How to Make Keto Cloud Bread

Can I Eat Cloud Bread on a Keto Diet?

Although traditional, grain-based, bread is eliminated on a ketogenic diet, we thankfully have a ton of tasty tradeoffs to keep our ketones high, and the number on the scale on the decline.

From the light and airy to the dense and rustic varieties, the realm of high-fat, low-carb-friendly, bread options on a ketogenic diet is quite vast and diverse.

Reasons to Avoid Grain-Based Bread on Keto

We can relate to missing the flaky, buttery, and light texture of a Parisian croissant, or cheese danish, and who could blame anyone—our taste buds gravitate toward salt, fat, and sweet flavor profiles as they ignite our brain's pleasure centers.

Deciding to live a low-carb, ketogenic, lifestyle brings with it a lot of freedom to enjoy healthy fats like omega-3-rich foods, grass-fed meats, nuts, and seeds, and this brave new dietary world is exciting to discover and journey through, but what about bread?  

As you're probably aware, traditional, grain-based bread is problematic on a ketogenic diet because of the significant impact it has on spiking glucose which can lead to issues with insulin resistance and the increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, consuming bread made with grain-based flours (e.g., all-purpose white, wheat, etc.), even if gluten-free, generally leads to consistently-elevated blood sugar levels, as well as continual spikes and dips in glucose levels and insulin in the bloodstream throughout the day—resulting in wildly unstable and compromised hormonal, mood, and metabolic health.

Aside from the spiking of glucose levels throughout the day, most bread on the market contains gluten, an ingredient that's great to add elasticity to food but is known to wreak havoc with digestion for those with a sensitivity to the ubiquitous ingredient.

Going for a ketogenic, paleo, grain-free bread option eliminates all the issues noted above with grain-and-gluten-based bread-like blood sugar irregularities and surges and digestive problems including the exacerbation of leaky gut syndrome.

So, now that we've outlined the types of bread to avoid on a ketogenic diet, here's more on a fantastic and versatile food that you can make without reservation on a low-carb, high-fat diet. We give you: cloud bread!

What is Cloud Bread?

Whether herbaceous and intensified with the addition of fresh, roasted garlic cloves or infused with cinnamon, nutmeg, and Swerve to create keto-friendly sweet rolls, dripping in cream cheese icing: cloud bread is a fantastic dietary option to add some variety and spice to your keto meal plan, in place of conventional bread.

Essentially, cloud bread is a flourless variety of the coveted food and a preferred selection on keto since, in its most basic iteration, it contains virtually zero carbs and is rich in healthy saturated fats!

You'll find this bread recipe, and others in heavy rotation for many on a ketogenic diet—just a few ingredient swaps can make a world of difference in our efforts to keep the carbs low and our cravings crushed while experiencing all the health benefits of nutritional ketosis—more on how cloud bread does just that below.

The Benefits of Cloud Bread

The commitment to eliminate sugar and carbs from our diet doesn't take with it our fond memories of piping-hot loaves being removed from the oven and wafting bold and comforting smells through our childhood homes—once a bread lover, always a bread lover.

With that being said, the die-hard bread lovers who've taken the keto-leap can confidently make satisfying and carb-conscious cloud bread to stand in for sandwiches, or as the toast to top with grass-fed butter, or as the base for a sweeter keto confection, with a few key tips that we'll mention below.

It's worth noting that aside from being a light and fluffy bread alternative, cloud bread also offers additional benefits, especially to those on a ketogenic diet, and they are as follows:

• It contains less than a gram of net carbohydrates per serving
• It’s rich in saturated fats
• Delicious in savory recipes and doesn’t need a sweetener; yet, is equally yummy in keto dessert recipes with added sweetener, it’s totally up to you!
• An excellent substitute for foods you might otherwise avoid on keto (e.g., burger bun, sweet Danish base, etc.); experiment and enjoy the spoils of your labor, there are so many recipes to explore!

Now, if the keto-friendly macros and versatility haven't piqued your interest, did we also mention that cloud bread is incredibly easy to make? We promise, this keto staple recipe only requires a few ingredients, and we're willing to bet that you already have them on hand!

You’ll need softened cream cheese (at room temperature), three large eggs, cream of tartar, sea salt, parchment paper, and a baking sheet—see, easy-peasy.

In addition to requiring a short list of ingredients, making cloud bread only takes about 10 minutes to prep and 30 minutes to bake, for a total time of 40 minutes—something fast and easy enough to whip up in a pinch, even on a weekday night after work, if needed.

Cloud Bread Net Carbs

Its light and airy texture may be enough to entice you, but in case you need a bit more reason to celebrate this keto-friendly find, each cloud bread disc comes in at an impressive and ketosis-sustaining, less than half a carb a piece!

Cloud bread opens up an array of diverse and satiating, low-carb, high-fat recipes to your menu plan while helping to keep glucose levels balanced and fat-storing hormones like insulin and cortisol in check, a real dietary asset on a keto diet.

You're probably getting excited by now as you envision all the keto confections and savory craving-crushers you'll concoct with cloud bread, but there’s more!

Now, to add benefits to more benefits, consider this: a traditional slice of white bread contains more than the entire suggested daily net carb ceiling of 20 net grams while eating cloud bread allows for incorporating it in an endless number of recipes throughout the week while keeping carbs super low.

Let's contrast the carb-bomb that is traditional bread to the airy and delicious carb-conscious cloud bread: with its simple handful of ingredients consisting of eggs, cream cheese, a dash of salt and cream of tartar, cloud bread is primarily comprised of fat, followed by protein at 40%, and a limited portion of the macronutrients made up of carbs (approximately 10%).

Also, when juxtaposed, cloud bread appears to be an irresistibly scrumptious macronutrient solution for anyone looking to hit the standard suggested macro composition of 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbohydrate. Interestingly enough, cloud bread's macro breakdown is just about spot on—coming in at 52%, 41%, and 7%, respectively, a match made in keto foodie heaven!

Cloud Bread & Saturated Fats

Although those on a Standard American Diet (SAD) often dodge healthy fats in place of foods void of fat and replete with refined sugars and carbs, those on a ketogenic diet seek the opposite—looking to source optimal fat-and-ketone-based energy as its preference.

And per the ingredients noted above, cloud bread is abundant in healthy saturated fats thanks to the eggs and cream cheese used in the recipe, which also adds to the light and pleasant texture of the soft rolls.

Sadly, the framing of saturated fats in the mainstream health and wellness space is often skewed, thanks to decades of instruction by our nation's food regulatory agencies, dietitians, and doctors—all advising patients to ditch fats, calorie restrict, and accelerate physical activity significantly as the holy-grail template for weight loss.

However, overwhelming anecdotal testimonials from those successfully living a ketogenic lifestyle along with the findings of several discerning medical professionals alike are hopeful—lauding the many documented, well-established, and newly-emerging benefits of a ketogenic diet and ketosis.

Furthermore, the once marginalized and ostracized usual suspects among saturated fats like coconut oil, avocado, fatty meats, bacon, grass-fed butter, and pastured eggs,  are all again power players in the ensemble cast of dietary characters, encouraged to promote health, increased energy, weight loss, and vitality on a ketogenic diet.

Besides, in addition to keeping with classic keto macros, scientists and nutritionists have asserted that the full spectrum of healthy fats present in cloud bread (e.g., monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fat) is ideal for the human body and actually helps to prevent or reverse chronic disease, improve bone density, optimize cholesterol level composition, improve immune function, and help to promote balanced hormone health.

Should I Add a Sweetener to Cloud Bread?

While a variety of keto-friendly sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit, and erythritol,  can help to turn a standard cloud bread base into a number of sweet treats like a strawberry cheesecake danish, with the aid of our MCT-infused Keto Shake protein powder, adding a sugar-free sweetener to the cloud bread recipe we'll share below is entirely optional.

However, if you choose to make a dessert using the cloud bread recipe be sure to keep your sweeteners sugar-free and select options you know will not spike your blood sugar—glucose testing can prove helpful here if you're particularly sensitive.

If you're new to keto or just looking for a deeper dive into the best sweeteners to use on keto, print out our comprehensive guide to using keto-friendly sweeteners and avoiding toxic sweeteners at all costs...

Konscious Keto Cloud Bread

Cloud bread is a great alternative plain, gussied up with herbs and sharp cheddar, or finessed into a sweet and satisfying treat so appetizing that it’ll make you question how it could be sugar-free!

No worries, we promise you that our recipes are all free of sugar and are also ideal for anyone looking to maintain metabolic ketosis on a ketogenic diet.

Fortunately, our Keto Shake protein powder is now back by popular demand, and it's good for way more than making keto-friendly smoothies.

Try the following sweet take on cloud bread to satisfy a sweet craving with a recipe that nods to traditional strawberry shortcake.

Here's what you'll need:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 scoop Keto Shake (strawberry cheesecake flavor)
• 1 tsp strawberry extract
• 3 tbsp cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg 
• ½ tsp liquid stevia
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp pink Himalayan sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 300°F degrees and line two baking pans with parchment paper.
• Carefully separate egg whites from yolks. Place whites and yolks in separate bowls.
• Add cream cheese to the bowl of egg yolks and mix with a hand mixer until well-combined.
• Add cream of tartar and salt in the bowl of egg whites. Using a hand mixer, whisk together at high speed until stiff peaks form.
• Add yolk mixture to egg whites, pouring slowly, and carefully fold in together until completely combined.
• Add Keto Shake Strawberry Cheesecake, liquid stevia, vanilla extract, strawberry extract, and nutmeg, and mix gently to combine.
• Spoon mixture five inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake in the oven on middle rack for 30 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown.
• Allow to cool and enjoy! Please beware, the bread will likely be quite crumbly when hot, just directly out of the oven—so, cool a bit before eating.

Keto Bread Swaps We Love

You may have initially psyched yourself up to forgo all bread, tortillas, hamburger buns, and dare I say it, pizza when you decided to begin a ketogenic diet.

But there's no need to eliminate these flavorful favorites. With a few ingredient tweaks, you'll be enjoying some of your pre-keto favorites thanks to a carb-conscious makeover within a given recipe's ingredients list—in this case, the ever-versatile cloud bread.

Pizza, taco, and burger night are all back in the rotation with the inclusion of cloud bread to your weekly meal plan; it can stand in equally well to lend a traditional food experience to that of its conventional counterparts—incredibly promising to those eager to dive into the keto lifestyle for its accelerated weight loss and therapeutic benefits without forfeiting their dietary favorites.

Here are some great ways to swap in cloud bread to cut the carbs:

• Hamburger buns
• Sandwich slices
• Personal pizza crust base
• Breakfast sandwich rolls
• Sweet danish base

So you can see, keto does not mean giving up your favorite foods but just reimagining ways to give new life to popular favorites and discovering new staples, while effortlessly regaining energy and experiencing a state of optimal health and wellness.

Summary

Take the time to pin some recipes online and give them a go! Once you master the easy base recipe for cloud bread, you’ll become more creative and find new and exciting ways to integrate this delightful keto staple into your weekly and daily low-carb, high-fat, dietary program.

Honestly, the innovative ways to use cloud bread from the sweet chewy base in a keto banana trifle with full-fat whipped cream, to espresso-dipped ‘lady-fingers’ for a low-carb tiramisu, or the petite baked base for a energizing single-serving keto pizza slider—cloud bread will prove a miraculous addition to your current ketogenic meal plan!