READ REPLIES

Joan Florida

My husband is severe diabetic and I am a baker and serious breadmaker of long standing. His doctor wants me to use only Soy Flour (and no other flours) and he wants me add BENEFIBER to the dough. Does anyone have some good recipes for breads and cakes? I'm thinking maybe sourdough too? Perhaps that will give me a better rise. Given Soy Flour already has a lot of fiber and I'm adding fiber, rise has been a problem. Any suggestions for adapting my current recipes over to soy flour with additional added fiber would be helpful too.

Recipe: Baking with Soy Flour

Betsy at Recipelink.com

SOY FLOUR

Soy flour is made from roasted soybeans that have been ground into a fine powder. Two kinds of soy flour are available. Natural or full-fat soy flour contains the natural oils that are found in the soybean. Defatted soy flour has the oils removed during processing. Both kinds of soy flour will give a protein boost to recipes; however, defatted soy flour is even more concentrated in protein than full-fat soy flour.

STORING
Full-fat soy flour should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer to preserve its freshness. Defatted soy flour may be stored on the shelf.

COOKING BASICS
Soy flour tends to pack down in a container, so always stir or sift it before measuring. Baked products containing soy flour tend to brown more quickly, so you may want to lower the oven temperatures slightly.

SUBSTITUTING SOY FLOUR
Since soy flour is free of gluten, which gives structure to yeast-raised breads, soy flour cannot replace all of the wheat or rye flour in a bread recipe. However, using about 15 percent soy flour in a recipe produces a dense bread with a nutty flavor and a wonderful moist quality. Just place two tablespoons of soy flour in your measuring cup before measuring all-purpose or other flour called for in the recipe.

In baked products, such as quick breads, that are not yeast-raised, up to 1/4 the total amount of flour called for in the recipe can be replaced with soy flour. For each cup of flour called for, use 1/4 cup soy flour and 3/4 cup wheat flour (all-purpose or whole wheat).

SOY FLOUR TIPS
In your own kitchen, use soy flour to thicken gravies and cream sauces, to make homemade soymilk, or add it to a variety of baked foods.

Toasting soy flour before use enhances its nutty flavor. Put the soy flour in a dry skillet and cook it, stirring occasionally, over moderate heat.

Premix a batch of 1 part soy flour and 3 parts wheat flour so that it is ready to use when you bake.

Source: U.S. SoyFoods Directory, 1999

Recipe(tried): Country Two-Step Yeast Bread - Bob's Red Mill & Gluten Free Breads

Audrey, Seattle

I had my baking habit taken from me last year for medical reasons! I sypathize.

I wonder whether your husband's doctor wanted you to stay away from wheat flour, and might not be familiar with the variety of other high-protein flours available? My family was diagnosed as gluten intolerant last year, and so I have been making all kinds of experiments, substitutions and discoveries this year, some of them delicious. Potato, corn, rice and tapioca are high in starch and may not fit the bill for you, but Bob's Red Mill of Portland, Oregon, has made available not only soy but quinoa, amaranth, garbanzo, sorghum, teff, and others. His flours have recipes on the back, and he also markets a gluten-free bread mix which uses Xanthan Gum (also available through Bob's Red Mill) to give the bread some staying power. Bob's mix works the best so far of any that I've tried; and, alas, I have found that kneading bean flour (without wheat flour) is a sticky loss. You may want to use a Kitchen Aid, as I have; Bob also recommends bread machines.

If you really do have to stick to soy flour, try using xanthan gum to get it to bind, and extra yeast to get it to bubble. Using a mixer on high for 3-5 minutes gets the dough ready to rise.

Indian Rice Grass is a new discovery, and supposedly makes a bread much like wheat bread; I haven't tried that yet.

In addition to Bob's mix, this makes a puff-pastry-like, airy bread; you'd have to check with your doctor about rice, tapioca, potato and amaranth:

COUNTRY TWO-STEP YEAST BREAD
(adapted from a bread machine recipe in M. Wenninger's The Best Ever Gluten-Free Baking Book, available at Whole Foods)

2 cups rice flour (I used glutinous rice flour from an Asian market; not the same kind of gluten as wheat gluten)
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp powdered milk
3 tsp active dry yeast

2 cups water
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs, beaten until light

Step One: stir together the flours and salt, powdered milk, xanthan gum and yeast. Pour 2 cups warm water into a separate bowl. Add vinegar and canola oil, yeast and eggs. Add flour mixture and beat on high for 5 minutes. Let dough sit at room temperature overnight.

Step Two: Remix the dough with the mixer, and pour into greased pan. Bake at 350 for an hour, covering the bread with aluminum foil as it browns in the second half of baking. Test for doneness with a toothpick; will fall a little; invert to cool.

Assuming 15 slices, each slice should have 211 calories, 5.9 g fat, 4.7 g. protein, 34.9 g carbohydrate, 2.8 g. dietary fiber.

Does that nutrient breakdown suit a diabetic diet?