So far, those eager to bake low-carb have found a reasonable sugar
substitute (Splenda) though it does not do all of what sugar does
(chiefly it lacks gelling function).
The insuperable problem for the low-carb baker is flour. The following
flour substitutes have been tried by various low-carbers and their
recipe books:
Soy flour - tastes beastly; requires wildly strong counter-flavour to
block taste (cf Atkins Brownie Mix - pretty gross). Little gluten.
Browns very quickly.
Vital wheat gluten: very, very strong, so creates elastic or rubbery
texture
Ground seeds: used alone, no gluten. Very heavy and dense (see nuts,
below). Flaxseeds when moist have a texture some describe as 'like
snot'. Baked, they are gritty. Used in huge flourlike quantities they
are calorie-dense and carby, esp. poppyseeds.
Soy Protein Powder: no gluten. Dense texture, and somewhat gritty.
Whey protein powder: carbier, and see above. Hard to get in flavourless
forms, and flavoured forms taste very artificial.
Ground nuts: make baked goods dense and heavy
Coarse bran: used alone, the result is heavy and damp. Too many carbs
for some.
A mixture of the above: I have made acceptable bread from a mix of VWG,
ground flaxseed, whey powder and coarse bran. The gluten prevents the
other ingredients from being heavy and the whey tenderises the dough so
the gluten isn't too rubbery.
Generally, the following kinds of baked goods work reasonably well:
Biscotti and cantucci, brutti mar buoni and the like - basically
anything with a ground-nut base, eg Emily Luchetti's walnut cake,
Claudia Roden's orange-almond cake
Macaroons - almond or coconut
Wholegrain-style breads
Custards and cheesecakes
Flourless cakes of the Chocolate Oblivion variety, though these are not
really very low carb.
What doesn't work at all in my experience is cake, biscuits, muffins,
anything that requires lightness and softness. Yes, I've made the
recipes around - many, many of them - the results were - well, let's say
nuggety - dry, powdery, hard-edged, and lacking in softness and
lightness. The problem is that there is no low-carb equivalent of cake
flour, as all the above are either hard or utterly gluten free. But it
must theoretically be possible to combine VWG and one of the gluten-free
items above in such proportions that they equal cake flour. Has anyone
had any luck in doing so?
I don't myself crave cake, and on the whole what I dislike about low-
carb baked goods is that they are like a plastic imitation of real food,
whereas what drew me to lowcarbing was the possibility of mainly eating
real stuff like meat and veggies and single-estate olive oil. But as a
keen and fairly scientific baker I'm intellectually curious about the
problem.
Let's save time, JD. I know cakes are never lowcarb. Of course people
who eat lots of cake will get fat.
--
Jane Lumley