Review: New cookbook makes baking with whole grains easy
Updated: Apr. 22, 2010
As a health-conscious eater, I try to avoid refined foods, including white flour. As a sugar junkie, lover of baking
As a health-conscious eater, I try to avoid refined foods, including white flour. As a sugar junkie, lover of baking and connoisseur of fine desserts, I have a hard time sticking to that healthy-eating goal.
After all, while you can sneak some whole-wheat flour into muffins and cookies, it’s all about hiding it, right?
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive a copy of new cookbook Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours. The best part is the author’s perspective: she’s not just trying to sneak in some extra fibre, she’s showcasing a huge variety of whole grains in order to take advantage of their flavour, texture and special characteristics. For instance, the book includes the following recipes:
‘ Whole Wheat Flour: Chocolate Chip Cookies
‘ Amaranth Flour: Muscovado Sugar Cake
‘ Barley Flour: Strawberry Barley Scones
‘ Corn Flour: Rhubarb Tarts
‘ Oat Flour: Ginger Peach Muffins
‘ Teff Flour: Date Nut Bread
So far I’ve tried one recipe, Quinoa Beet Pancakes: they’re pretty standard pancakes, except for the 1/2 cup of beet puree that turns them a vivid pink, and the ratio of flour: 1/4 quinoa, 1/4 whole wheat and 1/2 white. I really enjoyed them (and so would any pink-loving kid) and they even froze well’the recipe definitely makes enough for four’but unfortunately, the beet flavour overshadowed any quinoa flavour there may have been. Now that I have quinoa flour in the kitchen, I’m going to try another recipe to see what quinoa adds to the flavour.
Love to bake, and love to eat healthy? This cookbook is, unlike many, actually unique in the market, and would be the perfect way to start integrating more whole grains into your baking.
