Appendix C

A Blueprint for Adapting a Traditional Recipe

In this book I have given you recipes that are made without gluten or the top eight food allergens. But you might have a favorite recipe that’s been in your family for years. Perhaps everyone is expecting Aunt Sarah’s Famous Cherry Cake at Thanksgiving dinner and you want to make an allergen-free version so that everyone at the table can have the same dessert. Or you just want to adapt your favorite traditional recipe to accommodate your family’s food restrictions. This appendix is intended to give you a blueprint for how to approach adapting a traditional recipe to remove gluten and the top food allergens.

Keep in mind that adapting recipes is more than just replacing ingredients; it’s also about how those ingredients interact with each other. This blueprint gives you a place to start, but you may still need to tweak the formula for the recipes you have. If you need to make additional changes, change one component at a time, until you have a formula that works.

It’s not necessary to follow all of these steps; choose the steps required based on your family’s food restrictions.

Replace wheat and gluten with non-gluten grains and supporting ingredients.

Approach:

• Replace any gluten grains (including wheat, barley, rye, or spelt) with a gluten-free flour blend (see options). Adjust the weight of the gluten-free flour you choose to be consistent with the weight of wheat flour at approximately 120 grams per cup. In most cases you will be using less flour than the original recipe.
• If the flour blend you choose does not contain xanthan gum, add ¼ teaspoon of xanthan gum for each cup (or partial cup) of flour used.
• If the recipe uses baking powder, double the amount. If the recipe uses baking soda, use the baking soda and add 1 to 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

Replace the milk.

Approach: Replace dairy milk or soy milk with equal amounts of non-dairy milk (including hemp milk, coconut milk beverage, and rice milk). See chapter 3 for more information on milk choices.

Address the oils.

Approach: Substitute equal amounts of allergen-friendly oils (including sunflower, grapeseed, hemp, and canola oil) for any nut oils. See more on oils.

Address the shortening or butter.

Approach: Substitute equal amounts of dairy-free shortening (including palm oil shortening, coconut oil shortening, and Earth Balance Natural Shortening) for butter and/or margarine. See a more detailed discussion on shortening. Check the labels on these products to ensure that they don’t contain any foods you are allergic to.

Eliminate the eggs.

Approach: Determine what role the eggs play in the recipe—leavening, texture, and/or binding—and consider the type of baked goods you are making:

• If leavening is the main concern, or your recipe uses yeast, or you are making a pudding or mousse, replace the eggs with a packaged egg replacer (e.g., Ener-G Egg Replacer) according to the package directions.
• If texture is the main concern (or you are working with a batter), replace each egg with ¼ cup of fruit puree, or ¼ cup of flaxseed gel.
• If binding is also a concern (or you are working with thick batters or doughs), replace one or more eggs with flaxseed gel.
• If your recipe requires 3 or more eggs, consider using a combination of these options.
• If your recipe doesn’t require leavening or additional texture (or you are making pie crust or cookie dough), consider leaving out the egg.

See chapter 4 for more detail on baking without eggs.

Address other food allergens.

Approach:

• Eliminate nuts. If your recipe calls for nuts, decide whether your recipe will give you a good result if you replace the nuts with raisins (this may be appropriate in some cookies and pies), allergen-free chocolate chips (appropriate in brownies and bars), or gluten-free oats (this may be appropriate instead of nut toppings). If not, leave the nuts out. If the recipe is essentially a nut recipe (such as a pecan pie) then set it aside and choose to make something else.
• Make sure you haven’t introduced any soy flours or soy proteins with the ingredients you have added.

And, of course, always address any other less common food allergens that may be a concern in your recipe. Always check the labels on every product you use each time you use it (see reading labels for more information).