Eggless Recipes

Our nephew was allergic to eggs so my sister learned to substitute water for the eggs in a baking mix! Although my late husband could tolerate eggs baked in something, eating an omlette often caused him to break out in hives. I left eggs out of most recipes, no eggs in Challah or any home baked products. I tried egg substitutes but realized plain water worked too!

To make something rise in baking, one gently stirs in vinegar (a weak acid) at the end of a recipe containing a base like baking soda.

More specifically, Vinegar + Baking Soda = (Sodium ion + acetate ion) + CO2 gas + water

I remember from Chemistry class, Acid + Base = Salt + Water (plus CO2 gas in the case of baking soda).

Eggless, Dairy-free Mocha Cake

For my mother's 94th birthday, we ordered a wonderful cake and for those, like my husband, who can not eat eggs or dairy products I made this easy cake in a large heart shaped cake pan:

3 cups flour
1 scant cup sugar (we do not like our cake too sweet)
9 tablespoons of Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
9 tablespoons canola oil or (4 canola oil + 4 applesauce)
1 1/2 cups coffee

Mix all dry ingredients together, add coffee and stir well.
At the last moment, add the vinegar, stir quickly and place in the oven.

Oven temp 350F, bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Make sure the vinegar is added quickly followed by quick stirrying and immediately place the batter in the oven. The vinegar and baking soda combine to create a batter that will rise in the oven!

Do not overstir after adding the vinegar.

Sourdough

I have used many sourdough starters in the past. I had one terrific starter that remains in my freezer but I am hesitant to defrost it. I have decided to start a few others to decide what works best in my area, the Midwest.

I made rye bread yesterday but it does not have enough of a sourdough taste. The bread is otherwise good and the slices came out heart-shaped, appropriate for Valentine's day.

Today I started making a new starter using only unbleached flour and water to try to "catch" potentially useful and tasteful organisms for my starter. I have read that it might be better to start with whole wheat flour as it contains potentially more organisms. but I started with unbleached flour.

In the past I have made starters using potato flakes, yeast, and various types
of flours.

Today's attempt is my first starting with only unbleached flour and water. I placed the ingredients in a wide-mouth glass jar and hope to see some interesting bubbles in my mixture soon. I have wanted to try this simple method for sometime.

The air in our area of the country does not have the same mixture of micro-organisms one finds in San Francisco, however, it will be interesting for me to find out our potential using the simplest method I know of to create a starter.

I will watch my sourdough starter most carefully for any unwanted colors or growths.

My goal is a perfect culture of micro-organisms in a symbiotic relationship.