March 16, 2011

Garlic and Herb Rolls (Low Carb)

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I am fairly certain that you know I love chocolate, and I think I’ve made it pretty obvious how much I love nuts. What you might not know is that I am also a full-on, certified, card-carrying garlic-aholic. I love the stuff dearly and think that most savoury foods could be vastly improved by the addition of garlic. And if they already have some in it, I think they could be vastly improved by the addition of more garlic. We have a dish we used to eat fairly frequently, called Pasta Fresca, and we’d add so much garlic our breath fairly reeked of it from several feet away. And my husband makes a wonderful homemade boursin, and I always egg him on to add more and more garlic. It’s a sickness, it really is.

Now that I have disclosed this addiction, you might be able to imagine my reaction to the various garlic knots and garlic rolls that were making their rounds in the food-blogging world recently. Alas, bread is not exactly my friend these days, so I did my best to shield my eyes from the beautiful sight of fresh rolls brushed in garlic butter, and skip over those posts. But I couldn’t get them out of my head quite so easily, the images that I had barely glimpsed were branded on my brain. Garlic. Butter. Fresh bread. Together, they are a temptation worse than the apple in the Garden of Eden.

They had to be made, and I was going to eat one come hell or highwater. So I decided to try them with Carbalose flour, so that they wouldn’t be quite so hard on my blood sugars. And I knew exactly which recipe I was going to use. My friend Roxana from A Little Bit of Everything makes such beautiful work of her breads and rolls. She’s an artist in yeasted dough and her recipes included step by step instructions. So it was to her site I turned for help. I halved the recipe so we wouldn’t have too much leftover and I made a few modifications that suit the nature of carbalose flour (more yeast and more liquid, and letting it rise in a warm oven). But other than that, I followed her recipe and directions. If you don’t need to be low carb, check out Roxana’s recipe here. I assure you, you won’t regret it.

The Results: These are delightful and a perfect accompaniment to a lighter meal of soup or salad. I did find that they weren’t quite as garlicky as I might have liked, but remember, I am a serious garlic-lover. This is all a matter of personal preference. I also found that a lot of the butter ran out during baking. Next time, I might do something like this – brush just a little melted butter inside, slather it with crushed garlic and other herbs and then brush the tops with more melted butter. I just hated seeing all that lovely butter go to waste! But the rolls themselves were lovely and the carbalose flour did admirably. I would make these again in a heartbeat.

Garlic and Herb Rolls – adapted from A Little Bit of Everything

2 cups carbalose flour
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk, lukewarm (about 110F)
1/2 cup water, lukewarm (abut 110F)
1 package rapid rise yeast
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, softened
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 200F for 10 minutes and then turn oven off.

In a medium bowl, stir together carbalose flour, gluten flour and salt. Set aside

In the bowl of your mixer, combine milk and water. Sprinkle yeast over and mix well. Mix in egg until combined.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture until combined. Dough may be quite sticky, but do not add any more flour.

With greased hands, shape dough into a smooth ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in warm oven for 30-45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, cream butter with garlic, basil, parsley and salt until well combined.

Roll out dough on a lightly greased surface into a rough rectangle, 12 x 16 inches or so. Spread butter mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border around all edges. Starting at a longer side, roll up dough tightly into a log and pinch to seal the edge.

Cut log into 12 equal portions (following Roxana, I used a piece of fine thread for this and it worked to cut them without squishing them) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Put back into warm oven and let rise until doubled, about 20 more minutes.

Remove from oven and increase heat to 375F. Once oven is preheated, bake rolls 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Serves 12. Each roll has a total of 9.7g of carbs and 4.8g of fiber, so net carbs are 4.9g.

Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

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