Kitchen Supplies For Vegan Bakers
Appliances, Ingredients, Tips, Gadgets & Techniques for Vegan Baking
Dec 8, 2007
First article in the series "Healthy Baking Made Delicious".
Where Do You Begin?
Healthy baked goods can be easily made at home once you have the right tools and ingredients. But where do you begin? Relax, there's no need to start ripping out the walls in your kitchen and doing major renovation. No matter how small your kitchen is, you can organize it in a way that makes baking easy. You may even have all the small appliances, pans, and gadgets already. It is assumed there is already a stove and oven in place!
Walking down the aisles of a health food store can be overwhelming to someone just starting down the path of healthy eating. The shelves are loaded with so many different and strange sounding products. Hopefully these lists will eliminate some of the confusion as you set up your healthy kitchen.
A Word About Honey:
Some vegans maintain that honey is an animal product and will not use it. Others believe it is an animal by-product and therefore it is allowed. There are a few recipes in this series that use honey. Purists can substitute molasses, barley malt, maple syrup or corn syrup in it's place. It will however, alter the flavor.
Appliances, Tools and Gadgets:
- High speed mixer, like a KitchenAid, with a dough hook, whip and beater.
- Food processor for chopping nuts and making dough.
- Braun electric coffee grinder for grinding seeds.
- High speed blender
- Oven thermometer
- Large balloon whisk
- Large and small mixing bowls.
- Non-stick or aluminum sheet pans.
- 9"x13" non-stick or glass baking dish.
- Non-stick muffin pans or paper baking cups.
- Non-stick or glass loaf pans, mini and large sizes.
Healthy Ingredients and Where to Find Them:
- All of these products can be found at your local health food store and in some large supermarkets.
- Flaxseed ~ Buy brown or golden flaxseed. It can be used raw or toasted for a nutty flavor. Ground and mixed with water, this high fiber seed makes an amazing egg-free substitute. Keep refrigerated or frozen as it goes rancid quickly.
- Date Sugar ~ An unprocessed sugar made from dehydrated dates, also high in fiber.Florida Crystals ~ Evaporated organic cane juice is pressed from sun-ripened sugarcane.
- Soy, rice or almond milk ~ Dairy-free "milk" made from soybeans, rice or almonds. Buy the plain, unflavored variety.
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour ~ This is the secret ingredient for tender baked goods. Sifted whole wheat flour can be substituted with good results.
- Soy powder ~ Made from whole, de-hulled, roasted soybeans, has emulsifying properties.
- Canola oil or extra virgin olive oil can be interchanged.
- Honey ~ Raw, unfiltered is the best, but any kind will do.
- Maple syrup ~ Pure, Grade B dark amber
- Tofu ~ Mori Nu Soft Silken, aseptic pack.
- Vegetable cooking spray.
- Pure extracts: vanilla, almond, maple etc.
Organize Your Kitchen:
- Keep all your "healthy" ingredients in one place.
- Read your recipe first and keep it handy.
- Assemble all ingredients.
- Have appliances out and ready.
- Prepare pans ahead of time.
- Preheat oven.
More recipes in this series:
The Best Vegan Blueberry Muffins
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins & Banana Muffins
Follow these tips and you'll be baking up a storm in no time. Best of all, your baked goods will be delicious and good for you too!
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