Step 1

Mix together your “flour” ingredients (lupin flour, vital wheat gluten, and oat fiber) in a bowl & whisk until evenly distributed.  Set aside.

Step 2

In your stand mixer bowl, add instant yeast, sugar (or Inulin), and filtered (or distilled) water warmed to 80°F (*see note 1 for water temperature adjustments).   To ensure that your yeast is active (& not old or bad), allow the mix to sit for 5-7 minutes until you see foamy bubbles appear (it SHOULD look like the yeast is ‘blooming’ or expanding slightly in the water).  If you don’t see any bubbles, expansion or changes, then your yeast might be bad or old!

Step 3

Once your yeast is foamy and blooming, add lightly whisked eggs and allulose to the stand mixer.  Using a dough hook, mix together on a low speed until lightly combined.  Add half of your low carb “flour” mix and continue kneading on the LOWEST mixer speed for 2-3 minutes.  Add the other half of the low carb “flour” mix and continue kneading (still on lowest speed!) for 11-12 minutes.  The dough should look cohesive, smooth and stretchy (hello gluten development!)*At this point, if you were to pinch a piece of the dough and try to stretch it away from the rest of the dough, it should NOT break off easily. If it does break off instead of stretch, then it means your gluten hasn’t developed enough, so you can just continue kneading for an additional 1-2 minutes)*.   Add Kosher salt & softened butter to the dough, and knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and the butter has been completely kneaded in (no greasiness should be left in the dough), which should take 5-6 more minutes of kneading.    *If the butter is having trouble getting kneaded in (it will slip around kinda crazy the first few minutes while mixing, which is normal and expected!)  you can pause the kneading, pull the dough off the hook, pinch the dough with your hands (like a giant crab pinching your dough all across the dough) & then flip the dough over and continue your knead to help distribute the butter in.*   Once the dough looks SMOOTH and is not greasy to the touch, turn off your mixer and gather all the dough in your hands (some of your dough may appear stringy or not all in one even ball , and this is okay! It is just tight from good gluten development).  Form the dough into a smooth ball shape as best you can. Put the dough ball back into the mixer bowl  & cover the bowl with seran wrap or a kitchen towel.  Let the dough rest/RELAX at room temperature for 30 minutes!

Step 4

After the dough has relaxed for 30 minutes, use a bench scraper (or a knife) to cut the dough into 8 equal pieces (tip: use the scale to weigh & divide by 8 if you want them all exact same size). Now, you can shape each bun! Please watch the recipe video to see the best shaping technique!  *I have used many different shaping techniques on this recipe & building a MODERATE amount of “tension” in the dough will give you the most perfect buns (simply rolling them into balls may not build enough tension in the dough, and will result in slightly less fluffy buns–OR TOO much tension [the dough is pulled TOO tight) in the dough , will mean air bubbles get too trapped  & you may have large hollows inside when you bake them.*  TO SHAPE:  Take one piece of your dough and gently  flatten the dough with your hands into a square-ish shape ( a very rough square ish shape is is totally fine).  Fold each corner of the flattened dough piece into the center and gently press the corner of the dough down into the middle (imagine folding each dough corner like the flap of an envelope into middle of the dough and do this for all four corners!). Then, rotate  the dough slightly about 45 ° so you can do the same thing for the remaining   unfolded edges.  (I’m referring to the pieces of dough that were IN BETWEEN the corners and have not been pulled tight into the center of the dough) and fold them into the center of the dough same as before.   Your dough should like a round little dumpling now!   Pinch the seam (the seam is the place in the center where you gathered all the corners)  shut.   Flip your shaped, round dough ball over, so the pinched seam is facing down, and place onto a parchment lined or silpat baking mat lined baking tray. Do this for each piece of dough.  Use the palm of your hand to gently flatten all the dough balls (they’ll spring back up a lot and that’s  fine!). Cover the whole baking sheet loosely with a lightly oiled piece of seran wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise on your kitchen counter for 1-1.5 hours or until doubled in size. If your kitchen is a little on the cooler side (below 70-72 °F), your rise time will be slightly longer. If your kitchen is warmer than 72 °F then your rise time will be a little shorter. I actually prefer it a little cooler, because the LONGER the rise time, the BETTER the flavors that develop in your buns!  *** ALTERNATIVELY, you CAN place your shaped dough balls in the fridge to rise OVERNIGHT (instead of at room temperature) – which will even FURTHER enhance the delicious yeasty flavor! SEE NOTE 3 for tips/instructions for an overnight rise.

Step 5

Preheat your oven to 375 °F before your buns are fully risen. After your buns have appeared to almost double in size (my kitchen  which is usually 71- 72 °F takes 1 Hour and 15 minutes exactly),  you can conduct a “finger poke” test to check if they’re ready to bake! *To do this, gently poke one of your buns and see how it bounces back.  If it the poke does NOT leave a mark and the dough bounces/springs right back, then they need more time to rise.  If the poke leaves a mark but very slowly and slightly starts to bounce back, then they are PERFECTLY risen & ready to bake.   If the poke leaves a big flabby dent that doesn’t bounce back at ALL, then they are overproofed :(!

Step 6

Whisk together 1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water to make the egg wash.  Use a pastry brush and paint the egg wash onto each bun lightly covering all surfaces besides the very bottom.   Sprinkle on sesame seeds or other topping of choice.  Bake at 375 °F for 18-22 minutes until they’re a deep, dark golden brown and they feel firm (they will still be soft but not doughy!) on top when touched. These will get quite dark in color (as you can see in my pictures!) and that’s perfectly normal – they won’t taste burnt unless they start turning brownish/ black in the oven!  If they’re getting too dark, you can adjust oven temp down to 350 °F during baking (which may add another minute or two to your bake time).      Remove buns from the baking sheet and let them cool COMPLETELY on a wire rack, BEFORE slicing into (cooling them all the way SETS the crumb & prevents deflation- it’s SUPER important!).

Step 7

I recommend only cutting the buns in half, when you’re going to eat them to keep the centers fresh & soft. Store buns  at room temperature in an airtight container or ziploc bag to prevent drying out.  These buns also FREEZE perfectly!  I like to freeze my in individual ziploc freezer bags so that I can pull a single serving easily when needed. To thaw frozen buns, remove from the storage bag (to prevent sogginess during defrost) and let them thaw on the counter for 30-45 minutes 🙂

Step 8

ENJOY!