Basic Guide to Healthy Baking
Posted on May 10th, 2017
As foods are becoming more heavily processed and food intolerances are becoming more prominent, going back to making your own baked goods can be an easy way to counteract these problems, while improving your overall health. The more processed foods such as; white flour and white sugar, compromise our immune system function and create unnecessary inflammation within our bodies. They also give us this rush of energy by spiking a quick rise in blood sugar before having the complete opposite effect.
Cow’s milk dairy products while they do have some nutritional value if consumed in small amounts, can be quite processed and our bodies can struggle with their digestion. As we get older our bodies cannot produce as much of the enzyme lactase, which is essential for effective digestion of the proteins found in cow’s milk, therefore; this leaves us more prone to developing an intolerance. Those who suffer from lactose intolerance often experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as; diarrhoea, bloating and gas that can last a few hours up to 1-2 days depending on their sensitivity. Lactose intolerant individuals often find that they can eat small amounts of goat and sheep milk dairy products as the proteins are easier to breakdown and digest as opposed to cow’s milk.
Quick Reference Guide
| Staple Food | Healthier Option/s |
| White Flour | Wholemeal wheat, wholemeal spelt, wholemeal rye, oat flour, quinoa flour, buckwheat flour, amaranth flour, millet flour, brown rice flour, almond meal, coconut flour and besan flour. |
| White Sugar | Coconut palm sugar, xylitol sugar, stevia, rice malt syrup, grade A maple syrup, raw honey and medjool dates. |
| Butter/Margarine | Grass fed butter and coconut oil. |
| Cow’s Milk | Almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, rice milk, macadamia milk and hazelnut milk. |
| Cheese | Cottage cheese, ricotta, feta and goats cheese. |
| Cream | Coconut cream. |
| Yoghurt | Natural yoghurt, Greek style yoghurt (low sugar), coconut yoghurt, goat milk yoghurt and sheep milk yoghurt. |
| Eggs | Flax Egg or Chia Egg (1 tbsp flaxmeal/1 tbsp chia seeds + 3 tbsp water) stir thoroughly until it becomes thick. |
**If using almond meal, coconut flour or besan flour in baked goods such as; cakes and biscuits, you will often require additional liquid (e.g. more eggs, oil or milk). Please refer to recipes on the website, or google recipes to get a better gauge on quantities.
Egg replacements don’t always work as well as the real thing, so it will take a little experimenting. In cakes and biscuits I find the flax egg works quite well, however sometimes the texture is a little more crumbly.