Question for all you bakers

[gazzerg]

Am going to finally dip my hands into the cooking pot!
I am not a cooking person at all, but I don't want to lumber all my dietary needs onto my already stressed wife, so I am going to give it a whirl and see what mess I can come up with. :?
I have seen quite a few tasty recipes knocking about but I have also noticed that some of the ingredients are not 'Asda' available.
Can some of you wonderful cooks out there give me an 'stuff to keep in the cupboard' ingredients list? Ingredients I have to look out for whilst in the health shop?

Ground Flaxseed
Almond Flour
Psyllium Husk Powder (no idea what that is)
Any others?

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Almond flour is just ground almonds and can be bought in most supermarkets or holland and barretts if you cant find it elsewhere.

I did try a couple of cake recipes using this and it does make great cakes but they do taste of almonds and no amount of vanilla or chocolate flavouring seems to mask that almond flavour, not a problem if you like almonds of course, my wife doesnt

The other down side of course is the very high calorific value of ground almonds if that is an issue.

Not used flaxseed or psyllium husks so cant comment on those.

 

[l0vaduck]

Almond flour is just ground almonds and can be bought in most supermarkets or holland and barretts if you cant find it elsewhere.

I did try a couple of cake recipes using this and it does make great cakes but they do taste of almonds and no amount of vanilla or chocolate flavouring seems to mask that almond flavour, not a problem if you like almonds of course, my wife doesnt

The other down side of course is the very high calorific value of ground almonds if that is an issue.

Not used flaxseed or psyllium husks so cant comment on those.

Tesco sell ground flax seed. There's a website where you can get lots of these types of ingredients online - a few years ago I had a go at low carb bread making, and ordered gluten flour, several different types of ground nuts (although if you have a coffee grinder you could make these yourself from fresh nuts), and soya flour. I can't remember the site now (not very helpful I suppose!) but you could try googling the ingredients you want.

 

[WhitbyJet]

GazerG - almond flour, ground almonds, all kinds of nuts, coconut flour, oat bran, psyllium husks,vital wheat gluten flour, seeds (eg sesame, poppy seeds, sunflower, etc), Splenda and Zsweet (eryhtritol), vanilla pods, powdered vanilla, natural lemon and orange flavouring, cocoa powder - unsweetened, 75% chocolate, bouillon powder, herbs and spices, pofiber (<< a Swedish product that I sometimes use in baking), whole linseed/flaxseed (ready ground seeds can go off very quickly, they develop a fishy odour/taste, whole seeds keep for ages, its really best to just grind the quantity you need)

I didnt buy all these things in one go, I suggest you begin by buying the ingredients that you need for a recipe in small quantities first, you dont know yet whether you are going to like the end product or not. You will build up your store cupboard gradually.

Any ideas yet on what you are thinking of baking/cooking??

 

[izzzi]

Hi,
Amazon is very good for most of your requirements.

Linseed is the same as Flaxseed , yet less expensive.

Have heard of chia.


Good luck with your baking.

Roy

 

[modesty007]

I'm lucky to have access to a lot Swedish recipes (being Swedish) as you the low carb high fat movement is rather big back home. Let me know what you looking for when it comes to baking and could make an effort to translate some of them.
To decrease the carb load with grounded almond, try coconut flour also useful is psyllium husk, look around on-line for diffident things and you can probably get better price and/or quality. Found it a little tricky find high quality vanilla powder but Vanilla mart is good and for flavouring you don't have to use much.

 

[gazzerg]

Thanks for all the replies....
WhitbyJet... Just thought i would start simple....There is a recipe on here for Cinnamon Muffins, so just had a quick scout around my local Asda and managed to find all the ingredients..although i am assuming ground almonds is almond flour :?: Kids are finding it highly amusing that i am going to bake.....gotta love the support

 

[modesty007]

Good luck. I think you all will have a great time. I've enclosed a link to very nice bread called oopsies, you can freeze them and either microwave or toast them.
http://www.google.com/translate?u=http: ... l=sv&tl=en

 

[BioHaZarD]

Great post, I was looking for a list of cupboard essentials, I want to start baking my own low carb stuff.

 

[TokSik]

If you have any Asian food shops in your area, I'd try them for the flax seeds as they tend to be a LOT cheaper than Tesco (and IF they do have them, try the golden flax rather than the dark brown flax seeds, as they taste better).
I tried this a year ago, and got terrible lower gut pains (probably from putting too much ground flax seeds in the bread).
I found that using a liquidiser was the best way to grind the seeds, and kept the ground meal in tightly sealed jars in the fridge, which slows down their going sour).

 

[SandieB]

Asian shops can be good for ground almonds too....bigger packs and cheaper than usual supermarkets.

Have fun....

 

[Etty]

Does anyone know where to buy pofiber (potato fiber, not potato flour/starch) in the UK?

 

[ewelina]

Does anyone know where to buy pofiber (potato fiber, not potato flour/starch) in the UK?

What is pofiber and how do you use it?Very interesting...

Im going to try coconut flour this week. Even bought some from 'as nature intended'. A bit pricy but I hope its worth it!

As another baking product i use fructose. I dont like sweeteners so fructose seems to be better option than sugar

 

[WhitbyJet]

Does anyone know where to buy pofiber (potato fiber, not potato flour/starch) in the UK?

Etty, unfortunately pofibre isnt available in the UK, you would have to order via the internet and have it sent to you from Sweden.

 

[Etty]

Thanks Whitby, my own searches came up empty. I'd like to try it, it looks useful.

Ewelina---pofiber is another flour substitute that the Swedes use. It has 12g of carb per 100g of product. I think it is what's left after you wash all the starch out of potatoes, and dry the remains. I've never used it.

 

[WhitbyJet]

Thanks Whitby, my own searches came up empty. I'd like to try it, it looks useful.

I use pofiber in most of my baking, also as a coating for chicken nuggets, fish, etc, its definitely worth getting, just a shame its not available in the UK (yet).

 

[hanadr]

I get flax seed in the supermarket an grind it myself [a coffee grinder will do it] I can't rmember the brand name of the flax seed, but it comes in a box with pictures of the seed on the outside.
Hana

 

[ewelina]

I would like to try profiber. does anybody have a link to online shop? (even if its swedish). hope i would manage to order it

 

[Covlocks]

I use coconut, hazelnut, almond and chestnut flours. You have to bind it with xanthan gum otherwise it is like baking with sawdust. A combination of the flours (that I make myself witha decent coffee grinder - saves £££'s) makes decent cakes, scones etc. The internet is full of really good recipe books and once you get the hang of it you can invent lots of cake recipes.

 

[WhitbyJet]

You can buy Semper pofiber here http://www.swedishfoodshop.com/semper-pofiber , click on the US button top right hand corner to translate the page into English.

I am lucky, my Swedish in-laws keep me supplied with all kinds low carb goodies that arent available over here. I couldnt imagine being without pofiber, makes all the difference to my breads/rolls, eg made these for our packed lunches this morning http://lavkarbobakst.blogg.no/134030529 ... orund.html (<<Norwegian site, look through it, if anyone wants me to translate give me a shout)