Whey Protein?

MamaBear5445 wrote: »

I'd like to buy some whey protein powder to have more protein in my family's diet, but need some advice on what I should buy as there seems to be several options at the grocery store. I'd like to add it to our homemade bread and to pancakes. Does the protein lose its effectiveness after baking?

The protein won't lose its effectiveness from baking, and my experience from using pancake mix that includes protein powder is that it won't interfere with the pancake rise.

You might want to search for bread recipes that include protein powder already, rather than tinkering with an existing recipe, as bread can be sensitive to changes.

The protein powder might absorb some of the liquid in the bread dough, meaning you'll have to be prepared for possible sad loaves until you figure out what needs to be done. If the protein powder contains either sugar or salt, that could throw the yeast cycle off.

I use the Jarrow unflavored whey protein concentrate. I use it nearly daily for breakfast in morning oatmeal, as part of a recovery drink for after cycling, added into bread flour as I bake our daily bread, and more. With bread, I find that 1-2 scoops doesn't materially impact the loaf or taste, but more begins to show more browning when toasting and the taste starts to come forward. You can pick your level, I've tried up to 4, but now stick to 2. In these amounts, I don't displace flour, I add this to the mix (add a bit more water too). I figure about 1g of added protein per slice per scoop (18-20 avg. slices per loaf; my bread itself has more protein per slice than most commercial loaves). I started this regimen prior to the pandemic lockdowns, and in the lockdown period I made a number of experiments with it, not all were successful enough to add to the repertoire. This particular version of whey has no additives (other than lecithin for non-clumping) and has been consistent for me for about 5 years. Sources say that using whey in this manner does not impact its protein and I believe I'm doing pretty well with it. As a 69yo, I have adjusted my protein macro a bit higher to account for presumed reduction in protein digestion efficiency.