In my kitchen cupboard, four main ingredients:
– Gluten & Phosphate-free baking powder
This baking powder will not change the taste of your food once integrated to it. You can lick the spoon when you prepare a cake to check the difference.
It is made of:
– corn starch: not to mention organic and non-GMO, corn starch will allow baking powder to be kept for a long time And if there is corn starch…well there’s no gluten.
– baking soda: this ingredient will help your dough rise by a chemical reaction and the release of gas (C02). It’s well known for bringing lightness and smoothness to cakes and other pastries. It’s also a good helping hand in your digestion (helping your food to be more basic and less acid).
– tartaric acid: originally taken from grapes. It will help baking soda do its job (and even accentuate it) and will remove its bitterness.
– Baking soda
Baking soda is loaded with good intentions such as:
– lifting your preparations by the same release of gas we were mentioning above
– helping you digesting better. You’re cooking cabbage? A little bit of baking soda will remove some of its strong smell, taste and will be make it more digestible. It also works with dried vegetables (dried peas, beans and pulses).
– Xanthan gum
Made of a bacteria, like yeast, xanthan gum is used to bind and thicken. I use it to replace egg whites.
To bring lightness and smoothness to some of my cakes and crêpes /pancakes, I use buttermilk that I prepare by mixing soy milk and lemon juice (and leave to rest for few minutes). The milk will curdle and its PH will lower, and therefore becoming more acid. The acidity of the buttermilk will react with the baking soda, creating some gas and helping the cake to rise.
If you do not have lemon juice, you can also use white vinegar.
– Agar- agar
Agar-agar is used to jellify and is fully vegan. You dissolve it by mixing it into hot water and it will solidify when cooling down. I use it for all my ‘crèmes’, jellies, panna cotta…