Baking tips
A few pointers to add
some clarity to ‘the methods behind my madness’ when it comes to baking.
2- Common ingredients I use
3- Principles I follow for healthy, vegan and gluten free recipes
4- Recipe Nutrition Calculator
Here you will
find:
1-
Conversion
charts and recipe notation2- Common ingredients I use
3- Principles I follow for healthy, vegan and gluten free recipes
4- Recipe Nutrition Calculator
Conversion chart and recipe notation
Tbs = tablespoon (equivalent of the American ‘T’)
Tsp = teaspoon (equivalent of the American ‘t’)
The temperature measurements are given in degrees centigrade (i.e 180C)
I tend to use two types of measurements in my recipes-
either ‘grams’ or ‘cups’. Apologies if anyone finds this confusing, Some of my
recipes are amalgamations and variations on recipes I find on the net or in
books so I tend to stick with the format of the original recipe (usually cups).
The conversion chart below should also help! (Please note I cannot vouch for
the accuracy of the chart- it should only be used as a guide as different
products vary in weight).
Flour/Cocoa
Cups / Grams
1/8 cup / 15 grams
1/4 cup / 30 grams
1/3 cup / 40 grams
3/8 cup / 45 grams
1/2 cup / 60 grams
5/8 cup / 70 grams
2/3 cup / 75 grams
3/4 cup / 85 grams
7/8 cup / 100 grams
1 cup / 110 grams
|
Unrefined Sugar
Cups / Grams
1/8 cup / 25 grams
1/4 cup / 50 grams
1/3 cup / 65 grams
3/8 cup / 75 grams
1/2 cup / 100 grams
5/8 cup / 125 grams
2/3 cup / 135 grams
3/4 cup / 150 grams
7/8 cup / 175 grams
1 cup / 200 grams
|
Ground nuts
Cups / Grams
1/8 cup / 25 grams
1/4 cup / 50 grams
1/3 cup / 65 grams
3/8 cup / 75 grams
1/2 cup / 100 grams
5/8 cup / 125 grams
2/3 cup / 135 grams
3/4 cup / 150 grams
7/8 cup / 175 grams
1 cup / 200 grams
|
Butter / Margarine
Cups / Grams
1/8 cup / 30 grams
1/4 cup / 55 grams
1/3 cup / 75 grams
3/8 cup / 85 grams
1/2 cup / 115 grams
5/8 cup / 140 grams
2/3 cup / 150 grams
3/4 cup / 170 grams
7/8 cup / 200 grams
1 cup / 225 grams
|
Liquid measurements
(US vs Metric)
1 teaspoon = 5 mls 1 Tablespoon = 15 mls 1/4 cup = 60 mls 1/2 cup = 120 mls 3/4 cup = 180 mls 1 cup = 240 mls |
Other Measures:
Solid fat =
30g/2tbs
Oatmeal = 60g /
1 cup
Agave = 100g/1/3
cup
Rasins = 175g /
1 cup
|
Fahrenheit/ Celsius 300 / 150
325 / 165
350 / 177
375 / 190
400 / 200
425 / 220
|
I've also provided this link to a useful page on 'starches' as this details the use and substitutions of the various types available. I typically use tapioca flour and arrowroot in my recipes, so this may help with any substitutions you may need to make and help you anticipate the likely results.
Ingredients I use
There are various ‘healthy’ ingredients that I use time
and time again within my recipes, in addition to the principles of my food
preparation that I so often follow. I felt it could be a useful tool to share
these with you so that you can better understand what I do, why I do it and
what I use to do so! That way, if you want to change things around a bit to
suit your own needs or preferences, you can do so with a better understanding
of how it may all work. This is by no
means a definitive guide and I plan on adding to it over the course of time.
Please note, the ingredients listed below are simply those that I personally choose to use as I feel they
represent the best quality and are also most readily available to me in the UK. If I collaborate directly with other companies or their products, I clearly explain this in my posts and I only choose to work with companies I genuinely believe in and whose products I would use anyway.
·
All of my ingredients are organic where possible
(there are obviously times when this is unavoidable).
·
Coconut butter and coconut oil- (see here for more info in this). I make my
own coconut butter to save on a lot of money. However for some recipes you really
do need the oil so I buy Coconoil or Tropicai cold pressed organic.
·
Extracts-
I like to use Neil Massey for all my extracts. I also make my own
vanilla as I use so much of it! See here
for further info.
·
Flours- so much I could write here but I’ll try
and be brief. In principle I try to use
organic wholegrain flours wherever
possible, I also try to use gluten free combinations and/or spelt flours in
most (if not all) of my recipes. Spelt flour is the most versatile (although not suitable
for Coeliacs) as it behaves like a normal wheat flour and is also available in
wholegrain and white varieties (the white is only lightly refined and still
infinitely better than the standard plain flours). I generally use Doves Farm flours
as they have a good organic range readily available in the supermarkets. I also purchase some of my specialisy flours through The Real Food Source. See also below for more info re gluten free
baking.
· 'Milk'- I use soy milk as my milk alternative of choice as I always have this on hand in my fridge. For most recipes I would suggest that any milk alternative (or even normal milk if non-vegan) would be fine- although please note that this statement has not been tested!
· 'Milk'- I use soy milk as my milk alternative of choice as I always have this on hand in my fridge. For most recipes I would suggest that any milk alternative (or even normal milk if non-vegan) would be fine- although please note that this statement has not been tested!
·
Stevia- I use NuNaturals or SteSweet pure powder (see here for more info on Stevia).
·
Agave nectar- other than stevia this is
typically my sweetener of choice as it has the most neutral taste. I also use brown rice syrup and maple syrup on occasions.
·
Rapadura- There are some recipes where a liquid
sweetener is not ideal, so in these instances I use Rapadura (Sucanat is the
closest American equivalent) which is the least refined sugar granule
available.
·
Chocolate/cocoa- I use Green & Blacks
organic unsweetened cocoa and typically also their 70% dark chocolate. I also
use Montezuma’s large dark chocolate buttons as they are a great addition to
some recipes in the button form.
· I also use cacoa nibs or cacoa powder in many recipes to minimise the sugar content whilst still getting a chocolate hit! cacao is raw chcolate in its purest and most nutricious form. I typically source my cacao through The Real Food Source.
· I also use cacoa nibs or cacoa powder in many recipes to minimise the sugar content whilst still getting a chocolate hit! cacao is raw chcolate in its purest and most nutricious form. I typically source my cacao through The Real Food Source.
Principles I follow for healthy, vegan and gluten free recipes
When veganising a traditional
recipe or making a standard vegan recipe more healthy there are number of key
principles I tend to follow. In relation to 'gluten free' labelling within the recipes- see also this post for further guidance.
Eggs- I prefer not to use the egg replacer EnerG (or similar) and
instead typically use a ‘flax egg’ or 'chia egg'. Mix 1 tsp of ground flax/chia with 1 tbs hot
water and sit for a minute to allow to gel before use. Most of my recipes state
this as part of the method anyway. Other ‘binders’ are banana or soy yoghurt
and whilst these sometimes form part of my recipes, I still tend to use the flax/chia
too.
Milk- I use Alpro Organic soy milk (occasionally almond milk or rice milk if a
delicate flavour is critical to a recipe). I would imagine that pretty much any
milk-alternative could be substituted for most recipes- note that this
statement hasn’t been tested! Some 'milks' have different tastes and viscosities. i.e almond milk is
lighter and sweeter, whereas coconut milk is thicker and richer. Soy
milk has a viscosity similar to cows milk and this is what I base my
recipes on, you may need to make slight adjustments if using others.
Oil- I use coconut butter or coconut oil (see here more more info on how I use coconut butter). In addition to
this I also reduce the amount of oil stated in a recipe by substituting between
1/3 and ½ of the amount with apple puree or soy yoghurt. There are some
occasions when I would advise against this- i.e if you are aiming for a really
crisp cookie.
Flour- In baking, whenever a recipe calls for all purpose or plain
flour I either sub this for fully wholemeal flours or white spelt or a
combination of white spelt and wholemeal.
My decision on this tends to be the nature of the end product- i.e if it
is brown and chocolatey you can nearly
always get away with using wholemeal flour as the colouration won’t change. For
a light baked good such as a vanilla sponge, using solely wholemeal flour can
risk the cake looking too ‘healthy’ this is by no means a bad thing, it’s
simply that I like to disguise the fact that my baked goods are healthy, and
that can give the game away!
Gluten free flour- In many of my recipes, particularly those that
call for a lower proportion of flour, I use flours that are naturally gluten
free. To achieve the best texture you need to combine flour ‘types’ i.e heavy
and light flours. I have had a lot of
success with this combination: 1 cup regular flour = 1/3 cup each of almond
meal, tapioca flour and buckwheat flour plus a pinch of xantham gum if
necessary to help bind. This works well for a denser product. I also sometimes use brown rice flour for lighter baked
goods. Also note in recipes such as these blondies, beans/chickpeas can be used to substitute some of the flour. The most important thing really is to just
have a go and experiment as you soon build up a sense of what is likely to work
for any given recipe. When I first
began investigating GF baking I found this post at Gluten Free Goddess to be very helpful.
Sugar- I generally substitute refined sugars with a combination of
agave nectar, unrefined rapadura (sucanat) and stevia. It is not an exact
science but the overall principle is this:
If a traditional recipe calls for 1 cup of standard refined sugar I
would sub this for 1/3 cup agave or rapadura plus ¼ - ½ tsp pure stevia. 1 tsp
of pure stevia equals 1 cup of sugar in terms of sweetness and I generally tone
down the overall sweetness of my baking a little. Note- it is not recommended
to use all stevia with no other form of sweetener as it can have a slightly odd
aftertaste if not used in combination. Pure Stevia is so concentrated a little goes
a long way so use it sensitively!
Recipe Nutrition Calculation
I personally don't calculate the specific nutritional content of each of my recipes, as for me the healthy eating lifestyle choice maintains my balance and I simply work in tune with how my body feels. However I do appreciate that everyione is different and many people do look for additional guidance to assist their diet choices and planning, there are various free calculators availble to assist with this.
I personally don't calculate the specific nutritional content of each of my recipes, as for me the healthy eating lifestyle choice maintains my balance and I simply work in tune with how my body feels. However I do appreciate that everyione is different and many people do look for additional guidance to assist their diet choices and planning, there are various free calculators availble to assist with this.