There are standard ingredients that most bakers use; wheat flour, eggs, and dairy products including milk and butter. All of these ingredients are among the most common food allergens, which makes finding baked goods off-the-shelf – or even following recipes – extremely difficult for families with food allergies.
This is precisely the challenge I faced ten years ago when my son was diagnosed with allergies to wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, and peanuts, and why I decided to share what I’ve learned in Learning to Bake Allergen-Free: A Crash Course for Busy Parents on Baking without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy or Nuts.
An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to baking without milk, and the good news is there are lots of choices to replace cow’s milk. Milks made from grains, such as rice milk and oat milk, or from seeds, such as coconut and hemp, are fabulous options for baking. It will come as no surprise that hemp milk is one of my favorites, and I use it for many of the recipes in the book.
One of my favorite tricks is to use chocolate hemp milk when I am baking a chocolate treat such as the Triple Play Chocolate Cake or Eggless Chocolate Mousse recipes that can be found in the book.
The formula for substituting non-dairy milk for cow’s milk is simple – it’s a cup for cup substitution. It doesn’t get easier than that!
In honor of the book’s launch last week, The Experiment Publishing and Living Harvest have teamed up to offer you a chance to win a copy of Learning to Bake Allergen-Free. Here’s how to enter:
Simply leave a comment here on what you like most about your favorite non-dairy milk, or what baked goods you miss the most due to food allergies or restrictions. For extra entries, “like” the Living Harvest Foods facebook page and/or my facebook page, Allergen-Free Baker. Leave a second or third comment here for each entry. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, June 29th. Good Luck!
**UPDATE** Congratulations to Amber Shea! She is the randomly selected winner of our cookbook giveaway! Amber, please email me at jennifer@livingharvest.com.