carbohydrates.
You will of course achieve this when you know the quantities that correspond to the different flours in relation to the wheat flour but also how much liquid they need in comparison, again with the wheat flour.
Low carb flours need much more water or liquids in general, and do not look as nice and fluffy as white flour recipes.
So, all these make low carb cooking seem like a difficult task since depending on the flour you choose you will have to adjust the amount of liquids and other ingredients in the recipe.
Gluten
It is important to understand that low carb flours do not contain gluten.
This of course can be very good for people with celiac disease but without gluten a cake will be crumbled and will not have a nice texture.
The extra addition of eggs, gum ingredients or psyllium husk are often used as binders.
Another thing that you should have in mind is the special taste, aroma and color of each flour.
For example, many people do not like the flavor of coconut in savory recipes such as bread.
How can we finally replace wheat flour?
I have come up with the following basic compositions as alternatives and of course I will try to refresh this list with every new one.
Instead of 100 g wheat flour:
1. 70 g Reduced fat almond flour +
1 egg (or instead of the egg 1-2 tsp of guar gum + 2-3 times more liquid).
2. 60 g almond flour (full fat) +
15 g flaxseed flour (reduced fat).
3. 40 g reduced fat coconut flour +
4 times more liquid + 1 egg
(or instead of an egg 1-2 tsp of guar gum with extra liquid).
4. 20 g sunflower seed flour (low fat) + 50 g reduced fat almond flour.
5. 60 g flaxseed flour (reduced fat) + 20 g low-fat almond flour and 5 times more liquid.
6. 70 g low-fat walnut or hazelnut flour + 1 egg (or 1-2 tsp of guar gum with extra liquid instead of the egg).
7. 10 g reduced fat sesame flour +
60 g reduced fat almond flour.
8. 75 g almond flour (full fat) +
25 g reduced fat coconut flour.
9. 80 g hemp flour + 1 egg (or 1-2 tsp of guar gum instead of egg and extra liquid).
10. 40 g bamboo (or potato) fiber flour + 4 times extra liquid.
* Note:
Full fat almond flour can be replaced with walnut flour or hazelnut flour or macadamia nuts flour or grounded sesame seeds in a ratio of 1:1.
Any nutritional analysis (macros) in this blog is based on an estimate calculated by the "Cronometer" application for the ingredients of each recipe. Differences can arise for a variety of reasons, such as product availability and food preparation. There is no guarantee that this information will be accurate.
I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using your exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.
Always keep in mind that ingredient replacements can change the outcome of the recipe in terms of taste, texture, appearance and of course macronutrients.
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