Basic Keto Fathead Dough

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I love breads. LOVE THEM. Or used to.

In fact, when I was researching keto in early 2018, I thought for sure there was no way I could do the diet without bread or something I could use in place of it.

Whew, when I discovered Fathead.

The best thing though is how versatile this dough really is.

This is a game changer for me, people. Now that I can do items that I used to love and substitute them pretty well, I don’t worry about wanting to go back… it’s an added spoke in my wheel of freedom from food.

I use a iteration of this dough for things like bagels, pizza crust, lasagna noodles, big pretzels, garlic bread, and more! As long as you get this recipe down, there’s nothing you can’t do! (Double negative, I KNOW!)

First off, I always ALWAYS use paper plates and bowls to mix my fathead dough. The cleanup is SO much easier. Trust me. I ruined a glass bowl in the beginning days.

Second, preheat oven to 350 for flatter iterations like pizza crust, bread sticks, etc. 400 degs for things like bagels, pretzels, and more.

That’s mozzarella cheese shredded, cream cheese, and coconut flour. Ooooh baby. I use a 1:1:1 ratio. So 1 cup of mozzarella, 1 tablespoon cream cheese, and 1 tablespoon coconut flour. And it is easy to double, triple, etc.

So you’ll put your shredded cheese in the bowl and then top it with the other ingredients. What this does is sink the ingredients into the center of the melted cheese after you microwave it for a minute or two.

Ooooh, it’s going in the microwave. Can you believe how fun and colorful that looks?

This is after I’ve microwaved it. This is also the one I used for the bagel recipe. You can see the Everything Bagel seasoning. You can add different seasonings in for different needs. Yes, you can put cinnamon in for cinnamon rolls! Oh yes, I said cinnamon rolls!

I forgot to add the coconut flour in BEFORE the microwave. That’s okay. It’s fixable. My daughter was stressing out and I was like, what is the problem? We’ll add it now. No biggy. You can rest assured I mix it long enough that it doesn’t matter.

Mix it with a FORK in a folding motion. Over and over and over and over and over.

Can you see how the lower curves of the bowl still have the coconut flour sitting there and you can still see the CF not fully mixed in here? I put it back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and then mixed it some more. You want it fully incorporated. This takes a few minutes.

Trust me, this sucker rises. Coconut flour acts like its own leavening. If you want to substitute almond flour, you’ll double the amount you need for the coconut flour and add in 1/4 baking powder.

You’ll want to line your pan with parchment paper. It is the best resource I’ve found to keep the fathead dough contained.

**UPDATE: I had a GREAT question come in about the lack of egg in this fathead-style recipe. I prefer not to use egg in my fathead doughs. This is simply because I don’t like the delicacy of egg as you work with higher temperatures needed for working with melted cheese. It makes it harder to incorporate the egg into the recipe and requires more work. Then, you really can taste the cheese and the egg when I’d rather it taste like bread.

However, if you’re finding that your bagels aren’t rising enough or still have a cheesy texture in the middle, add an egg and see if that doesn’t leaven things more for you. What’s awesome about this dough is that they can be altered to fit YOU. I love them!