SPLENDID GLUTEN-FREE BAKE MIX 3



SPLENDID GLUTEN-FREE BAKE MIX 3
(Newest bake mix - only 2 Ingredients)
The beauty of having a lovely low-carb bake mix is that you can use it in your very own favorite recipes without anyone dictating which recipe you should make, plus you can explore baking on your own just the same as in the old days when you baked with white flour and sugar!  This bake mix tastes GOOD!  The baked goods taste close to the real thing and sometimes even better!

UPDATE:  I am hoping I can still use Bake Mix 2 as long as my husband can tolerate the small amount of coconut flour in it...he was fine with it for years, so time will tell....this is another alternative, as a result of a recent mini-crisis with my husband declaring that the coconut flour was making things worse for him re IBS.  He was eating my carob chips (known to make IBS worse for some people), so I think it was that!  This Bake Mix 3 is lovely and easy, but it is a titch carbier and one has to use `1/4 cup more of it to substitute for white flour, so that is why I am reticent to let go of Bake Mix 2.

My husband declared that the coconut flour (fiber!) in my bake mix was making his IBS worse, so it was back to the drawing board for me!  I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause someone, but know this…Bake Mix 1 and  Bake Mix 2 are fully interchangeable (no additional bake mix required) and Bake Mix 3 can be substituted for either of them as well, as long as you add 2 tbsp to 1/cup (60 mL) more bake mix depending on whether you are substituting for less than 1 cup (250 mL) bake mix or more than 1 cup (250 mL) bake mix.  The good news is that Gluten-Free Bake Mix 3 is so much easier to prepare…whole cups are used and it looks like gelatin is very rarely needed.  I will indicate the few recipes where it is required, but if you want to use it (it is so healthy and great for the skin…replaces lost collagen), I am going to suggest using half the amounts that we used before.  It is always added to the wet ingredients.

Note:  The reason more bake mix 3 is needed when substituting for white flour in recipes than with the other two bake mixes, is that this one is less dense….the proportion of almond flour to oat flour is greater.  I wanted to keep the carbs more or less the same.  In order to do that, do not use ground almonds (almond meal - lower in carbs, but the yield is much less when used in the bake mix), but almond flour, which will produce the correct yield as indicated below.  I love Honeyville Grains Almond flour.  I use the nutritional analysis for Arrowhead Mills oat flour, but if you are super sensitive to gluten or have Celiac disease, please use Bob’s Red Mill Certified Gluten-Free Oat flour.  It is processed in a gluten-free facility, so that there is no possibility of gluten contamination.  The only people who have Celiac disease who will still be sensitive to oat flour are those who are sensitive to Avenin.

Oat flour is Paleo!  Check this out.  32,000 years ago they were grinding oats into flour.  



There is a Grain Rung on the Atkins Diet and some of you may want to do the diet by the book and wait until then to use the bake mix.  Also, remember desserts are a treat, and should be more of an occasional thing. Having sweet treats can keep us from feeling deprived and thus keep us happy on our chosen way of life. Our full-fat desserts can be much tastier than their low-carb counterparts! Desserts such as cheesecakes, ice creams and mousses and such are actually wonderful for low-carbers, but even those can add a lot of calories, so do keep that in mind as well. With regard to oats and insulin spikes – remember if it was pure oat flour, it would be a problem, but since the oat flour is a small amount diluted in a large amount of almond flour, the glycemic load (which is more important than glycemic index) is a lot lower and, therefore, the insulin response would be a lot lower, but everyone is different.  Compare the heart-healthy Splendid Gluten-Free Bake mix with bleached all-purpose flour which contains alloxan, a chemical used to induce diabetes in lab rats, let alone the gliadin,which is a protein in wheat that stimulates the appetite for more . 1/cup (60 mL) white flour = 24 g carbs and compare 1/cup (60 mL) Gluten-Free Bake Mix = 5.7 g carbs (Splendid Gluten-Free Bake Mix is 4 times less carby than white flour!).  This bake mix may be used in place of Jennifer’s other bake mixes in most recipes.  See instructions below recipe. What to do with leftover bake mix?  Visit http://low-carb-news.blogspot.com(RHS) to find suggestions.  


This was a recent comment received with regard to Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2: "I also want to express my deepest gratitude for the Splendid Baking mix recipe. I have struggled with diabetes and my weight for many years. Recently discovered I am very gluten intolerant also. I have tried many recipes but they always lack so much. I am exclusively using your mix and my blood sugar is where it should be and every recipe I try is wonderful." 

You can make multiples of this recipe....so easy and less likely to make mistakes as it is all in whole cups.  I don't weigh anything when it comes to my bake mixes, to be honest, but I will put the approximate weights there next time I go to make a batch.


With almond flour (not ground almonds/almond meal) the yield is 3 1/2 cups.  Make sure to measure the oat flour as I've instructed with previous bake mixes as well.  Almond meal will produce 3 cups of bake mix and the carbs will thus be higher.  So, that is why almond flour is preferable for this bake mix. In reality, I did the analysis for my older bake mixes using almond meal (as that is what I used to use - homemade ground almonds), but if you used almond flour in them....the carbs were actually 4.8 grams instead of 5.7 grams.  This bake mix is a tiny bit carbier, but divided by the number of servings, that doesn't amount to too much.  Still, if you want to use an older bake mix, please simply substitute it and read how to do that (you will need less of the previous bake mix in my newer recipes - please scroll down to the Helpful Hints).  On the positive side, this bake mix will not cause tummy troubles for anyone (my husband included) and tastes even more like the real thing!

BAKE MIX RECIPE:

2 cups almond flour (500 mL)
1 cup oat flour (250 ml)

In large bowl, combine almond flour and oat flour (you can double, triple or quadruple the amounts given).  Use a scoop to add almond flour to a measuring cup and level off with a dinner knife. When measuring oat flour (only with the oat flour) into measuring cup, make sure to tap the cup on the counter top and fill to top to get the correct yield for the bake mix. In container with airtight lid, place bake mix and shake well to combine Keep bake mix at room temperature for up to one month or freeze or refrigerate for longer terrm storage.

Instructions for substituting the bake mix in your own flour-containing recipes:  Add 1/2 cup (125 mL) additional bake mix when substituting for 1 cup (250 mL) or more than 1 cup (250 mL) flour and use 1/4 cup (60 mL) more if substituting for less than 1 cup (250 mL).  Always begin by adding an extra egg in muffins, loaves, cakes and coffee cakes, except for cookies and brownies, and except if bake mix required is less than or equal to 1 cup (250 mL).  Withhold 1/4 cup (60 mL) of liquid/wet or fat ingredients; add in as needed (usually need it all). If batter after processing at least a minute is still too thick, add more of the wet ingredients, and if accidentally the batter ends up too sloppy, add a little more bake mix. If all the liquid has been used and the batter is still too stiff, add another egg (this need for another egg will be a rare, if ever occurrence with this bake mix).   You may add gelatin to the liquid ingredients in the food processor  and process before adding the dry ingredients.  It is rarely going to be necessary to use gelatin.  I will indicate in the recipe ingredients when I find a recipe that would benefit from gelatin holding all the ingredients together to prevent a crumbly outcome.  That is the purpose of gelatin and xanthan gum when one has several “flours” that compose the baking.

Adding Gelatin (optional):  Use 1/4 tsp (1 mL) unflavored gelatin for less than and equal to 1 cup (250 mL) Gluten-Free Bake Mix.  For more than 1 cup (250 mL), use 1/2 tsp (2 mL) gelatin.  For 2 cups (500 mL) or more use 3/4 tsp (3 mL) gelatin. Gelatin is added to wet ingredients in a food processor or mixer and mixed well. Add dry ingredients and process until well combined.  That’s it.  It couldn’t be easier!

Cookies and Brownies:  Usually cookies do not require gelatin and besides with Gluten-Free Bake Mix 3, it is optional in any case.  Keep number of eggs called for in cookie and brownie recipes the same and follow the instructions for replacing flour with the bake mix. Cookies will usually be somewhat fragile immediately out of the oven.  Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheet and using a thin metal spatula, place cookies in a container for the freezer or refrigerator (separate with wax or parchment paper).

Alternatives for Oat Flour and Almond Flour:  If you are intolerant to certified gluten-free oat flour (could be the avenin), then substitute some other gluten-free flour like sorghum flour, which others have had success with in the bake mix. Other ideas: millet flour, rice flour, quinoa flour (Not a grain (a seed) works well, however, might have a strong taste – try Bob’s Red Mill® and check out this LINK for making the strong taste disappear), lupin flour (this works with bread recipes and some cookie recipes according to some people – can make baking quite yellow and some people are allergic to it), Carbalose flour (quite low-carb), Einkorn flour, an ancient wheat (last two are not gluten-free – available at Netrition.com).  I like the health profile of oat flour and it helps our baking taste more normal.  Oats (oat flour too) lower cholesterol very effectively.  It now turns out that oat flour is actually Paleo – ancient stones were analyzed and oat flour remnants were discovered.  To sit down to a bowl of oats for most of us is no longer something we can do, however, using the bake mix with the oat flour dilute by twice the amount of almond flour, the insulin response in a small portion of a recipe will be much less than sitting down to a bowl of oats, which is not recommended for most of us with insulin resistance, weight issues, or just simply being older.  Instead of almond flour, use sunflower seed flour (don’t use baking soda or you could get greenish baking, but this could be a cheaper option than almond flour) or hazelnut flour or almond flour mixed half and half with walnut flour (all these can be made into flours from the nuts using a coffee bean grinder. You could experiment with half oat flour and half oat fiber and see how that works for you.

Helpful Hints:  I buy NOW® Brand gelatin from Netrition online or use regular, store-bought, unflavored gelatin. If substituting this bake mix for some of my other more robust bake mixes,Gluten-Free Bake Mix 1, page___ and Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2, page___ then 2 tbsp (30 mL) to 1/4 cup (60 mL) more of this bake mix will be required.  Follow same instructions.  It is convenient to double, triple or quadruple the bake mix. Honeyville Grains makes the best almond flour, I think, at a good price when bought in bulk – available online).  I keep mine in large, sealed plastic bags in the freezer or refrigerator.  It is convenient for me to buy 25 lbs at a time, however, chances are you will not need quite so much.  It can last a year or more in the freezer.  If you have a chest freezer, you might prefer to do this as well.


With almond flour (not ground almonds/almond meal) the yield is 3 1/2 cups.  Make sure to measure the oat flour as I've instructed with previous bake mixes as well.  Almond meal will produce 3 cups of bake mix and the carbs will thus be higher.  So, that is why almond flour is preferable for this bake mix.

Yield:  31/2 cups (750 mL)
1/4 cup (60 mL) per serving
117.4 calories
4.3 g protein
8.6 g fat
1.7 g fiber
5.6 g net carbs 


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