Frankenflour Math

Working on a low carb substitute for 00 flour, which is used to make egg pasta and New York style pizza dough. The flour accounts for all the carbs in either one.

Got it down to 64 grams carbs per 1 1/4 cup flour vs 124g carbs for the same amount of 00 flour.

Here’s the math on carbs.

Keto Dough Maths (Work in Progress)

Keto diets aim for under 50 net carbs per day and most people target 20 to 30.

What I miss the most are pizza and pasta. Both have significant carbohydrates in the dough due to wheat. I’m going to make and test keto-friendly alternatives for pizza dough and pasta.

The math part follows.

For pizza dough:

You will need 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cup of flour, the main source of carbs in the dough, to make a decent size (roughly 12”) pizza such as New York style fairly thin crust pizza. Let’s say 1.2 cups, which is 144g.

On flour packages and are listed the number of carbs per serving, with a “serving” size being defined as 30g (with flour that’s going to be 1/4 cup).

144/6 = 24g flour per slice.

You are going to eat half in one meal, realistically (3 slices). 3 x 24 = 72.

So 72g of flour per meal. How many 30g “servings” is that? That’s 2.4 x 30g.

72g is a half cup plus 2 TBSP of flour per meal.

Therefore, to calculate total carbs from the pizza dough you’ll be eating, multiply the below numbers by 2.4.

4 - Bob’s Red Mill vital gluten flour per 30g (1/4 cup). I don’t think you’d make pizza dough just using this. It’s something you can add to gluten free flour.

19 - Bob’s Red Mill gluten free pizza crust (which I guess I might mix with vital gluten flour 75/25 because gluten free sucks IMO) has 24g per 1/4 cup (30g) for a combined average of 19g carbs per 30g (1/4 cup).

19 x 2.4 = 45.6 carbs

24 - Bob’s Red Mill 00 flour has 24g per 1/4 cup (30g).

24 x 2.4 = 57.6 carbs

21 - King Arthur's Neapolitan Style '00' Pizza Flour has around 21 mg per 1/4 cup (30g).

21 x 2.4 = 50.4

Those are bad numbers, therefore there is a lot of interest in keto pizza dough recipes. Very similar deal with keto pasta dough recipes.

Alternatives to 00 flour that perhaps could be combined to make acceptable pizza (or pasta) dough:

19 Bob’s Red Mill Spelt Flour - stone ground whole grain non-GMO has 23g per 30g (1/4 cup). However spelt flour has around 19 grams of net carbs per 1/4 cup serving, calculated by subtracting its roughly 4 grams of fiber from its 23 grams of total carbs Spelt flour is more easily digestible than modern day wheat.

6.45 Bob’s Red Mill super fine almond flour has 3g carbs in 2 TBSP (14g). They list the net carbs even though this isn’t specified as such. So multiply 3 by 2.15 to get carbs per 30g (1/4 cup) … 6.45. It has no gluten. Adding vital gluten (4g in 1/4 cup) doesn’t really add to the total carbs. As the name implies, almond flour is finer than 00 flour.

18.45 Bob’s Red Mill organic coconut flour is similar to almond flour in that it is listed as just 9g per 2 TBSP so we have to multiply 9 by 2.15 and get 18.45g per 30g. Coconut flour net carbs can be in the 6 to 10 range. They recommend replacing up to 20 percent of wheat flour with coconut flour. No gluten. Compared to almond flour it has double the dietary fiber. Coconut flour is significantly higher in fiber, protein, and healthy fats, while being much lower in net carbs and gluten-free compared to wheat flour.

A mixture of spelt flour, almond flour, coconut flour, vital wheat gluten, and nutritional yeast would have a similar texture, more fiber, fewer net carbs, and more protein than 00 flour, and potentially easier to digest. The ratio of almond flour is the question. How fine do you want the flour to be for pasta or pizza?

Nutritional yeast is mentioned as an aside and can be added to flour to boost protein and certain vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, B12, potassium, and folic acid) without affecting carbs. Very beneficial in any diet.

Frankenflour Test Case:

75g almond flour (very low carb and suoer fine like 00, no gluten, makes up about half the flour)

36g spelt flour (a form of wheat flour that is easier to digest than modern wheat flour, similar carbs, most like 00 flower in that it is wheat and has gluten)

38g coconut flour (higher in protein, fiber, healthy fat, no gluten)

2g gluten flour (very low carb, high protein, for the added gluten)

2g nutritional yeast (very low carb, for the B vitamins)

1/4 tsp xantham gum (binder)

——

Total weight: 155g (1 1/4 cuo)

Carbs per serving: 64, which is roughly half that of 00 flour’s 124g carbs for the same measure.

Other advantages are: Extra protein, a lot more fiber, nutritionally better (added B vitamins)

Texture and taste should be good for either use. I think it will be superior to 00 flour in many ways. Unless you are a 00 purist like maybe James Bond.

For useage, refer to blog posts for Frankenpasta and Frankenpizza. In both cases, the flour needs to be treated differently than 00. For pasta dough, for example, I use more eggs and add ricotta cheese.