Re: Some news in food prep

[Guest guest]

Ok a cake qua cake with flour, eggs, and other things is not a thing of evil.

(Even Bill Cosby has a bit on this, about feeding his kids chocolate cake for

breakfast...)

I think of late there's too much attempt to make what is a luxury into something

you can justify as " healthy " or " healthier " . I saw a spa pancake recipe that

used whey powder and frankly even the photograph did NOT look appealing. That's

with people hired to pretty it up and photograph it in an appealing light

lol....

Xylitol if I remember rightly also has some digestive side effects in some

people, along the lines of loose bowels and gas? That's from the dose in a

stick of gum.... it's said to be less dangerous to your teeth, but maybe less

than desireable in other ways lol. I guess your mileage may vary individually

on that one, again, haven't tested it personally BUT I'm not trying to avoid

sugar, my thinking has always been we KNOW what sugar does....and it's

manageable.

If I read that study on the xylitol cookies right though, they weren't good

enough for the germs to munch them over time lol....oh sure, they were still

edible but when the germs won't eat them, that says they aren't that good?

Maybe the germs KNOW better? it's just people that try to eat them? lol...

perhaps that's a test in and of itself? did the microbes think they were tasty?

kinda like food your dog won't eat after the family has rejected it....

(I admit I have wondered if quinoa makes a good baking flour for such things, as

it's otherwise high in protein....and it's kinda CUTE when it's cooked up.

Anybody tried that for fun and food entertainment? I do like it cooked up

served with fish in particular....)

Some things in life should not be settled for, nor substituted for! (The

opinions are mine, yup, and again, you may differ...)

Sounds like they do a great deal of trying to get rid of readily available

ingredients, perhaps for allergies...but the eggs by whey/wheat flour looks

kinda awkward even on paper?

The Phantom

aka Schaefer, CMT, CSCS, competing powerlifter

Denver, Colorado, USA

-------------- Original message --------------

For those of us experimenting with " healthy " ingredients in our

baking, two articles of note

from the International Journal of Food Properties, Volume 10, Issue 3

July 2007. Neither sounds particularly appetizing, so perhaps we

should just stick to tried and true...

R. Jyotsna; R. Sai Manohar; D. Indrani; G. Venkateswara Rao. " Effect

of Whey Protein Concentrate on the Rheological and Baking Properties

of Eggless Cake " : 599 - 606

Abstract

Effect of substitution of wheat flour with whey protein concentrate

(WPC) at the level of 10, 20, and 30% as an egg replacer and its

influence on physical properties of cake batter and quality

characteristics of eggless cake were studied. The apparent viscosity

of the eggless cake batter decreased with the increase in the level of

WPC. The evaluation of eggless cake batter for density showed that

incorporation of WPC decreased the batter density. The

photomicrographs of eggless cake batters with WPC showed an increase

in number of air cells and even distribution when compared with the

control indicating lighter batter. Eggless cake with 20% WPC was rated

the best.

Eleonora Winkelhausen; Ruzica Jovanovic-Malinovska; Elena Velickova;

and Slobodanka Kuzmanova. " Sensory and Microbiological Quality of a

Baked Product Containing Xylitol as an Alternative Sweetener " : 639 -

649.

Abstract

The potential application of xylitol, as low energy alternative

sweetener, was investigated in baked products. Xylitol was used as

sole sweetener in home made cookies, the properties of which were

compared to products containing sucrose and glucose. The sensory

properties were evaluated by discrimination, descriptive, and

affective tests. The storage time of one and two weeks, both at 4-6°C

and at 20-22°C did not show significant impact on the flavor and

texture properties of all cookies. After being stored for 3 months at

20-22°C, the samples with sucrose showed statistically significant

differences in crunchiness (P < 0.001) and tenderness (P < 0.01). The

cookies prepared with xylitol, apart from significantly reducing the

aftertaste (P < 0.001), did not exhibit any other significant changes.

Statistically significant differences (P < 0.001) were detected

between the samples containing sucrose and xylitol in all texture

attributes and in the cooling effect, but no difference in the

sweetness was observed. The most chosen categories on the hedonic

scale for the xylitol cookies were " like slightly " and " like

moderately, " while the extreme categories were not ascribed. Compared

to the cookies with sucrose and glucose, xylitol cookies had least

microbial loads at different storage and temperature regimes and were

microbiologically safe with tendency to have longer shelf-life than

the other products.

Krista -Dixon

Who once produced a lovely hunk of chocolate styrofoam when attempting

to bake with whey in Toronto, ON

kristascottdixon@...