The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Baking - Donna Diegel [5]
Stocking Your Vegan Pantry
A well-stocked pantry makes vegan baking much quicker and easier. But what should you keep on hand? Walking down the aisles of a health food store can be overwhelming, whether you’re just starting down the path of vegan baking or have been vegan for years, with all the different and strange-sounding products. Some of these items will come in handy; others you might not need to stock but can purchase on an as-needed basis. In the following paragraphs, I offer some suggestions on items you might want to keep in your vegan pantry.
Many recipes in this cookbook call for tofu. Mori-Nu, as well as other brands, makes soft silken tofu that’s good as an egg replacer or thickener in many baked goods. It has virtually no taste, so you won’t even know it’s in there. Some brands come in aseptic packaging that doesn’t need to be refrigerated until opened, making it a great pantry staple.
Carob is Mother Nature’s chocolate substitute. Technically a legume, carob comes from the ground-up pod of the carob tree. The pods are often roasted before they’re ground to give the carob a more “chocolaty” taste. Carob powder is very similar to cocoa powder and can be substituted in most recipes with excellent results. It also contains no caffeine. You can find carob powder at health food stores and some large supermarkets.
Commercial confectioners’ and brown sugar, while not technically considered animal products, are often produced and refined with animal bone char-based charcoal, making them unsuitable for vegans. Look for vegan confectioners’ sugar in the supermarket or health food store.
The flour used in these recipes is most often unbleached all-purpose flour, high-gluten bread flour, or pastry flour. Whole-wheat pastry flour is the secret ingredient in many muffins, coffee cakes, and assorted baked goods because it produces a moist and tender crumb. If you can’t find pastry flour, consider using cake flour. Double sifting unbleached all-purpose or whole-wheat flour will also help.
VEGAN VOCAB
A tender crumb is something to be desired when baking cakes, muffins, and bread. Crumb refers to the internal structure of the baked good. When saying something has a tender crumb, it generally means the item has an even texture, not crumbly or ragged.
Nutritional yeast is very different from the yeast used to leaven bread. It comes in flakes or powder, similar to brewer’s yeast, and is used as a condiment or seasoning in vegan cooking. Nutritional yeast’s ability to mimic cheese in color and taste makes it very versatile and called for in many recipes and casseroles. High in B vitamins, it’s also a good source of protein. Nutritional yeast has a good shelf life, but it’s best kept refrigerated in an airtight container. Find it at any health food store in the bulk section.
Some soy margarines are nonhydrogenated expeller-pressed natural oil blends (soybean, palm fruit, canola, and olive oils), with soy protein, soy lecithin, and lactic acid derived from sugar beets. Many can be used interchangeably for butter or margarine. Be sure whatever you choose is 100 percent vegan.
Florida Crystals is an unrefined cane sugar that is superior in vegan or healthful baked goods. Made from evaporated cane juice, organic Florida Crystals has no additives and can be used in most recipes calling for granulated sugar. Most commercial brands of granulated cane sugar are processed using bone char from cattle as a whitening filter. Look for organic sugar at the health food store, and read the label to be sure no animal ingredients are used in the processing.
Date sugar is an unprocessed sugar made from dehydrated dates. It’s also high in fiber.
Agave syrup is a liquid sweetener derived from the Mexican agave cactus. With a light, delicate flavor sweeter than honey, this syrup can be used in most recipes that call for honey, brown rice