Water Into Wine?

Finding this egg substitute is kind of like turning water into wine, except I'm not Jesus and I like wine more than I like eggs.

However, this substitute is pretty darn close to the Miracle at the Wedding. If you are ever in a pinch for eggs, and have flax seeds around, then I recommend my new favorite cooking and baking go-to. Per one egg, take one tablespoon of flax seeds, grind them up, and then mix three tablespoons of water to make a paste. This will give you the emulsifying agent that eggs bring to baked goods.

I have used this in pancakes and a quick pumpkin bread recipe. I was thrilled with the way my pancakes turned out. I adapted this quasi-vegan recipe from Katie's Buttermilk Pancake recipe.

2 tablespoons flax seed, ground, mixed with 6 tablespoons water.
2.5 cups soy milk (Or any non-dairy milk that you prefer to cook with.)
4 T. canola oil
2.5 cups flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat & a.p.)
2 T. sugar
3 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt

Mix the dry ingredients, then slowly add in the wet ingredients. Don't overbeat or the pancakes will turn out tough - some lumps are fine. Cook on a hot griddle until bubbles form on top, then flip.

The pancakes came out beautifully. They were puffy, tasty, and everyone loved them! This is my favorite pancake recipe by far especially since Jack can eat them and they make great portable snacks.

A few things I've noticed about using flax seeds. One is that you really do need to grind pretty thoroughly. I made the mistake of not grinding long enough and had a few rouge seeds hanging about at the end of the batter. But the consistency of the batter was unaffected so it turned out okay. I just don't like to waste...

Another thing is that I think it's probably better, meaning more nutritious, to freshly grind your seeds as needed. But I'm not a nutritional analyst, so if you don't have a grinder and are buying the meal, then it's probably fine. I'm just suggesting that the fresher the grind the more nutritious the seed.

Thirdly, when using flax seed meal rather than eggs in baked goods, you may notice that you don't need to cook the goodie as long. I have been using my nose, and then testing with a toothpick. If it comes out dry then the goodie is done! With the pancakes I waited until the edges were nice and firm, because I didn't see too many bubbles. I think that may be a property of using the flax seed meal.

Lastly, I think it's beneficial to try and mix in whole-wheat flour for your baked goods when using flax seed as an egg substitute because whole-wheat flour hides the look of the flax seed meal scattered throughout your baked good. (The amazing Erik always notices color and specks...) Also, using flax seed meal gives a nutty flavor, slight in my opinion, but that flavor won't come through if you use whole wheat flour.

Today I may attempt oatmeal raisin cookies with flax seed meal. I'll let you know!