Anyone who has ever tried to reduce the amount of carbs in their diet will know how hard it is when it comes to bread and all the yummy things in life such as pizza! Now, we are certainly not advocating low carb diets but for anyone who wants to reduce carbs or who just wants a low calorie alternative to wraps, bread and pizzas – there is Lo-Dough.
Lo-Dough contacted us and asked us to review their products. We get a fair amount of requests like this but they were so passionate about their food that we thought why not.
Having spent a good few weeks testing out their original Lo-Dough bases (great for wraps, pizzas and quiches) as well as testing out some of their other products we are now here to deliver our verdict in our full, unbiased Lo-Dough review.
Lo-Dough – What Is It?
A better question might be what isn’t Lo-Dough? It’s not bread in the traditional sense and nor is it pretending to be. What the company have attempted to produce is a low calorie, low fat and low carb alternative to bread. The original Lo-Dough bases can be used out of the packet as pizza bases or if you follow one of the many recipes on the Lo-Dough website or in their recipe book you will find loads of other uses for them too!
Each pack contains 2 bases which is enough for 2 pizzas or wraps. Each base contains just 39 calories which is quite astounding really when you consider a standard wrap has around 175 calories. There is just 0.1g of fat, 2.2g of carbohydrate and 0.5g of salt in each wrap and they are also packed with 9.3g of fibre.
If you are wondering about that E number it is for the HPMC – (Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose), which actually is where most of the fibre comes from and is not as scary as it sounds. If you want to read more about it then Lo-Dough are actually really transparent about it and you can do so on their website.
As there is egg white in the mix then this is sadly not vegan friendly, but it is gluten free and vegetarian friendly.
Lo-Dough have managed to take their bases and use them in a wide range of instances. Anything that uses breadcrumbs you can pretty much substitute one of the bases whizzed up in a blender to create Lo-Dough breadcrumbs – and they have now expanded their range in to other products.
Our Lo-Dough review is going to focus on three of their main products – the Original Lo-Dough Base, Lo-Dough Brownie Mix and their Lo-Dough Southern Style Coating mix. They also have n impressive range of cake bars (which we loved a little bit too much) but we will focus on those another time.
Read on to find out how we got on and to see some of our pictures. We had the harshest critics involved with the review process (a 6 year old and a 9 year old) and we will deliver it all to you below.
At the time of writing Lo-Dough is only available through the Lo-Dough website and it isn’t the cheapest product on the market. They do offer various packages and subscriptions where you can save 20% but it is not the most cost effective purchase. That being said, for someone who is really focusing on a lowering the calories or wanting a treat without taking a huge hit on the calorie intake then it certainly serves a purpose and is likely worth the investment.
The product itself is pretty clever. The bases are heavily marketed around using them as a pizza base and so that’s what we did. We made 4 pizzas for lunch, topped with various toppings including tomato, cheese, ham, mushrooms, chicken, pepperoni and rocket (not all on the one pizza we may add).
There isn’t a great deal to each base. They don’t add a great deal in terms of taste and it is more of a base to hold the flavour of the other ingredients – so we would suggest going big on your other flavours. To be fair, other than sourdough pizzas, the bread (although substantial) doesn’t have a huge impact on flavour. The bases crisp up nicely and provide the much needed crunch you need to have that true pizza feel.
We were impressed with the way our pizzas turned out and the kids (who will very happily refuse to eat anything substandard) both gobbled up their pizzas in no time and were very vocal in their enjoyment of them. Again, we would not suggest you use Lo-Dough for kids, they need the calories and carbs and everything else – but as taste testers they served their purpose for us. The adults also enjoyed their pizzas and overall it was a hit.
For anyone looking to go low-calorie but enjoy something that feels like a treat then Lo-Dough in our mind is a great option. You probably wouldn’t use these wraps every day but they could certainly be used once or twice a week as a treat. Now, if you have someone sitting next to you eating a Dominos, you are going to be jealous – but Lo-Dough are not miracle workers. However, if you need a pizza fix midway through a cutting phase or weight loss phase and you don’t want to be riddled with guilt afterwards, then this is a really good option.
We were pretty sceptical when it came to the chocolate brownie mix. We have eaten a lot of really good, full fat chocolate brownies in our time and we’ve also eaten plenty of terrible protein brownies. Now, Lo-Dough brownies are not high in protein (3.6g per serving isn’t bad though) but, like the bases, they are high in fibre and the brownies that the mix makes are low in fat (2.3g per serving) and relatively low in carbs (15.9g). There is also just 2.4g of sugar in each serving.
These are not designed to be used by someone who is looking for a high protein treat – instead, it is a treat that is designed to be low in calories (just 65 calories per serving to be exact) and low in fat.
Again, this is not vegan friendly but is suitable for vegetarians and is also gluten free. As this is a brownie mix you can add extra ingredients to it such as fresh or dried fruit, nuts, extra chocolate chunks etc. We were not so adventurous and made the standard mix, which you just add water to and bake.
The results were pretty impressive and compared to some brownies we had tested in the past (which were frankly inedible) these were very good. Again, the kids ate the lot (and came back for seconds) and the adults enjoyed theirs too.
Each mix makes 9 portions and at just 65 calories per serving it is easy to enjoy these guilt free. It makes an ideal low fat pudding or a great low calorie afternoon snack.
If you are looking for more savoury options then there is a fantastic southern style coating mix available and this was a real crowd pleaser at dinner time for us. Again, the kids and adults both loved this and the simplicity makes it a real winner.
Based on famous southern fried chicken style recipes, this mix contains the Lo-Dough bread base instead of the usual breadcrumbs and this makes it… yes you guessed it… really low calorie! Just 36 calories per serving.
Anyone who is looking to liven up their chicken dinners or lunches without piling on unnecessary calories can do so with this mix and if you want to go even lower calorie you could create a southern style wrap using an original base as the wrap. Or serve it with brown rice and some veggies for a super healthy lunch or dinner.
To make, you simply lather your meat (chicken breast for us) in egg (or you can just use egg white if you like) and then roll the chicken around in the mix. A little goes a long way and a single pack will likely suffice for 5 or 6 servings (of 2-4 people) before you need to re-stock.
The flavour is excellent and if you apply some 1-cal spray oil you can get a really nice crispy finish. You simply bake the chicken in the over for around 30 minutes with the coating applied and hey presto – you have a healthy southern fried chicken (not fried) to eat. What could be better?
All in all we have been really impressed with Lo-Dough. It isn’t cheap but their products are good, don’t contain lots of nasty extra ingredients and they essentially do what they set out to do – which is to provide a low calorie alternative to bread, pizza and wraps. Their wider product range is impressive and we love the fact that you can get creative in the kitchen with their recipes or making up your own.
Lo-Dough Discount Code
Use our exclusive 10% Lo-Dough discount code to save 10% across the entire range of Lo-Dough products:
