Easy Dairy-Free Keto Bread

There just aren’t enough easy keto bread recipes out there, don’t you think? Well, I’m about to help solve that problem! This dairy-free bread recipe is going to be one of the easiest bread recipes you’ll ever try. I promise. Just stir all the ingredients together, shape into a loaf, and bake. That’s it! It literally cannot get any easier.

But this bread doesn’t sacrifice taste for simplicity. It’s delicious, and the texture is just what it should be: a crispy crust surrounding a soft interior. And it’s versatile and easy to vary. The basic version is superb for sweet and savory toppings alike, but by adding salt, stevia, herbs, or other seasonings you can easily tune the recipe to your taste. As always, you’ll find more tips for variations at the end of the post.

 

Tips for making the Easy Dairy-Free Keto Bread

You can shape the dough into a loaf — like I’ve done here in the progress photos below — or bake the bread in a silicone loaf pan. Whatever method you use, just remember to level and smooth the surface with wet hands. That guarantees a beautiful presentation and a crispy crust.

Another great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need any machinery — just a spoon. Yes, a spoon is enough to stir the dough, no electric mixers or other machines necessary. Just stir vigorously, and you’ll get a smooth dough in less than a minute! (Plus, a spoon is also so much easier to clean than, say, the beaters of an electric mixer. All those nooks and crannies!)

So, let’s take a look at how to make this super-easy keto bread:

Add the almond flour to a medium or large bowl.

 
Add the rice protein…

 
…psyllium husk powder (be sure to use the powdered form of psyllium: coarser psyllium doesn’t yield a nice result)…

 
…baking powder (why do I always write that as “baking power” first?!)…

 
If you want to add a pinch of salt or other seasonings, now is the time to do so. Otherwise, just add the eggs…

 
Then, take your spoon and stir…

 
…vigorously…

 
…until a smooth dough forms.

 
Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. It will become thicker and easier to handle.

 
Then, take a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spoon the dough onto it.

 
Moisten your hands and shape the dough…

 
…into a nice loaf.

 
Then bake the loaf for 1 hour in the preheated oven.

 
Here we go…

 

 
…ready!

 
Remove from the oven.

 
Let cool slightly…

 
…cut into slices.

&nsbp;

Enjoy with your favorite toppings!

 

My Easy Dairy-Free Keto Bread experiments

I’ve done numerous gluten-free, low-carb bread experiments over the course of my life. Hundreds, or maybe even thousands, I expect. Getting a perfect result is worth all the effort, though. When you don’t have the gluten to bind the bread you have to invent other ways to supply that elastic texture. And when you don’t want to use starches, as is often done in commercial gluten-free baking, you don’t have too many ingredients to choose from.

Luckily, there are some tried and trusted low-carb flours that beat all the gluten-filled flours and starches with flying colors. Almond flour is very nutritious, as is coconut flour. Coconut flour also provides an ample amount of fiber. However, psyllium is the king of fiber — 85 % of it is pure fiber! Out of that, a whopping 70 % is soluble fiber, which pampers your tummy and improves your cholesterol levels.

Protein powders are also great in low-carb and keto baking. Whey protein is my absolute favorite because it adds a great texture to all kinds of baked goods. But if you avoid dairy, it’s out of the question. That’s okay: rice protein makes a great replacement for it. It’s a perfect plant-based protein. Not only is it a complete protein (meaning it contains an adequate proportion of each of the nine essential amino acids), it’s also very gentle on the stomach.

Some people complain that rice protein feels “gritty” or like eating sand. You don’t have to worry about that here, though; you won’t even notice the rice protein in this recipe. It blends into the dough so well, creating a very smooth texture in the finished product.

Actually, I made the first versions of this bread four years ago. Instead of rice protein, I used hemp protein. I also used sunflower seeds in the dough. One of my first experiments included 2 cups (480 ml) almond flour, 1/3 cup (80 ml) hemp protein, 1/2 cup (120 ml) sunflower seeds), 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 5 eggs. I also seasoned the bread with 1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt and 6 drops liquid stevia.

I wasn’t very happy with the hemp protein. It made the bread taste weird as it has a pretty strong flavor. It also made the color of the bread greenish. Moreover, there was something wrong with the almond flour — some bitter almonds had probably lurked into the batch — because the bread tasted like marzipan (which reminds me: if you ever need a perfect recipe for sugar-free marzipan, here is one for you).
 

 
Then I forgot about the recipe for a couple of years. I tried different low-carb and keto breads—made, for example, with coconut flour and rice protein—and got satisfying results. But this spring I took out my notes and decided to try this bread again, but this time with rice protein instead of hemp protein. And it was unlikely that my current batch of almond flour would have any bitter almonds in it.

I took a good long look at the recipe. I wanted to omit the sunflower seeds and use just almond flour and rice protein. I also decided to try psyllium. It usually improves the texture of a gluten-free keto bread remarkably.

So, after some thought, I took 2 cups (480 ml) almond flour, 1/3 cup (80 ml) unflavored rice protein, 2 tablespoons psyllium husk powder, 2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder, a pinch of salt, and 6 eggs.

As I wanted to keep the method simple, I just stirred all the ingredients together and was planning to pour the batter into a silicone loaf pan.

However, I had to leave for some 10 minutes to do some other errands (can’t remember what…) so I had to leave the batter to stand on the table for a while.

When I returned, the batter had turned into a really thick dough. I didn’t despair: I spooned the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and shaped it into a loaf using wet fingers. And what a beautiful loaf it made!

Excitedly, I put the loaf into the preheated oven and baked it at 350 °F (175 °C) for 1 hour. I didn’t actually plan a baking time in advance; I just ended up with 1 hour because the loaf was rather large. In my experience (especially when I created the “Rockin’ Rolls” recipe in my Easy Everyday Recipes book some years ago), baked goods made with psyllium need a relatively long baking time.

The loaf rose nicely in the oven and the surface got really smooth and crispy. I was very surprised at how well the bread held together and how easy it was to slice, even into thin slices! And even more importantly, it tasted great.

The only thing that bothered me a little was the slight taste of rice protein. Maybe reducing the amount of rice protein would help? I decided to make another experiment.
 

 
For my next experiment, I used the same amount of almond flour, but 1/4 cup (60 ml) rice protein instead of 1/3 cup (80 ml). (I made these experiments in our summer cottage where the oven isn’t very powerful — it’s a cheap one and obviously not capable of producing enough heat.)

Again, the bread rose nicely, but the surface cracked a bit. Well, no big deal: actually, the loaf looked quite authentic with those cracks in it. However, somehow the previous version was nicer. This bread was somewhat dense — which I really wondered at, since I had used less rice protein. Not that the bread was a disaster: just the opposite. We all liked it, but I thought there was still some room for improvement.

So, I wanted to make yet another experiment with less rice protein. This time I also reduced the amount of psyllium to 1 tablespoon. The dough was relatively runny but I still could form a loaf from it with wet hands.

Again, I baked the loaf for 1 hour. It spread slightly in the oven but still came out as a nice, round loaf. I tasted the fresh bread. Wow, how delicious! I was especially delighted with the crispy crust! Yes, the bread was crispy outside but soft inside — just like perfect bread should be. There was no hint of rice protein in the taste. Oh yes, I wanted to season the bread with salt, but simply forgot to add it with the other ingredients. It didn’t matter, the bread still tasted great.

I also made a loaf in a silicone loaf pan, but I forgot to smooth the surface so the bread looked quite ugly and crumbly (even though it wasn’t crumbly at all). Lesson learned: if you want to make the bread in a silicone loaf pan, remember to pat and smooth the surface with wet hands!

Reducing the amount of psyllium really paid off. Everybody in our little family (and my parents, too) enjoyed the bread down to the last crumb. Later, I made the same experiment at home, and with a proper oven I got an even better result.

So, in conclusion, this bread is shamelessly easy to make and tastes delicious (plus you can slice it as thin or thick as you want!). So why bother with more complicated recipes?

 
And here is the recipe:

 

Nutrition information:	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
The entire loaf:	111.2 g	147.4 g	28.2 g	1884 kcal
Per slice if 24 slices in total:	4.6 g	6.1 g	1.2 g	79 kcal

 

 

Tips for variation

This bread is also very easy to vary: just add your favorite seasonings, sweet or savory. 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt or Himalayan salt and a few drops of liquid stevia make a tasty combo, for instance.

You can also add herbs. How about 1 tablespoon dried rosemary and 1 teaspoon dried oregano? Add salt flakes to the top, before baking for an extraordinarily fragrant, savory loaf!

Want to make a sweet bread instead? Add 1/4 cup (60 ml) powdered erythritol and a few drops liquid stevia to the wet ingredients. A splash of vanilla extract gives an elegant final touch.

Garlic lovers will get their fix when you add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and 1 tablespoon garlic bread seasoning to the dough — what a heavenly smell and taste!

You can also create a focaccia-style bread: make a flat loaf, and press lightly some sliced olives, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs (like fresh rosemary) and salt flakes to the surface of the loaf. Bake as directed (the baking time might be shorter, though, so keep your eye on the bread and remove it from the oven when it’s ready – that is, when the toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean).

Which version are you going to make?