Substituting ingredients?

luvmykid28
luvmykid28 Posts: 185 Member
in Recipes
I have a recipe for banana nut bread. It calls for flour , but I'd like it to be more healthy and was wondering if I can sub whole wheat flour for regular flour? It also calls for a cup of sugar and wondered about using a sub for it as well. I have used splenda before in other recipes, but wondered about cooking with some other sweetener?

Replies

  • jluthersw
    jluthersw Posts: 31 Member
    I was actually wondering the same thing. (Making banana bread tonight.) I hope someone can help us out with this :)
  • amyd03
    amyd03 Posts: 129 Member
    not so sure about the flour thing but you can on the sugar. I like using truvia have never cooked with it but have use it on strawberries, in tea and what not.
  • misscfe
    misscfe Posts: 295 Member
    Never tried it but I think you would be safe doing both those. I also saw a post recently where people were using almond flour which would probably be a good substitute too. I would love to know how it turns out. Good luck!
  • nseuell
    nseuell Posts: 110
    Yes, you can substitute whole wheat flour! It's never as fluffy, a bit flatter but still good. I've not tried substituting for sugar - I bet if you google 'sugar substitutes' you can come up with a good sweetener (what about honey?) Let us know how it goes!
  • chefchazz
    chefchazz Posts: 427
    ground quick oats in a processor to make oat flour. use 1/2 this and 1/2 wheat flour. youre not making any bread w/out some flour. i also use this oat flour to make pancakes and waffles.

    1/2c oat flour
    1 egg white
    a pinch of salt(its needed)

    whisk in enough water til its a batter. use immediately. have w/ sugar free syrup or low sugar jelly!:bigsmile:
  • Paulette56
    Paulette56 Posts: 66 Member
    Everything I've seen about substituting different flours recommends only replacing half the flour. It has something to do with it rising. You can probably find recipes with substitutions already made. Try Googling it.
  • dmest
    dmest Posts: 98 Member
    I substitute a portion of the flour for whole wheat. I usually use 60% white flour, 40% whole wheat flour and then I add 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup toasted oat bran for extra fiber. I also do that for pancakes and waffles. I've heard you can add an extra banana or apple sauce to replace some of the sugar, but you may want to google that to be sure.
  • SimplyDeLish
    SimplyDeLish Posts: 539
    You can substitute the flour easily. I will be a bit denser but still yummy. Sugar is much harder to substitute in baking for lots of reasons - the main being that they aren't substituted on a 1 to 1 ratio and they don't "bake" like sugar does. I'd sub the flour but leave the sugar!
  • Paulette56
    Paulette56 Posts: 66 Member
    You can substitute the flour easily. I will be a bit denser but still yummy. Sugar is much harder to substitute in baking for lots of reasons - the main being that they aren't substituted on a 1 to 1 ratio and they don't "bake" like sugar does. I'd sub the flour but leave the sugar!
    What about the Splenda Sugar Blend for baking. Does it perform ok? or is it just not worth it?
  • kelsiehoagland
    kelsiehoagland Posts: 107 Member
    I always use whole wheat flour because that's all I have in my house. My banana bread turns out fine. You can also sub eggs and margarine/butter or oil for more bananas or unsweetened applesauce (1 banana per egg, 1 TBSP applesauce per TBSP oil or butter/margarine) and I'm sure some stevia would be a fabulous sugar replacement. I love stevia (:
  • niclan724
    niclan724 Posts: 49 Member
    Splenda has a baking sugar substitute. I believe it's a mix of 1/2 sugar and 1/2 splenda. Might want to check that out.
  • auntiebabs
    auntiebabs Posts: 1,754 Member
    not so sure about the flour thing but you can on the sugar. I like using truvia have never cooked with it but have use it on strawberries, in tea and what not.

    Some artificial sweeteners like EQUAL should not be used for cooking/baking because their chemical composition is altered with heat.

    Oh, wait a quit google got me here:

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/465498-can-you-bake-with-truvia/

    I've heard that you shouldn't swap out ALL of the the white flour with whole wheat, BUT you can swap out some of it. I may be pulling this out of thin air, but I'm vaguely remembering 2/3s of the total amount of flour can be wheat and the remaining 1/3 leave as white. Also double or triple sifting the wheat flour will help keep the texture of what ever you are making a little closer to the original recipe.
  • cmvalent
    cmvalent Posts: 5 Member
    yum! Can't wait to try!:smile:
  • bikingchick
    bikingchick Posts: 3
    This is a website that will most likely have some answers to your questions about the sugar substitution: http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com/
    She does not use wheat at all, so if you're looking for something along those lines in the future, she uses several different flours in her recipes.
  • knegt
    knegt Posts: 4
    You can buy stevia (natural no-cal sugar substitute) formulated for baking in most health food stores. It is much healthier than any artificial sugar substitutes. Unsweetened applesauce can also be used in place of some of the oil in most baking recipes. (makes it nice and moist)
  • Wanda66
    Wanda66 Posts: 63 Member
    I'll use half white flour and the remainder 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 flax meal. You could also substitute the apple sauce for the sugar. But I find it is a bit bland, so I've substituted 1/2 apple sauce and 1/2 sugar - even raw sugar is a better choice than granulated sugar. And subsitute eggs with egg whites (1/4 cup of egg whites = 1 egg), just buy the carton of egg whites.
  • luvmykid28
    luvmykid28 Posts: 185 Member
    Thanks for your suggestions. I think I will try this weekend and my recipe make 2 loafs so if it's good I will take 1 to our July 4th celebration. That way I will be able to enjoy something sweet, too.
  • wonnder1
    wonnder1 Posts: 460
    I would leave the sugar as well. You can also trade out any oil with applesauce on a 1:1 ratio.

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