The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Baking - Donna Diegel [3]
Part 1
Vegan Baking Made Delicious
Baking is a science that relies on exact ingredient amounts prescribed in a recipe. With the exception of adding philosophy and lifestyle to the recipes, vegan baking is very similar science. Whether you’ve been practicing veganism for years, or are just beginning your journey, you’ll need to know what you can and cannot use in your vegan baking. As with all vegan recipes, animal products of any kind—even honey—are a definite no-no.
Part 1 begins with the reasons for being vegan. Are you searching for good health? Perhaps you’re eating vegan to oppose animal cruelty, or maybe it’s for spiritual reasons. Whatever your reason, the outcome is pretty much the same as far as vegan food goes. The chapters in Part 1 show you the tricks of the trade, including how to set up your vegan pantry with animal-free ingredients and any special tools or equipment you might find useful to make vegan baking enjoyable and delicious. I also cover substitutions for dairy, eggs, and other miscellaneous animal products that make vegan baking so scrumptious you’ll be back for second helpings.
Ready to begin your vegan culinary adventure? Then roll up your sleeves and become one with the dough. With this cookbook in your collection, you can have your vegan cake and eat it, too!
Chapter 1
Getting Started with Vegan Baking
In This Chapter
• Why vegan?
• What’s different about vegan baking?
• Shopping for your vegan pantry
• Setting up your vegan kitchen
If you’re reading this, you’re probably already interested in vegan baking and most likely vegan eating, or maybe still just thinking about eating vegan or some variation thereof. And perhaps you also know that in the past, vegan baked goods and desserts have received a bad rap for tasting … well, like cardboard. To some, the words healthy and baked goods don’t belong in the same sentence.
But things have changed in the last two decades as health-conscious consumers have demanded better-tasting products and manufacturers have responded in kind. Problem is, the price tag seems to go up as soon as the words healthy, diet, vegetarian, or vegan are added to the label.
As a vegan, you probably have a tough time finding healthful baked goods in the supermarket. When you do, it’s even harder to find something that tastes halfway decent and doesn’t cost two or three times the price you want to pay. Health food stores are finally catching on, realizing that vegan baked goods are a cash cow just waiting to be milked (pun intended). But most of the products still taste like sawdust. Why not make your own, save some money, and enjoy great-tasting vegan baked goods at home? With this book, you can!
The Benefits of Being Vegan
The biggest offenders in nonvegan baking are dairy products (butter, cream, cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, cream cheese, dried milk products, etc.), animal and animal by-products (eggs, honey, lard, fat, gelatin, whey, casein, rennet, etc.), and bone char (used to refine sugar and sweeteners). In vegan baking, you have none of that—and, therefore, you have none of the animal fats, proteins, and cholesterol that come along with those things.
As a vegan, you’ll most likely be asked, “Where do you get your protein?” Well, where do animals get their protein? Where do the beasts of burden—the ox, elephant, horse, goat, camel, and llama—get their protein? They get all the protein they need to grow strong from plant matter, and so can you. With it, you can be strong and healthy, just like they are.
As a vegan living in a society that strongly encourages the consumption of animal products, you’ll feel better about your health, the animals, even the environment while eating a plant-based diet that includes grains, fiber, and nutritious baked goods.
How Is Vegan Baking Different?
What does all this mean to you, the vegan baker? It means all animal products are out. But it does not mean all baked goods and desserts are out!
Although most baked goods can be veganized by swapping