Cooking Keto with Kerrygold
Becoming comfortable with food preparation ideas and techniques for any new type of lifestyle can be quite challenging in itself but, when cooking with keto, learning to cook and bake without flour and sugar is a task in itself.
But not one that is impossible to workaround!
With the correct technique and combination of ingredients, it is quite easy to obtain the taste and texture that you are used to in your favourite desserts and foods.
Let’s take a look at some keto cooking tips to get you started:
1. Almond Flour
Most recipes call for the use of wheat flour in a recipe but, because wheat flour is high in carbohydrates, it does not work for keto-friendly cooking or baking. This is where your new BFF in cooking comes into play: almond flour.
Almond flour is made from finely ground almonds and, because of its fine texture, it acts as the perfect substitute for standard wheat flour.
Top tip: try to make some of your favourite recipes more keto-friendly and low-carb by supplementing wheat flour with almond flour.
2. Butter and Cream Cheese
Butter and cream cheese are both high in fats making them the ideal ingredients to use in keto cooking and baking. But, if they are not at room temperature when preparing your batter, then the ingredients will not blend together properly and form the correct consistency that you are looking for.
This is why you should take butter, eggs and cream cheese out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking to help bring them to room temperature.
Room temperature ingredients always create better results when baking especially when baking keto.
3. Dairy Replacements
It may be hard to believe but heavy cream actually has fewer carbs than regular milk which means that when a recipe calls for regular dairy milk it is a good idea to replace it with heavy cream.
But this is not the only dairy replacement you can use when cooking or baking keto.
Regular milk can also be replaced with unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk which are both lower in carbs and good options for keto food preparation.
4. Proper Pan Preparation
Keto-friendly batters tend to be more prone to sticking in pans when baking so be sure to prepare your pan properly to avoid any sticky situations. Most of the time a good preparation with some butter will do the trick.
But, if you are concerned, you can line the tray with baking paper first followed by a butter preparation layer.
5. Measure with Precision
As any baker will know, when it comes to baking precision is of the utmost importance. Baking is a precise science and measuring ingredients incorrectly can change the consistency and outcome of your recipe entirely.
Even more so when baking keto.
To achieve the perfect texture be sure to weigh your solids using a kitchen scale instead of estimating in volumes.
6. Use Fresh Ingredients
When cooking or baking keto-friendly recipes it is always best to use the freshest ingredients possible. If ingredients aren’t stored correctly according to the manufacturer’s specifications then certain ingredients won’t react as intended.
When baking with keto-friendly ingredients it is always best to shop for fresh ingredients or to make sure that ingredients are stored correctly.
7. Cooling Down
Large temperature drops can have a negative effect on your baking so when your baked goods are ready allow them to stand in the baking pan for at least five minutes after removing them from the oven.
Once the five minutes are up you can transfer the baked items to the cooling rack to gradually cool down.
If you are baking in the winter, move your baked goods to the warmest room in the house to cool down gradually.
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Cooking and baking keto is not as complicated and daunting as it may have appeared at first with these keto-friendly cooking and baking tips and tricks. Do you have any tips that you would like to add?
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