Baking gluten & sugar free, plant based baked goods

If you’re a sweet tooth like me there’s one thing in particular that you miss immensely, when switching to a plant based, gluten free & maybe even sugar free diet, namely baked goods.

Baking without gluten, eggs, dairy & processed sugar or sweeteners is not the same. You need to think differently. But it doesn’t mean you can’t eat things that satisfy your sweet tooth, without your body going bananas.

How To Replace Your Old Ingredients?

Gluten Free Flours

Many people feel like baking gluten free is very hard, but I don’t agree. You just need to learn how the new ingredients react. If you use too much liquid, add some more flour or gluing agent (flax seeds, chia seeds etc). Use your hands and feel how it feels. Sometimes you need to let it bake in the oven for longer. Just check it and use your judgement. 

When baking gluten free, you often need more liquid, as well as other gluing agents, since you’re not getting the gluing agent from gluten. The bread often becomes more compact and dense because of the lack of gluten. 

There are premade gluten free flour blends that act a bit more like regular flour. These often contain different additives to make it resemble regular flour. So read the label. 

I always use pure flours of different kinds. They all have different tastes, textures, nutrients and act in different ways. So you can’t always swap one for the other and expect the same result. In this article I will not go into detail about each flour. 

Note! The following flours are in themselves gluten free, BUT they are often handled in a way that makes them contain traces of gluten. It can be that they are sowed in the same soil as other gluten containing seeds, or that the machines that harvest them or the place they are packed in also harvest/pack for example wheat. Which makes them classified as non gluten free. So always go for the gluten free version if you are sensitive. 

15 Flours that are gluten free:

1. Oat flour

2. Buckwheat flour

3. Almond flour

4. Sorghum flour

5. Amaranth flour

6. Teff flour

7. Arrowroot flour

8. Rice flour

9. Corn flour

10. Tapioca flour 

11. Chickpea flour 

12. Chia seed flour 

13. Coconut flour 

14. Cassava flour 

15. Tigernut flour

Stick together

Gluten Free flours don’t work the same way as regular flours since they’re missing the “gluing” component gluten. Instead you have to find other ways to get the ingredients to stick together. 

Flaxseeds/linseeds, psyllium husk, & chia seeds all bind fluid in different ways. You can use both the whole seeds & a ground version usually called meal or flour. Note that the finer the ground, the stronger the “gluing” action, since it becomes more concentrated.

A chia egg is basically a tablespoon of chia seeds & 3 tablespoons of liquid. If you leave it for 10-15 min it becomes gelatinous. 

Other ways to bind the ingredients is using mashed bananas or applesauce.

Aquafaba, or the liquid that canned chickpeas lie in, can be used as egg replacement, especially when making vegan meringue. Note it needs to be whipped longer than an egg white. 

Sweetener

How do you sweeten your baked goods if you don’t use processed sugar or sweeteners?

My body reacts to all types of sugar; white, brown, date, syrups, honey & artificial sweeteners. It doesn’t matter if it’s considered processed or not, my muscles & connective tissue can feel like they are on fire, I can get nausea & stomach cramps. Especially when they are combined with fat, like butter or cream, & gluten.  

According to studies artificial sweeteners can also affect your stomach & gut flora. So instead I use dried/fresh fruits & spices to sweeten my baked goods, & gluten free & plant based ingredients. 

Spices like cinnamon, vanilla bean & cardamom can make the bread sweeter. Experiment when baking to find what works for you.

 Nutritious snack

When you have a sensitive stomach it can sometimes be hard to digest a lot of things, especially beans and lentils, as well as some vegetables, nuts and seeds. I very often add them to the things I bake to add more protein and vitamins, to make my snacks even more packed with nutrients. 

Adding canned beans or dried lentils can help make your bread into a proper meal or snack. I usually use canned beans because they are easier to digest. Even if I soak beans overnight and cook them for a long time, I often feel like my stomach has a harder time digesting them, than if I use canned beans. 

When using canned beans remember to wash off the liquid they are in. This can contain things that are harder to digest. 

When using dried beans, look up how long to soak and cook them before putting them in the bread. Soak at least overnight, to make them easier to digest. I often use mung beans in my savory bread, and I always let them soak overnight before using them. 

Lentils are easier to use when they are dry, than beans. I usually use red lentils as they are in my crackers. I sometimes soak them overnight to make sure they are easier to digest, but not always. 

Both lentils and beans can also help keep the ingredients sticking together. Especially when you put them in the blender together with the other ingredients. 

I also often use different vegetables in my bread to add moisture and flavor. This can be adapted any way you like. I use anything from carrots, different types of potatoes to zucchini, peas, or anything else I have lying around. I usually put them in the blender to chop them up into smaller pieces, instead of grating them. That saves time and energy. 

Make it easy for yourself

Since a lot of gluten free bread contain a lot of liquid they quickly go bad. They are best kept in the fridge for a few days, or even better, cut it & put it in the freezer.

Cut the loaves into the size of pieces you want.

Put a piece of parchment paper in-between every 2 slices & put in the freezer.

Take out as much as you eat in a few days.