{"id":178,"date":"2015-10-26T23:54:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T23:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/recipes\/baking\/"},"modified":"2021-05-18T09:44:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T21:44:36","slug":"baking","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.frot.co.nz\/design\/recipes\/lessons\/baking\/","title":{"rendered":"Baking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jump straight to the suggested recipes<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Most people like cake, biscuits, muffins, slices or muesli bars. There are reasons for that: they taste good, grains contain narcotic like substances, and sugar is allegedly more addictive than heroin. The sad truth is, the more cake you eat, the more you want. So ideally, even whole food baking should be kept to a minimum. It can be easier to avoid even whole food sweeteners totally and break the additive cycle, than to eat them sometimes. But for those times when you choose to bake, let\u2019s look at how we can maximise the nutrition and reduce the harmful ingredients.<\/p>\n

In this lesson, we\u2019ll make some biscuits and cakes for a weekly treat, and look at Christmas cake and Easter bun recipes. We\u2019ll try a range of recipes and techniques. The recipes are fairly quick and easy to make, and mostly gluten free so that they can be used by a wide range of people.<\/p>\n

First, to recap on what we can use as a base for baking. Most commercial or home baking is done with wheat flour that hasn\u2019t been properly prepared. Each alternative has pros and cons:<\/p>\n

Soaked, whole grain flours (including gluten free ones) \u2013 eg. wheat, spelt, kamut, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa<\/p>\n

Pros: Works in recipes which originally use lots of milk<\/p>\n

Cons: Can be too soggy in other recipes. Especially when converting to soaked, gluten free, whole grain flours.<\/p>\n

Solutions: Add some arrowroot or ground nuts later on.<\/p>\n

Whole grains that have been sprouted (see Sprouted and Fermented foods<\/a>), dried and ground to flour \u2013 eg. wheat, spelt, kamut, buckwheat<\/p>\n

~Pros: They work well and can be easily substituted for flour in existing recipes. If you\u2019re wheat tolerant, look for bulger flour, which has already been sprouted and dried. Otherwise, buckwheat is a good one to start with if you\u2019d like to experiment.<\/p>\n

~Cons: It takes a lot of time to prepare the flour before you can even start baking, as you have 3 stages of preparing the flour.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrispy\u201d nuts (Snacks<\/a>), ground up finely<\/p>\n

~Pros: Tasty, low carb and nutritious.<\/p>\n

~Cons: The result can be a bit crumbly, as they don\u2019t soak up the liquid in the same way as flour.<\/p>\n

~Solutions: Adding arrowroot (or coconut flour, see below) works well<\/p>\n

Coconut flour – A new product.<\/p>\n

~Pros: Again tasty, low carb and nutritious. Also, doesn\u2019t need to be soaked<\/p>\n

~Cons: Not yet widely available in NZ.<\/p>\n

~Solutions: Grinding fine desiccated coconut, in a small food processor, gives a reasonable result, and I\u2019ve used this in a number of recipes.<\/p>\n

~Contact me for availability, for recipes which require \u201cproper\u201d coconut flour.<\/p>\n

Nut flours \u2013 eg. ground almonds<\/p>\n

~Pros: Nice flavour \/ texture. Soaks up liquid better than \u201ccrispy\u201d nuts so more solid.<\/p>\n

~Cons: Nut flours bought already ground aren\u2019t properly prepared so still have anti-nutrients. So they are a compromise food.<\/p>\n

Refined gluten free flours \u2013 arrowroot, cornflour, white rice flour, tapioca, potato flour<\/p>\n

~Pros: Can add a lighter texture to baked goods<\/p>\n

~Cons: They have no nutrients in them so are \u201cempty calories\u201d \u2013 another set of compromise foods.<\/p>\n

The best solution seems to be to use a combination of flours (especially for gluten free) and a little bit of compromise, unless serious health problems mean you need to have a very strict diet. So some of the recipes include either pre-ground nuts or starches, in combination with other \u201cflours\u201d.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been avoiding baking for a while because of the fat content, or maybe experimenting with using egg whites instead of whole eggs, or cutting down the butter, you\u2019ll be pleased to know that there\u2019s no need for that. The fats we\u2019re going to use in baking are all easily digested and assimilated, flavoursome and nutritious. There\u2019s no canola oil or margarine, just butter, coconut oil and palm oil. My personal preference is to use palm oil for savoury baked goods, butter for sweet and coconut oil for no-bake slices or pie crusts. But they are interchangeable and you can choose based on your preferred flavour, or your budget!<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s recap on good and bad sweeteners. There are a variety of sweeteners used here, and you can choose recipes that suit your metabolic type or specific needs. Or try experimenting with different sweeteners. The sweeteners I consider acceptable:<\/p>\n