So I made another trip to the Whole Foods Market. I was of course on a mission to get the ingredients I had forgotten yesterday and might have picked up some rice milk ice cream as my reward. I feel like the gluten eating, meat loving majority of us really don't understand what goes into gluten free (GF) or vegan baking so I'm going to spend this post talking about the most common ingredients. Keep in mind these are in no particular order, and so far all can be found at a Whole Foods Market.
For those of you who happen to have a copy of the awesome book Babycakes by Erin McKenna, start on page 18 for more information and great tips from the baking star herself.
The prices listed next to the items was the cheapest I found locally (Tampa Bay Area) and all came from Whole Foods. Some items were the organic variety and I chose Bob's Red Mill or 365, Whole Foods generic brand, over others. These two brands were typically less expensive than others, but by no means cheap themselves.
1. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour: This GF flour is the ultimate premix combination of flours for those who are sensitive to gluten. I found this at both Publix in the Greenwise section and at Whole Foods: $4.29 for a 22 oz bag.
2. Garbanzo-fava bean flour: Rises well when mixed with starches to replace wheat flour in GF recipes. Whole Foods: $5.49 for a 22 oz bag.
3. Coconut flour: A great GF thickener for sauces, soups, and frostings. Small amounts used at a time so even though it is a more expensive item, you aren't using too much. Whole Foods: $7.49 for a 16 oz bag.
4. Spelt flour: NOT GLUTEN FREE: Made from a distant cousin of wheat, spelt flour is a great vegan choice for flour and it's proteins are often easier to digest than wheat protein. Whole Foods: $4.29 for a 24 oz bag.
5. Potato starch: A thickener alternative to cornstarch. Whole Foods: $4.49 for a 24 oz bag.
6. Arrowroot: (arrowroot starch/flour) An easy to digest thickener. Really smooth. Small quantities used at a time. Whole Foods: $6.49 for a 20 oz bag.
7. Baking powder: Not all are GF!
8. Kosher salt: Look carefully!
9. Xanthan gum: This is used in very small amounts, like 1 tsp at a time, to make your doughs and batters stick together. Basically it does the job that gluten used to do for you. Whole Foods: $11.99 for a 8 oz bag.
10. Agave nectar: As talked about in my post vegan baking part 1, agave nectar is a great sugar substitute! Found at Publix and Whole Foods: $5.79 for a good size bottle.
11. Coconut oil: There is no good way to say that this is an expensive, completely necessary item for vegan baking. This is the not so dairy friendly person's butter substitute. High omega-3 fatty acids content makes it a healthy fat. Many other great properties and suggest for helping prevent heart attacks when substituted for butter and some other unfriendly oils. Stored as energy in our bodies. It's solid below 67 degrees F so when I bought it, it was solid. The next morning, however, after living in my 75 degrees F apartment it was in it's liquid state, which is what you need to measure it out anyways. Found at Publix and Whole Foods: $6.99 for a 14 oz jar.
12. Vanilla: Not all are GF! Check the labels. I recommend the organic Madagascar varieties. Whole Foods has the cheapest I could find at nearly half the cost of Publix per oz. Whole Foods: $9.99 for a 4 oz bottle.
13. Rice milk: Vegan, soy free alternative to milk.
14. Soy milk: Creamy, vegan alternative to milk.
15. Dry soy milk: Necessary for creamy vegan frosting. Used in relatively small amounts but very expensive and hard to find. Whole Foods: $11.99 for a 32 oz container.
16. Apple cider vinegar: Mix with rice mix to make a buttermilk substitute. Found at Publix or Whole Foods: $3.49 for a large bottle.
17. Unsweetened apple sauce: Used for thickness and texture in baking.
As I write this the carrot cupcakes are cooling on the counter and the vanilla frosting is chilling in the fridge (takes at least 6 hours to set up!).
Once again we will say thank you to Erin McKenna of Babycakes NYC for all her dedication to making cupcakes allergy friendly!
Okay, so the carrot cupcakes themselves were very full of spicy flavor and not sweet at all (half the point). The frosting kept fighting me to set up and when it did it was a good vanilla, but again, not sweet at all. Overall I give it a 6/10 rating. I'm thinking of adjusting my type of agave next time to see if it sweetens it up a bit.
ReplyDelete