Unlike traditional cooking, most of the essential ingredients that we use in baking are not vegan. Perhaps, in the culinary lexicon, vegan baking is a new addition.
Baking is a form of art that needs precision, passion, and patience. Even when trying a baking recipe that needs a handful of ingredients—a seemingly negligible mismeasurement can turn your tender muffins into cupcakes.
If you are planning to start a vegan bakery, responding to the rising popularity of plant-based desserts—as more people are diminishing their dairy intake—we have listed some essential vegan baking ingredients that your pantry should have.
Baking powder and baking soda are vegan-friendly and are commonly used as leavening agents in baking—they cause a substance reaction that enables the dough to rise. While baking soda needs a caustic agent to actuate, baking powder does not.
Since vegan baking does not use dairy products, it becomes imperative to use plant-based fat to preserve moisture and add tenderness to cakes, doughnuts, pancakes and more. Canola oil is commonly used in baking because it will let your cake’s flavour and aroma persist—without adding its own flavour. It will also offer a moist texture to your baked items. Other popular vegetable oils include—peanut, coconut, olive, corn, sunflower oil and more.
Cocoa powder is an essential vegan ingredient that helps offer a dash of sourness to the recipe. For instance, if your baking recipe uses baking soda, pair it with cocoa powder for its acetic taste. It will naturally balance the taste of your baked item, neutralising the soapy flavour of the baking soda.
Corn starch aka corn flour—when mixed with plain flour—adds structure, stunts the gluten and adds springiness that helps the dough to rise in sponge cakes. It adds a “dense” consistency, which vegan cakes often lack. You may also use corn flour to add “fluff” to other vegan recipes like pancakes.
The sourness in cider vinegar allows the baking soda to activate in vegan baking recipes and helps the cake rise while adding a soft sponge-like texture and a subtle tangy flavour. Baking recipes that don’t use chocolate, apple cider vinegar can be used as an acidic alternative. This ingredient is often used in vegan cookie dough—to aid aeration.
There are many varieties of plant-based milk—such as soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, hazelnut milk, oat milk, cashew milk, rice milk—and more. You can substitute dairy milk with any of these plant-based alternatives.
One delicious and healthy way of eliminating the consumption of saturated fats is by replacing dairy butter with nut butter. Butter extracted from nuts serves the same purpose—helps the cake rise and comes with the added goodness of monounsaturated fats—the healthier variant of fats that you should intake. Your pantry should have—walnut butter, cashew butter, almond butter, pecan butter, and more—at least one of these.
Flax seeds offer texture and permit increased water absorption. It is a nutritious ingredient that will help your cake acquire thickness while supplying essential minerals, vitamins and plenty of fibre.
Ideally, dark chocolate is vegan because it is free of any dairy or animal byproducts. However, we would suggest reading the labels before purchasing. Dark chocolate has three main varieties: unsweetened, dark or bittersweet, and semisweet. When baking with chocolate, you should have a good understanding of which one’s perfect for your vegan recipe.
Did you know that the sugar we buy is not always vegan? To put it simply, raw sugar is vegan, but when undergoing a de-coloration process, it loses its vegan status. So, either opt for granulated or organic sugar.
With these must-have vegan ingredients in your pantry—be rest assured—your bakery business will be booming shortly!
