Prompted by a Reader - Only Two Bake Mixes Required for all my recipe books!

A question was posed by Ethyl who owns my low-carb cookbooks:

How interchangeable are all the bake mix variations that are listed in your cookbooks? I have all the low-carb ones and have been trying some of the recipes (no disappointments yet), but am a little overwhelmed by all the different bake mix options. If I try a recipe for the first time I feel that I should stick to the exact bake mix you recommend (otherwise how would I know, if it didn't turn out, that it was because I used another bake mix?) but I am ending up with several different bake mixes on hand and small amounts of each left over. It's getting a little overwhelming and to have so many and to keep straight which one to use for what. I would prefer if there were just one bake mix that would work for everything. Your advice is appreciated.

My Answer:

Important Note: Most of my recipes do not require any bake mixes.

Ethyl, first of all, lump all your leftover bake mixes together in a container, seal and freeze. Use whenever needed to bread things as mentioned in the previous post or as a binder in hamburgers and meatloaf. Also, you can use it to "flour" the surface when rolling out dough.

Your best bet (to prevent possible problems) is to choose two bake mixes. One of them should be a Vital Ultimate Bake Mix (Cup-for-Cup substitution for white flour) and the other my Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix.

Splendid Low-Carbing: Replace all bake mixes with a Vital Ultimate Bake Mix of choice (there are several variations). In muffins or loaves a little more liquid may be required (not necessarily) to achieve the right consistency. Do not replace the bread bake mixes as I cannot guarantee anything. Low-carb breads are finicky.

More Splendid Low-Carbing: A breeze - substitute the two low-carb bake mixes offered in this book with Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix. It should work beautifully.

Splendid Low-Carb Desserts: Easy!
Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix is predominantly used with one or two recipes requiring a Vital Ultimate Bake Mix.

Splendid Low-Carbing for Life, Volume One: Occasional use of a Vital Ultimate Bake Mix in this book.

Splendid Low-Carbing for Life, Volume Two: Mostly used Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix and Biskmix (variation of the former) and occasional use of a Vital Ultimate Bake Mix.

Thankfully, most of the low-carb desserts work really well with the Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix which is a good bake mix for serious Atkineers or low-carbers requiring strict carb counting and no flour products. It is possible to substitute the Vital Ultimate Bake Mix for the Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix in desserts (add 2 tbsp to 1/4 cup extra), but it is a little trickier doing it the other way around for breads, etc. -i.e. substituting the Low-carb bake mix for an ultimate bake mix. I cannot guarantee the results in breads (as I've not tested that scenario), so I can't recommend it.

I suspect the Gluten-free bake mix that I offer on this blog would work really well in my recipes as a third option, however, I cannot guarantee anything, as I've not tested them with this option.

Simple Solution: Only two bake mixes are required to really enjoy all my recipes without resorting to making too many of the bake mix options - Splendid Low-Carb Bake Mix and Vital Ultimate Bake Mix.

Jennifer Eloff
www.low-carb.us