This flatbread recipe brings traditional pizza up a notch. The combination of ham and cheese is just as classic as the combination of ham and apples. Put them all together, throw in some red onions, a sprinkle of thyme, and we have a flatbread that you will want to make again and again.
The best part about this apple and ham flatbread is the crust. This is not a crust that you will bite into and immediately think it’s low-carb. It is thin and slightly crisp and tastes even better than the high carb stuff! It’s a flatbread you can serve to your friends and family and no one will guess it’s low-carb. This crust is also super versatile—Throw on your favorite low-carb toppings and make your own creation!
The flatbread is made with a base of almond flour and part-skim mozzarella cheese. The ingredients are simply heated over a double boiler until the cheese melts enough to hold everything together. You will need to work quickly once this dough is ready so have a rolling pin and a few pieces of parchment ready before you start heating the ingredients.
What’s the difference between flatbread and pizza? Technically flatbread is not supposed to be leavened. While the flatbread category can represent everything from crackers to pitas, I usually think of it as a thin pizza with a license to go creatively wild on the top. I love putting interesting flavor combinations together on a flatbread.
With this recipe there is no sauce. The cheesy gooey topping just melts together with the skinny apple slices providing just a bit of sweetness and crunch. While apples are generally a higher carb food, using a quarter of a small apple for the recipe controls the amount of carbs. Using a vegetable peeler to cut the apple makes paper thin slices and makes enough slices to spread over the entire flatbread.
This apple and ham flatbread recipe was a game changer for me. It cured those cravings for pizza and flatbreads. I hope it will for you too.
Yields 8 servings of Apple and Ham Flatbread
The Preparation
Crust:
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Topping:
- 1 cup mexican-style cheese blend, shredded
- 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 46 grams apple, seeded and cored, peeled, and sliced thin with a vegetable peeler
- 4 ounces ham
- 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
The Execution
1. Preheat oven to 425º Fahrenheit. Cut two pieces of parchment paper about 2 inches larger than a 12-inch pizza pan. Have a rolling pin and a 12-inch pizza pan ready.
2. Prepare a double boiler. A sauce pot partially filled with water with a mixing bowl that fits on top will suffice. Over high heat, bring water in the pot to a simmer, then turn heat to low.
3. In the mixing bowl for the double boiler, add mozzarella cheese, cream cheese, almond flour, thyme and salt. Place the bowl over the simmering pot and stir constantly being careful not to burn yourself with the steam escaping between the bowl and the pot. A silicone mitt works well to hold the bowl.
4. When the cheese melts enough, that the ingredients hold together and it starts to resemble dough, dump out onto one of the prepared pieces of parchment. Knead a few minutes to mix dough thoroughly.
5. Roll the dough into a ball, then place onto the center of the parchment paper. Pat into a disk shape and cover with the other piece of parchment. Using the rolling pin, gently roll the dough into about a 12-inch circle. If the bottom parchment paper rumples, turn the dough over and straighten the parchment paper before continuing.
6. Place the dough and the bottom piece of parchment onto the pizza pan. Using a fork, poke holes all over the dough. Place pan in oven and bake for about 6-8 minutes, watching carefully. Remove when it is golden brown. Decrease the oven setting to 350ºF.
7. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the cheese over the flatbread.
8. Arrange onion slices.
9. Add the apple slices.
10. Layer on the ham pieces.
11. Cover with remaining ¾ cup of cheese. Sprinkle with the thyme, salt, and ground pepper.
12. Bake at 350ºF. until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown—about 5-7 minutes.
13. Remove the apple and ham flatbread from the oven and slide off of the parchment onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before cutting. Transfer to a cutting board and slice into 8 pieces.
This makes a total of 8 servings of Apple and Ham Flatbread. Each serving comes out to be 236 calories, 17.9g fats, 3.9g net carbs, and 14.3g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 2 cup mozzarella cheese | 672 | 50.1 | 4.9 | 0 | 4.9 | 49.7 |
| 2 tablespoon cream cheese | 99 | 9.9 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 1.8 |
| 3/4 cup almond flour | 486 | 42 | 18.5 | 10.9 | 7.6 | 17.6 |
| 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 teaspoon sea salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 cup mexican-style cheese blend | 440 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 24 |
| 1/2 medium red onion | 21 | 0.1 | 4.8 | 0.7 | 4.1 | 0.6 |
| 46 gram apple | 24 | 0.1 | 6.4 | 1.1 | 5.3 | 0.1 |
| 4 ounce ham | 142 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 0 | 4.1 | 20.3 |
| 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 1885 | 143.2 | 44 | 12.8 | 31.2 | 114.1 |
| Per Serving (/8) | 236 | 17.9 | 5.5 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 14.3 |
Apple and Ham Flatbread
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 2 tablespoon cream cheese
- ¾ cup almond flour
- ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Topping:
- 1 cup mexican-style cheese blend shredded
- ½ medium red onion thinly sliced
- 46 gram apple seeded and cored, peeled, and sliced thin with a vegetable peeler
- 4 ounce ham
- ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Prepare a double boiler using a pot partially filled with water with a mixing bowl that fits well on top. Bring the water in the pot to a simmer over high heat and then turn the heat down to low.
- In the top part of the double boiler, add the mozzarella, cream cheese, almond flour, thyme, and salt. Place the bowl over the simmering pot of water and stir constantly. A silicone mitt works well for holding the bowl and avoiding burns from the hot steam.
- Once the cheese has melted enough that the ingredients hold together and it starts to resemble dough, dump the mixture out onto a piece of parchment paper. Knead for a few minutes to combine the dough thoroughly.
- Roll the dough into a ball and place in the center of the parchment paper. Pat it into a disk shape and cover with the other piece of parchment. Gently roll the dough into a circle. If the bottom parchment paper begins to crease, turn the dough over and straighten the parchment paper before continuing.
- Place the dough and the bottom piece of parchment paper onto a pizza pan. Using a fork, poke holes in the top of the dough. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 6–8 minutes, watching carefully. Remove from the oven once golden brown. Decrease the oven temperature to 350F.
- Sprinkle one-quarter of the cheese over the flatbread. Layer on the sliced onion, apple, and ham. Cover with the remaining cheese. Sprinkle the thyme, salt, and pepper over the top.
- Bake for 5–7 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes before slicing.
Any tips on how to stop the dough from sticking to the parchment?
Sometimes letting an item, that is stuck on parchment, fully cool will help it come off. You could also try easing an offset spatula under the flatbread.
This was the BEST pizza base recipe I’ve ever tried. We loved it! I forgot to prick the top of the base and in the process, accidentally discovered how to make a keto pita pocket – which I am totally going to try with mini rounds of this dough. Thanks for sharing this! 🙂
That’s genius! I’m going to have to try that too…thanks for sharing!
Hello, i love this recipe.
I was using oopsie bread for a while, but i don’t like the odor of egg in it.
This recipe is beautiful. The crust is really good.
I made a pizza with it … it’s the first time that i loved cooking in Keto diet.
thanks a lot 🙂
Here in France it’s hard and expensive to buy things to cook in Keto Diet.
But this recipe is simple and very effective.
I want to try some over recipe. You gave me the strength to cook, i hope your recipe about dessert are delicious as this one 🙂
For my opinion, your website is the best for Keto Diet
I was looking on your website for 2 months ago, and yesterday was the recipe that i made with you and the BEST RECIPE THAT I DONE AND FIND
Hi Hope! Thank you for writing such a wonderful comment. I’m glad you liked the flatbread, and I hope you find lots of other keto recipes to enjoy. 🙂
Anyone know if I can swap out cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella? I mean will it set up the same?
It should work ok!
This is insane, thank you! I was craving for a bread substitute since forever, 100g of almond flour and 200g of grated cheese makes me a “loaf of bread” for a day or two. So simple, tasty and filling. I also decided to add much more thyme and just today I used this crust as a “bun” for my burgers. Great stuff.
Ooooh! That sounds great. Did you make it thicker to use as a bun?
Not really, maybe just a little and the overall size is more like 10″. They add plenty of kcal to each burger so I didn’t want to overdo it 😛
I’m not on keto, but I love interesting recipes, and this is certainly one of them. I mean, who wouldn’t love anything made almost completely out of cheese! Made this last night with a few tweaks… I rolled the dough into a roughly 14″x10″ rectangle on a Silpat set on top of an inverted baking pan with a piece of parchment on top. Used a rolling pin to achieve a uniform thinness, about 1/8″, then used my fingers to neaten the sides of the rectangle. After the initial bake, topped the “crust” with procciutto, shredded provolone, thinly-sliced pear and red onion, and finished heating the toppings under the broiler for a few minutes. Superb! The edge pieces were somewhat crisp and held their shape when picking them up, while the center pieces were slightly less crisp and bent a little in my hand, but they didn’t fall apart. I’m not on keto, but this recipe makes a mighty fine flatbread pizza, and will definitely remain in my repertoire to be played with often. Thanks for the inspiration!
That sounds really, really tasty. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it! I hope you keep up with other keto recipes and let us know how you like them as well 🙂
% of insulinogenic calories: Apple and Ham Flatbread
20.1%
Ted Naiman created this calculator that allows you to see where a food or recipe stands regarding its effect on insulin secretion. Awesome tool! According to Phinney (keto expert) anything under 22% is golden and will get you into ketosis and keep you there!
I’m so anxious to try this recipe! I was wondering if I could bake a couple of the crusts then refrigerate for a day or two to use as party appetizer “pizza?” That way people can choose their toppings. Thank you, thank you for your wonderful recipes!!
Yes – the crust saves well!
Apples? Why not throw just a TEENY bit of wheat flour in and maybe some grated potato!!! No thanks!
You could easily leave the apples out of the recipe if it doesn’t fall within your own guidelines. The apple is fewer carbs than the mozzarella cheese and less than the almond flour too, so maybe it’s just a recipe you might want to skip.
Nice!
I’ve been using this recipe since starting my low-carb journey two years ago. I’ve probably made fifty pizzas with this recipe! The original ham and apple topping is my favorite, but I like to mix it up with tomato paste, pepperoni, and parmesan. You just can’t beat this crust recipe! Thank you!
Great idea — I have to try this myself. Thanks for the feedback, and congrats on two years of your low-carb lifestyle! 🙂