Oh, my. Thanks for catching a boo-boo in the recipe. I just corrected it. Down in the instructions when is says "Place the SHREDDED mozzarella cheese" in the middle of the focaccia on the meat.......that should say (and now does) "place the SLICED mozzarella cheese". Funny nobody has caught that before now, but I'm glad you found the error and it's now corrected. I think it would be good with Italian sausage. Seems like it required a fork to eat while hot, but as it cooled off, I recollect it firmed up, so dipping might be a possibility.

Yes, re: yeast. I found I could add it to breads and give a mild yeast flavor to the final product. A lot of low-carb food bloggers say a small amount of sugar can also be used because it is "consumed by the yeast", but I'm not sure I buy into that theory. Sugar IN the product stays in the food you are consuming and thus ends up in your belly, whether then inside or outside of the yeast's "belly". LOL I occasionally add it to breads I want extra soft and fluffy, but just a pinch.

Ah yes, AND I was confusing the 1-1/2 cups of shredded with that filling cheese. Makes sense now. I suppose shredded mozz could also just as easily be used. I'll bet fluffy mozz like one would buy in the log or ball for a caprese salad would also be good.

I'd like to work out a way to make a pasta marinara sauce super thick like ketchup to use as a topper for this. I dont often make my own sauce because there are some good no added sugar sauces for not a lot of money and I'm very good at "stepping on" store-bought sauces to amp them up. I suppose I could just reduce a sauce...A LOT and even sprinkle in some Xanthan gum to tighten it up further. This recipe looks so good, I just imagine it with a sauce...I'm jonesing for anything like lasagna (one of your recipes that doesn't work for me is the dumpling/noodle one, or ANY other low carb noodle including the low carb pasta flour I wasted money on) and this recipe may not give me noodles, but can simulate the concept...sort of!

Going back to the crackers. Would you comment on the carb difference between the two recipes? Am I seeing that right?

Also, I'd like your comment on my question about the arrowroot powder. I want to place a Netrition order to get my free shipping, and wonder what the deal is with the stuff and what other uses it may have.

Please see my post, second from the bottom back on page 2.

Thanks!

And where is everyone else?!!! Surely folks have some ideas and info!

Yes, you could use 6 oz. sliced OR shredded mozzy in the filling. I just happened to have some sliced I wanted to use up. A thick marinara sauce can be used here, but that will make it more like pizza, and you know how I am about pizza.

The slightly higher carbs (.6 nc per cracker vs. .2 nc per cracker in the all flax version)in the almond-arrowroot crackers is due to the almond meal and arrowroot, as flax is almost a carb wash when you deduct the fiber. But the almond-arrowroot cracker is IMHO a much better cracker, both in texture and flavor. The flax cracker was one of my very first LC crackers. I think I was still in Induction and wanted the lowest carbs possible. Also, I learned over time I'm not too wild about the taste of flax if it dominates the flavor profile, thus I tend to use it sparingly in my recipes (ever since I got out of Induction).

Your link for arrowroot isn't taking me to a product, rather a blank page. Bob's Red Mill carries arrowroot. But honestly Ken, I just buy whatever brand I can find at the best price. Some regular grocery stores carry arrowroot, but I'm not so lucky here where I live. Last brand I bought was Starwest Botanicals in a big square plastic screw-lid jar, but I bought it so long ago, I'm not positive I ordered it from Netrition. I probably did, as they get most of my LC food buys, but I don't see it on their site right now, so they may not be my source.

Ha! Yes, one of the few people on the planet tired of pizza!

That's exactly what I'm tying to do. Kind of like a cross between lasagna and pizza...since I cant find an LC noodle or recipe I feel is worth the money or time to make for the flavor and texture it provides.

So...back to arrowroot. What is it for? What does it do for the baking or product? Seems really high in carbs for a low carb recipe, it must be worth it for some reason. I'm asking what that is.

Thanks!

I just rediscovered another keto friendly old friend I had forgotten about...bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers!

I made a recipe of J Kenji Lopez-Alt's gyro meat. What a pain because my food processor is like 40 years old and doesn't have the power to puree the meat all at once, I had to break it up in batches, but I have been searching for a way to make real gyro meat (or close to it) for years. I've tried many paths and this one looks promising

https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06...e-food-lab.html

He does extensive testing, so it should work. He is the one that blew up the myth that farm eggs taste better than supermarket eggs. I was blown away at that...its all in the head, when he blind taste tested scrambled eggs using green food dye to remove the rich color of farm eggs, no one could tell the difference!

Anyway, I digress. Some low carb pitas, this meat, homemade tzatziki, onions and tomato and its gyros for dinner with jalapeno poppers on the side!

I added arrowroot powder to these crackers to "lighten up the color" of the final product (flax meal and nut meals bake darker crackers). I think this may be my only recipe that calls for it. I had noticed a lot of Paleo cooks' photos of baked goods on the net that used it as a flour sub with other LC flours, came out "whiter" products. That's the only reason, really. But since it's a bit carby, I didn't add much.

Thanks Peggy, I think I'll go ahead and order some, its not terribly expensive and I'm getting closer to 10 lbs away from goal...I just saw 186.8lbs for the first time! And thats while enjoying way too much booze still and more carbs. It has been cheap fresh cherry season at the supermarket, and I just wont deny myself some of that seasonally, and home grown tomatoes are coming in now too, so I'm shifting some of my carb load over to enjoy them. I've worked very hard babying those plants and been fighting all out war with the squirrels who suddenly, for the first year ever have decided to ravage my tomatoes...I will not be denied my home grown tomatoes!

That digression aside, it looks like I'm still slowly losing and getting closer to goal, so the added carbs in your newer cracker recipe should suit my evolving diet just fine.

By the way, check out how many benefits ArrowRoot powder has! Kind of like einkhorn flour, it may not be super low carb, but so much better for you.

https://www.organicfacts.net/health.../arrowroot.html

The Cherries are in!! Yes...….
DH did just bring home a big bag of them and they are so good.
Giving myself a free pass on them this year!

Another question Peggy, I'm trying to decide whether to invest in the Resistant Wheat Starch 75. The only recipe on your site using it (I think) that made the all star recipes list is the Einkhorn RWS biscuits (what does RWS mean?). I bought some Einkhorn flour because of your site but like a dummy didn't realize I had to buy so many other ingredients for some of those recipes, and they didn't make it to the top category. I dont have a lot of experiment time in the kitchen these days so I'm focused on your tried and true collection for best results.

Would you say those biscuits are worth the investment in the Resistant Wheat Starch 75 just for making them...that they will become a go to for me that I will use the stuff regularly? Netrition only has the 2lb bag for $8.69 and its not something I'm finding on Amazon or any cheaper or smaller package.

you seemed really impressed with the biscuits and I have been very impressed with the recipes in your all star collections, except the dumplings, and I still keep thinking i must have done something wrong twice on that recipe, because if you put it on the all star list, I feel like I'm missing something, because everything else is spot on for me on that list that I've tried.

Q#1- RWS is short for Resistant Wheat Starch.
Q#2- Too subjective to answer. Me personally, I learned early on that if ingredients don't go bad on the shelf, I decide if I want to have yet one more to store and I have the pantry space to keep on hand for "just that one recipe" I really, really want to try. If the product is <$10 and will be used in small amounts and likely last a long time, I'll do that. That way I don't have to agonize with each recipe I wanted to try, whether to buy, the going price and have to order & wait to get it.

Topic #3- I use this recipe repeatedly because MY palate likes it the best of all of my biscuit recipes. Closest to traditional flour biscuits IMHO, but I'd be lying if I said they were AS GOOD AS traditional flour biscuits. So to be honest, Ken, YOUR palate may not like these (or their texture) at all if/when you try them. I can't tell you how many LC biscuits I have baked just because the recipe author said "these are fantastic" that ended up in the trash can. As with all cooking, no two people's taste will be the same. I may LOVE something YOU love; I may detest it. That's life.

Something has to be going wrong with your dumpling trials. Glucomannan is glucomannan and all brands I have used have performed the same for me. That's not true of a lot of LC ingredients, almond flour and coconut flours being prime examples of that. Big differences in brands on those. I have made two new recipes just in the past month with the "Peggy's Original Dumplings" recipe and they cooked up soft and fluffy as they always do for me, even submerged in my most recent Taste Of Italy casserole, where liquid was minimal (that success really surprised me, too!). In your two trials, did you use the later Einkorn recipe for dumplings? Because I have found I don't like that recipe as well as the "original" version. That is the ONE time adding a bit of Einkorn to a recipe DID NOT please me. Made them a little too dense. Other followers liked that one BETTER and precisely because they were denser. But if your two trials were with the "original dumpling" recipe, I give up..........I can think of no other reasons yours are not coming out soft.

All I can say is stick with it, as I have followers (both who have and have not had initial fails), who stuck with their efforts that have come back and told me theirs finally came out "as advertised", soft and fluffy. In most cases, they thought their problems were in handling, simmer level too high, or cooking before the gluc dough had properly set up a few minutes (or got distracted and let them set too long) before cooking. I personally have made these dumplings probably 50 times over the years and only the Einkorn version ever came out too firm and dense (and that one only twice sere too dense for my liking, as I recall). I don't believe the original version has come out dense one single time, in fact.

Here's a link to my linguine version of this noodle dough. They were hand-cut, as pasta machines are, for me, a hassle. In fact specialty machines of any kind I avoid like the plague for this reason and how much storage space they require. The fewer the better IMO. https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2014/...bster-linguine/.

If my husband weren't totally inept with anything mechanical, I'd do a video of this recipe. Sold my tripod because I never could set up the shots fast enough to eat my own meals before stone cold. So I have stuck with free-hand shooting. I take videos all the time of my dog, but the hubs, who also lives with an "essential tremor" in his right hand, probably could not learn how to use my digital camera or get a decent focus if his life depended on it. What can I say, he's just not talented that way. Heck, he's been using a computer for forum following and email for years and still doesn't know how to cut/paste or recognize half of what he is looking at on a screen. He has a mental block about computers and won't touch my camera. When I have him do so, I usually regret it later.

LOL Peggy! Yes, I enlighten folks on computer use all the time. Because I CAD draw, I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts. A lot of people are completely unaware of "Control Z, X, C, V,...even control+F to open the "find" dialog on web page or document.

I'm going to order the RWS (thanks for the heads up). Much like the arrowroot powder, it has amazing other benefits. It may even be a better light deep fry coating for my wings. For now oat fiber has been replacing cornstarch for that...its good, but darkens a lot a and not quite the same as what cornstarch does.

I'll have to keep trying the dumplings. There has got to be something wrong on my end. I am so jonesing for a low carb noodle...that isn't weird.

I'll bet that biscuit recipe tastes just fine. I am looking for something to use for a variety of purposes, especially of which is biscuits and sausage gravy. I'l bet those cheddar biscuits would be really good under some gravy too...now that I think about it. Now that I have the skills to use xantahn gum judiciously to thicken without becoming mucus-like...this is getting fun! I can even whip up a quick broth based gravy for anything...its very culinarily empowering, compared to the early days of LC desperation when I had yet to develop LC cooking skills. Wonder of the RWS makes a good sauce thickener?

I hope you take my questions and communications as an appreciation for your work. I seem to be about the only other person posting in this thread, I'm not trying to pester...

..BUT!...on your Einkhorn baking mix, you strongly suggest no substitutions. Does that also strictly apply to the palm shortening? Any reason regular vegetable shortening wouldn't perform similarly? Ever use a food processor to cut-in the shortening?

And lastly, (for today ), I finally made your pizza crust method last night. I just used the focaccia recipe including the yeast. A real keeper that is. Real slices that hold up to eating by hand, a solid chew to the crust. I was concerned about the tomato sauce making it soggy, but it did not.

I reduced some marinara for a couple of hours to make it thick but was still very light with putting it on. I was even a little cautious on how many topping that leech moisture like onions. Not to worry next time, the crust stood up just fine, not a hint of soggy. I used your exact method, I have the aluminum pizza pan with the perforations in the center, did the pre-bake with the parchment between, the re-bake without the parchment.

I did bake it a little longer the first time just to be sure it would stand up to the toppings, I dont think I need to do that, the top of the focaccia creates a glaze that I think repels too much moisture from getting in. I feel free now to slather the sauce and the toppings on heavier next time. What a treat, closest thing to real pizza I've had yet, and definitely better than my double lavash method, albeit more expensive and more work.

The hardest part about the Focaccia is the spreading of it on to the pan. Do you have any tricks you use for that? I thought maybe another tablespoon of water to wetten the dough more? A small dough roller with an oil coating?

The parchment is so sticky to the dough...even the parchment sliding around is a pain. With the round pizza pan I taped the corners of the parchment (leaving a folded end of tape for easy removal) back around to the underside of the pan, that helped keep the parchment from moving as much, but interestingly, the transparent regular tape doesn't stick real well and comes off the parchment really easy. I thought that was weird until I learned that parchment is a release or non-stick kind of product! Makes sense now...OH! Must note that the tape needs removed prior to baking!

Have not myself tried RWS as a sauce thickener. Have used xanthan gum all 9 years I've been low-carbing to thicken. Glucomannan gets way too thick way too fast for me to like using it.

Regular shortening isn't as healthy as palm shortening. But regular will sure work.

Re spreading the focaccia batter, no, that's the part I hate, too. Low-carb batters can be such a PIA that way, having "special handling" because of the texture (or lack thereof). I use a spatula to spread the batter out from the middle at first. Then I switch to a fork to spread it up along the edges to my desired size. I find thinner is better, as it DOES rise during baking (whereas many LC pizza crusts do not rise much at all. I don't go all the way out the full 16" pan size, but I get mine to about 14" most of the time when I'm patient with the process. I just hold the parchment down steady with a finger on my free hand. I'm old school in the kitchen and use the "tools" that are the handiest or that take less interruption/time. LOL

Much respect for the old school. Most chefs will tell you to ditch the gadgets and learn knife skills...and there are only a handful of knives a kitchen even needs.

My wife sold Pampered Chef for a while, mostly to get the 50% off the products! We have cabinets and drawers full of stuff. Some of it is awesome, some I forget we have. The ground beef chopper tool:

https://www.amazon.com/Pampered-Che...ef+chopper+tool

Is one of those, "where have you been all my life" tools.

I have developed pretty good knife skills from everything from chopping and julienne to taking apart whole chickens and deboning meats. I even prefer to butcher dear meat myself rather than what the butchers usually do to a deer. I like to carefully take the whole muscles off the bone.

Nice little write-up on palm shortening: https://www.thepaleomom.com/wiki/palm-shortening/ They're having a 50% sale on it right now at Tropical Traditions. But frankly, I'm in Texas and afraid to ship such things in this heat. I had coconut oil seep out in shipment one time (and not even in summer!), even through the foil seal inside the screw lid that had been compromised due to an obvious box crush event! Oil got all over everything in the box from Netrition! Was so glad when it got to where you could buy coconut oil in a lot of brick and mortar stores. Unfortunately, I've not found one that carries palm shortening. I know the lid seal on the buckets is probably better than average, but on its side, I think melted shortening could still seep out in the shipping box like that coconut oil did and potentially be a mess to handle in the post office and by the mailman on his route.

Peggy,

What did you use to make the "bagels" from your focaccia dough? They look so much more brown and a perfect bagel/doughnut shape. I miss bagels and need to "feed that need"!

Also, I just got in my Resistant wheat starch 75 I bought to do one of your recipes with. WOW, that stuff is nearly carb neutral like oat fiber. Any idea if the stuff behaves like cornstarch? Thickening, crunchy coating on deep fried foods, etc..

Also, got the arrowroot starch/flour. It's the Bob's red mill brand. On the package it says it can be used in ice cream to reduce the formation of ice crystals making it easier to scoop right from the freezer! You and someone else just recently were discussing how to do this and had no solution to date. It says to use 1 tsp per pint of ice cream.

I need to measure what the volume of your blackberry ice cream method produces in the end product (you wouldn't know would you?). I've been using different frozen fruits with that and every time its delicious, I'm going to try peaches next time too. I see you now have a different peach ice cream recipe/method just posted on your site too, looks like it makes a lot more. I'll use your red and yellow food coloring trick from the new recipe for the color!

With the old recipe using a cup or more of fruit and 1-1/4 cups cream, that probably makes maybe a pint and a half-ish. 1 teaspoon of arrowroot powder would only add about a half a net carb to the serving size. I think I'll try that and see what happens.

Just thought I'd report that in case you didn't know there was a use for the stuff to supposedly solve the problem of that ice cream freezing solid.

I baked those bagels (doughnuts) in a Wilton standard 6-slot non-stick donut pan. I think I stumbled on it in a Hobby Lobby in the cake decorating department. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/wi...AiABEgLutfD_BwE

No, sorry, I've not used RWS as a cornstarch substitute. I suppose it MIGHT thicken stuff up though. You'd just have to try that out.

Hmm. Not sure arrowroot would do that for ice cream. But heck, I suppose one could sure try it.

Seems like the blackberry ice cream made about 3 cups total, Ken. I had company that night and the four of us ate it all as I recall. You can see I put 2 small scoops (about 2/3 c.) into each serving cup. Lately I'm trying to just make small volume ice cream recipes (or the ice cream in a bag) so there is none leftover to get too hard. That approach is working out better than trying the 50th way to supposedly keep it soft that yet again doesn't work. I love ice cream (much more than baked goods) and am more than happy to finish it at one sitting. LOL Thanks for the tip and I'll try it when I make ice cream again.