Baking: Plant-based and Absolutely Delicious!

Quote du Jour
        Forbidden fruit creates many jams!  ~ from a fortune cookie

Eggs and dairy are NOT essential ingredients for baking!
In fact, I find myself baking more often now that I don't need to have fresh eggs and milk on hand. This blog will show you how I approach deleting animal-based ingredients in baking.

1. FaceOff: Ingredients to use in baking instead of eggs and dairy
2. Nutrition Improvement: Eliminate cholesterol and lower fat
3. Taste Test: Recipe for Pumpkin Bread, one of my best recipes! 

Animal-based Eggs and Dairy are loaded with Cholesterol

For baking, use ground flax seed instead of eggs, and replace shortening/butter/oil with unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana.

For unbaked desserts, mashed avocado is awesome to create a mousse-like texture, see post for August 25, 2013 Guess the Ingredients, Chilled Double Chocolate Torte.

Eggs and Butter
Ground Flax Seed
A terrific high fiber grain, ground flax seed is high in heart healthy *omega 3 & 6 oil and, when moistened, thickens to the same consistency as a raw egg. These qualities make it an excellent ingredient to use instead of oil and eggs. Because it’s high in oil, store in the refrigerator.

Replace each egg in your recipes as follows:

• 1 egg = 1 Tbsp Ground Flax Seed + 2 Tbsps water/other liquid

Oil, Shortening, Butter
Unsweetened Applesauce or Banana
If necessary, only use vegetable oils (no shortening, lard or butter) (what's with lardon...two-syllables, lard-on...used by celebrity chefs...it's pure fat...I don't get it...just sayin'.)

Baking: Breads, cakes, cookies, waffles, etc.

• replace half of the oil with unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana
• or replace all the oil with ground flax seed mixed with water

Examples

• 1 cup oil = 1/2 cup oil + 1/2 cup applesauce    
• or 1 cup oil = 1/2 cup oil + 1/2 cup mashed banana
• or 1 Tbsp oil = 1 Tbsp ground flax seed + 2 Tbsps water

Your body will notice the difference, feed this data to your brain!
See the Nutrition Improvement
The original (clogger) recipe for Pumpkin Bread uses 3 large eggs and 1 cup of oil. 

• 3 eggs replaced with 3 Tbsps of ground flax seed, mixed in 1/2 cup water
• Oil** reduced to 2/3 cup then 1/3 cup of the oil replaced with unsweetened applesauce

Using the e-nutrition calculating tool on NutritionFacts.org, this table shows the animal-based (Clogger) vs plant-based (unClogged) nutrition difference

Taste Test
I’ve always loved the Pumpkin Bread available at a favorite coffee house. One day, out of curiosity, I Googled the recipe…& tah dah…it was online! I was taken aback at the calories, most of them from oil! 

I took that recipe and revised it, replacing the eggs and oil as discussed above. The reinvigorated recipe is below. If you absolutely insist, you could replace the ground flax seed and applesauce with eggs and oil...this does work both ways...but why? I think the UnClogged recipe tastes waaaaay better. Taste for yourself!

Recipe Notes: Although this is titled a recipe for bread, you can also bake it as muffins or a bundt cake. Just adjust the baking time. It does call for a lot of sugar...hmmm...you could eliminate the 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Warning: This bread smells so good when it's baking, people are going to want a taste as soon as it's out of the oven! If you can garner enough patience, the flavor does get better...and it slices more easily...if you let it cool.

One of my best recipes: plant-based and truly awesome!

Pumpkin Bread–Unclogged 
Makes 2 loaves
Preheat oven to 350°

Wet  
        Beat together in a small bowl, then 
        let sit a few minutes
3 Tbsps ground flax
½ cup water

2 cups pumpkin puree or a 15-oz can pumpkin 
 1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Dry  
        3 ½ cups flour: a combination of
2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups whole wheat
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Add Ins
½ cup chopped walnuts (pecans or almonds or sunflower seeds, etc.)
½ cup raisins (or dried cranberries or dried apples or shredded coconut,etc.)

Toppings
Before baking, sprinkle over the top of the batter
crunchy sugar, or
chopped nuts
         
         After baking
            Sift powdered sugar over the top 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all ingredients together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Add chopped walnuts and raisins.

Divide the batter between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces or crunchy sugar. Bake for 1 hour +, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Rest in the pans for a few minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

Found: The Great Pumpkin (bread recipe)...wheeee!

*Get your omega oils like fish do, from (sea) plants. Fish don't make omega oils
**1 cup of oil seemed like a ridiculous amount, so I reduced it to 2/3 cup

I am having way too much fun doing these graphics! ~ hwj