Egg substitutes in baking?

[jrshaul]

I'm trying to cook vegan for some friends, and was wondering if anyone could comment on the use of egg substitutes in various roles. I'd like to try for the vegan/gluten-free/alergen-free trifecta, and if I can eliminate the eggs from an almond meal based pie crust recipe I have, I might just have something rather handy.

[Shel_B]

Some egg substitutes may contain gluten. AFAIK, real eggs are gluten free.

[Mjx]

There are some some suggestions for this, in the Egg and dairy substitutes topic.

Faced with this challenge, I freely admit that I'd probably simply bail on anything that involved eggs or dairy in the first place, and go with some sort of agar/tapioca/konnyaku based dessert.

And, just to make you crazy, I have to point out that tree nuts are a fairly common allergen.

[baroness]

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has written a number of dependable vegan cookbooks; I particularly like her "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats".

She also has books on pies and cupcakes, as well as full meals- "Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook" is another great source.

[Will]

I tend to use Ener-G egg replacer (gluten-free), which is mostly potato starch and tapioca starch. I find that adding a little extra baking powder for recipes which use baking powder is helpful. Note that this will help bind the recipe, but won't serve as an emulsifier. You can add some (dissolved) soy lecithin if the eggs are also serving as an emulsifier. Another trick is that you don't have to mix the liquid and egg replacer powder - you can actually just put the egg replacer in with the dry ingredients, and add the extra liquid with the wet ingredients. Bob's Red Mill makes a powdered egg replacer which has a slightly different formulation. I am not sure if I've used it before. Both are widely available at health food stores, Whole Foods, etc.

Flax seed meal left to sit with some water, or whole flax seeds whizzed with some water will also work pretty well.

I will say that trying to make something both vegan and gluten-free can be somewhat limiting. As someone mentioned above, nuts are another common allergy, but you can do some great desserts (vegan "cheesecake", for example), which should also be gluten-free, with raw cashews.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Will (log)

[jrshaul]

It seems most egg substitutes are, in reality, nothing more than gums and starches - I had assumed some sort of highly processed vegetable protein.

I have xanthan gum and a few other related items on hand, but I've yet to use them for anything. Can anyone suggest how I might go about using them to create a decent pie crust? I'd like something I can fill with a precooked pear filling, so a strong almond flavor (from almond meal) would be a major plus.

[Mjx]

It seems most egg substitutes are, in reality, nothing more than gums and starches - I had assumed some sort of highly processed vegetable protein.

I have xanthan gum and a few other related items on hand, but I've yet to use them for anything. Can anyone suggest how I might go about using them to create a decent pie crust? I'd like something I can fill with a precooked pear filling, so a strong almond flavor (from almond meal) would be a major plus.

I could swear I've come across several nut crusts that were held together principally by fat, and honey or golden syrup, and that eggs, substitute or authentic, don't even come into the equation.

But if you want a strong almond flavour, you'll need to add a little almond extract, since regular almonds don't have that distinct almond flavour, just a sort of nutty one.

[lstrelau]

I make a coconut crust (usually for a lime cheesecake but it should work for other pies).

Shredded sweetened thread coconut

butter

Mix and press into the pie pan and bake til light golden.

I think I have used unsweetened coconut too but added a bit of sugar which helped bind.

There are several variations on the web if you search.

[heidih]

I make a coconut crust (usually for a lime cheesecake but it should work for other pies).

Shredded sweetened thread coconut

butter

Mix and press into the pie pan and bake til light golden.

I think I have used unsweetened coconut too but added a bit of sugar which helped bind.

There are several variations on the web if you search.

Sounds good but butter is not vegan.....

[annabelle]

Use margarine instead.