Aquafaba and Egg Substitutes

Hi,

How ya been? How's 2018 treating you?
I've been trying to cross over to Vegan, or close to it. So far I've managed to cut out dairy, thanks to Daiya vegan cheese, and Hemp and Almond milks. I don't like eggs so that was simple enough, since I found the beloved aquafaba(more on that in a bit). I've cut back on fish, because well, I don't trust what I get here. When you're used to fisherman docking and selling a fresh catch, walking into the supermarket to spend money on obviously frozen, thawed and refrozen fish, is not at all appealing. I like honey, but I've been using maple syrup in it's place. So one step at a time. I might never be fully plant based, but it's not a competition.

So Vegan egg subs, there are quite a bit.
​

Not every egg sub will work for every application. Certain things work better in baking, some in cooking. Trial and error really. I like flax (linseed) eggs, but I find it can be a bit heavy in baking at times, chai seeds make my mouth itch, so I gave up on that a while back, I hate ripe banana, so no. Applesauce is fabulous, but my new found one true love, Aquafaba.

Aquafaba... literally the water you drain from a can of chick peas. Bear with me. I know. I was sceptical. Every time I use it, I'm amazed that it works. I've used it to make chocolate mousse, and it's now my go to for baking.  You taste no legumes, and it whips up like egg whites, so much so that you can make meringues.

One of my biggest pet peeves living this Gluten Free life, is not being able to eat bread. I mean there's bread, but it's not exactly your mama's fresh bread on a saturday morning, or some Jamaican hard dough bread. And there's the eggs. Gluten Free bread is usually made with eggs, a lot of eggs. Now if my mind only tells me it smells eggs in anything, I instantly feel sick. I was the child who ate the egg whites only.. and usually held my breath when doing so. If you can't smell it, you can't taste it. So I came to hate baking GF bread.... hello beloved Aquafaba.

I baked a maple and oat bread yesterday, a variation of this recipe . For starters I halved the recipe (which is why my bread is the shape it is, the loaf tin was too big), I used aquafaba...the brilliant thing here is that you can measure this, so yes you can actually make half an egg. I used vegan yoghurt. I used maple syrup and almond milk. I think with some tweaking, this recipe would make a nice coconut sweetbread. 

I find that the aquafaba whips better when it's cold. So I keep mine in the fridge, I'd say it'll keep for two weeks good. I've never tried freezing it. I don't know if it's sold on it's own, but you can't really go wrong with a can of chick peas. I'd say look for the brand with the lowest sodium content. Not that you get a salty taste from it, but you want to control your salt intake. Be brave, honestly, I think this stuff is amazing. The chocolate mousse I made was light and airy. The bread and cakes have a wonderful texture. This works for me, so it might just work out for you.