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Marlene
Jul 2nd, 2004, 06:46 AM
I bake my own bread. Always whole wheat, but I can vary the recipe and make herb bread, flax bread, raisin bread, whatever. It's about 15 minutes of actual work but the whole process can take up to 4 hours, so I don't do it all the time, maybe once every few weeks. Most of the time I use store-bought whole wheat pitas for sandwiches or whatever.

I love the smell of baking bread!
And there's no ambiguity about what's in it.

TheFirstBus
Jul 5th, 2004, 09:36 PM
I use sprouted grains. Completly vegan and most of the ingrediants are organic. Purchased at my regular grocery store

Kiva Dancer
Jul 12th, 2004, 08:58 PM
I bake my own bread. Always whole wheat, but I can vary the recipe and make herb bread, flax bread, raisin bread, whatever. It's about 15 minutes of actual work but the whole process can take up to 4 hours, so I don't do it all the time, maybe once every few weeks. Most of the time I use store-bought whole wheat pitas for sandwiches or whatever.

I love the smell of baking bread!
And there's no ambiguity about what's in it.I've been wanting to start baking my own bread, too. What recipe do you use, Marlene? Would you mind to post it?

i_like_deer
Jul 13th, 2004, 04:45 PM
Does baking something with oil in it automatically turn it into trans-fat? Or is it certain kinds of oils??

harpy
Jul 13th, 2004, 06:58 PM
As I understand it it's the process of hydrogenation that creates the trans fats, and so if you bake with unhydrogenated oils you won't end up with trans fats. (Not sure whether this means you won't have any or just not as much!)

I don't do much baking so I don't know how easy it is to bake with oils that are not solid at room temperature?

i_like_deer
Jul 13th, 2004, 07:06 PM
i do baking with liquid oils & it works fine.

i know when you heat certain oils to a high enough temperature it does something to them & that solid oils (like cocnut oil) can withstand higher heat. but i don't know if the heating turns it to trans-fat or what..

i also heard someone refuse to eat cookies that had been baked from scratch without hydrogenated oils because "i dont eat trans-fat". i have no idea how [not] informed that guy was.....

eve
Jul 14th, 2004, 05:44 AM
I believe that all cookies have transfats in them, plus sugard. The two together are unhelpful.

Roxy
Jul 14th, 2004, 07:01 AM
I love cookies :( The ones I eat are organic and contain organic canola oil. Is this a trans fat?

Sorry I don't know much about this issue.

Roxy

harpy
Jul 14th, 2004, 10:22 AM
I think canola oil (which is called "rapeseed oil" in the UK) is meant to be OK trans fat wise as are other liquid oils
(http://www.ific.org/publications/qa/transqa.cfm). If things contain significant trans fats the ingredients list should mention "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" oils. I was also reading about something called "fractionated" oil which is probably bad news too.

Raising oils and other foods above a certain temperature as in baking, roasting or deep-frying is meant to cause chemical changes which may create carcinogens but that's a separate issue from the hydrogenation/trans fats one. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/07/020726081009.htm

Sabster
Jul 14th, 2004, 01:15 PM
Companies will have to list the trans fats in their products starting at some point in th future. As of sometime last year (I think) companies don't have to yet but can elect to. Most natural and organic products elect to list trans fat content on their prepared foods labels. Of course if not... you can still tell if hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils have been used in the process....

my guess is that an infintessimal negligible amount wouldn't get noted... i.e. listing fat content < .5 g is not usually done... more of an added comment than necessarily relating to anything. Just something I was curious about... I've been reading nutrition labels for too long.

ConsciousCuisine
Jul 14th, 2004, 01:45 PM
Here is some good general information on oils and trans fats.

http://www.silanutrition.com/hydrogenation.html

http://www.naturesplus.com/library/lib_detail.asp?criteria=sf&fullArticle=yes&sf=6&searchVar=&articleID=3096

Canola oil comes from "rapeseed", is highly refined and provides questionable nutrition at best. Rapeseed is used as a pesticide, and is so toxic in its natural state that animals avoid it. If you want more info on canola oil specifically, do a search at www.google.com or please feel free to contact me.

Roxy
Jul 14th, 2004, 07:25 PM
Thanks everyone!

Roxy

eve
Jul 15th, 2004, 07:13 AM
Thanks for those two urls ConsciousCuisine, I'm just glad that my food regimen doesn't contain transfats or canola, that I've avoided like the plague.

tsunami
Jul 17th, 2004, 04:13 AM
Margarine has trans-fats. Other oils do not unless you really alter them. Like with those extreme processes that make them quite unnatural. Otherwise trans-fats are mainly in animal products and margarine and such.

cedarblue
Jul 17th, 2004, 02:02 PM
canola oil is corn oil, right??
what is the best general purpose oil to use then for cake baking and shallow and occasional deep-frying??

:confused:

ConsciousCuisine
Jul 17th, 2004, 03:46 PM
No, canola is rapeseed, (originally sourced from Canada- thus named "Can- Ola" Canadian oil) a member of the mustard family. It is highly refined.

Olive and extra virgin coconut oil are the best that I have found. When I asked Dr. Udo Erasmus (author of "Fats That Kill Fats that Heal) he confirmed that these were the best choices. The extra virgin coconut oil is more stable at high temperatures and so is more suitable for frying than any other.

harpy
Jul 18th, 2004, 11:57 AM
Cedarblue - There seems to be a lot of conflicting advice about this around, but I have read that (allergies permitting, obviously) groundnut/peanut oil is quite good for baking and frying because it too is stable at higher temperatures. Like olive and rapeseed oil it's high in monounsaturates, and it has a neutral flavour. So currently I tend to use that for cooking and extra virgin olive oil for salads etc.

For a while I was using non-extra-virgin olive oil for cooking but then someone with an olive farm told me what they put in it :eek: ! I had stopped using extra virgin oil for cooking at high temperatures because it is meant to be less stable (or something - I forget why) but still use it for things like ratatouille that can be cooked over a low heat.

Anyway, I made some muffins with groundnut oil recently and it seemed to work fine.

cedarblue
Jul 18th, 2004, 04:27 PM
thanks harpy, will try those oils just for myself though - daughter is has nut allergy.
currently i use extra virgin olive for dressings, light olive oil for starting off cooking in pans as well as sunflower oil, and sesame oil for dressing and stirfries.

harpy
Jul 18th, 2004, 06:03 PM
I used to use sunflower oil but apparently vegetarians and vegans should avoid overdoing it because it's got omega 6 fatty acids in it and that can interfere with assimilation of omega 3 EFAs (which vegans can get from flax and hemp seeds, among other things). I think that's right - it's discussed here http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/e_fatty_acids.php

I wonder what other options there are if one's avoiding nut and peanut oils. I believe soya oil is used in the US but I've never seen it on sale here I don't think.

i_like_deer
Jul 19th, 2004, 06:30 PM
finding a good oil is hard.

soy oil has a high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (as does corn oil i think). i know grapeseed oil is good for cooking because it can be heated fairly high (higher than canola oil) but i think it may also be high in omega-6's. i read that the cooking oil that has the best o-3 to o-6 ratio is canola.

also coconut oil can be heated to high temps without hurting it (so it's good for baking) but it has a higher amount of saturated fat in it.

harpy:: what do they put in non-extra virgin olive oil?

harpy
Jul 19th, 2004, 07:23 PM
Oh yes, I missed the bit about the omega 6 in soya oil. Back to the drawing board then!

There is apparently a school of thought that says coconut and palm oils are OK after all because the studies that found they were bad for you used hydrogenated versions of them. The jury is still out but I certainly choose products with those in them in preference to those with the 'orrid hydrogenated oils :eek:

The non-virgin olive oil has various processed components such as extracts from the "lampante" which is more or less scraped out of the press after they've made the virgin stuff, apparently. Not sure how bad for you they are but my informant certainly didn't make them sound very appetising. The regulations as to what they are allowed to put in vary from country to country too, just to make things more complicated.

This site has some information about different types of olive oil: http://www.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/knowledge.asp?catitemid=41&id=408

It is a minefield isn't it? Or an oilfield :D

cast_the_flames
Aug 6th, 2004, 06:43 AM
i recently went on a baking frenzy and made bread and vegan cookie bars for everyone i know. i was also inspired to finally make my own sourdough starter, and am very excited about it! i'll probably be able to use it tomorrow, which will be really nice. i love making my own bread, although with normal yeast breads i tend to use my bread machine, which is easy but somewhat souless.

anyway, i was just wondering what experiences with handmade bread/sourdough people have had, as i'm new to this and would love to hear from others!

ConsciousCuisine
Aug 6th, 2004, 03:53 PM
Please share your experiece with creating a vegan sourdough starter, as most people assume that it can't be done...

cast_the_flames
Aug 6th, 2004, 10:11 PM
well, so far it's bubbly and sour smelling. i "fed" it last night by adding some more flour and water, and it's starting to get a little bit more bubbly(which is good). i think i'll be able to start using it tomorrow :)

i don't see why it can't be vegan, as genuine sourdough starter is just water and flour left out to gather yeast and mircroorganisms from the air...unless vegans don't usually eat yeast? it's not an animal, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Artichoke47
Sep 24th, 2004, 12:55 AM
You can probably find soymilk powder or just leave it out of the recipe. I don't know what purpose cow milk powder or any powder would serve.

I used to make my pizza crust dough w/o soymilk powder and it turned out fine, even though the recipe called for it. :)