Tag: nutrition

Gluten free wholemeal flour
After making Vegan mylk, dehydrate the strained-off pulp to make your own unique gluten-free wholemeal flour!

Besides making a delicious and wholesome raw baking ingredient, this is the most useful and least wasteful way to use the nutritious by-product of homemade Vegan mylk. You’re not really going to make this by itself, you’ll start by following my mylk recipe and when you get to the part that says “…you will have about a cup of pulverized nuts left in the straining bag. Don’t throw it away!!!…” just set aside the bag of pulp, finish making the mylk and then come back to this page.

Ok. Here we go…

Gluten free wholemeal flour

Ingredients

The pulp left over in the straining bag from making Vegan mylk… possibly any combination of nuts and grains such as almond, cashew, hazelnut, chia, oats, rice, hemp… it can be pure pulp, for example, if you’ve made pure almond milk, or any mixture you have used to make your mylk. If you’ve followed my recipe religiously there will be a trace of date and salt in there too…

That’s it.

Equipment

Wide, flat baking dish

Food processor

Method
1. Empty out the contents of the nut mylk straining bag you have used to make mylk.
2. Spread the mylk by-product, pulp, in a ceramic baking dish. It’s ready to blitz when it’s dry and crumbly…
  
  You should have roughly a cup and a half of pulp, the equivalent of a fist-sized ball (this is the cup of nuts and seeds used in the mylk recipe which is slightly expanded due to soaking.)
3. Break up the pulp and spread as thinly as possible across the baking dish.
4. I am lucky enough to have an AGA oven in my kitchen, the top of which is the perfect place to dehydrate food. If you are using an AGA, just sit the uncovered dish of pulp on top of a closed hot plate and leave it to dry out over night. **I have to say, I adore my AGA rangecooker… but my Falcon American -style fridge/freezer – which is also an AGA Rangemaster product – has been nothing short of an disappointing and expensive disaster (rusted/peeling front door, malfunctioning ice machine, 21°C in the fridge (I put things in there to warm up!), failed water filter and a “frost free” freezer like a dripping ice rink) … a disaster which despite only being 5 years old at the time of publishing, AGA Rangemaster could not care less about. I digress…
5. If you don’t have an AGA, just preheat your oven to its minimum temperature and place the uncovered dish of pulp on the bottom of the oven for 2-3 hours.
6. The pulp is finished dehydrating when it is hard and crunchy to touch, and crumbles between your fingers.
7. Place the dried pulp into a food processor and blitz until a fine meal is formed. The longer you blitz, the finer the meal. I like to give it several bouts, lightly shaking in between to make sure any lumps come to the surface. When you no longer see lumps upon shaking, it’s done.
8. Store your gluten free wholemeal flour in an airtight jug.
9. Use for baking – it’s particularly good used alone in fruit crumbles, shortbread biscuits or heavier cakes such as banana or carrot cake. I also use 100g blended with 500g of strong bread flour (rye, spelt etc) to make a dense, moist loaf of bread.
[author image=”https://strippedbarefashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Kate-Harcourt.png” ]Kate Harcourt is the Editor of Stripped bare fashion. She is also a freelance journalist specialising in ethical fashion, women’s issues and interiors. Her opinion pieces have been featured in local and international press and a small collection now appear in Don’t bother asking. As the single mother of six children, with a passion for healthy vegan and vegetarian food, she inevitably ends up spending a lot of time in the kitchen! Some of her simple, wholesome recipes are here: Stripped bare food. Kate loves to hear from potential collaborators or brands keen to promote their ethical products and services. Media information is here, or contact Kate via email: kate@strippedbarefashion.com[/author]
January 29, 2019
Vegan mylk
Making your own organic vegan mylk is so easy and so delicious! Whats more you know there’s nothing but the wholesome ingredients you put in, and no heat treatments (like used for supermarket varieties) which might reduce the goodness of your raw ingredients. Making your own mylk also provides you with a nutritious, gluten free by-product – Wholemeal Flour! – which you can then use in baking…

Here’s how you do it:

1 litre Organic Vegan Mylk

Ingredients

1 cup raw, organic nuts (see Method for recommendations)

1 organic date

1 tsp salt flakes

Approx 4 cups filtered water

♥

Equipment

Measuring cup and teaspoon

Jug blender able to finely blend nuts without blowing up

1 litre glass storage jug, or two 500ml jugs

1 large glass jug for straining into (a wide-ish mouth makes it easier to pour and strain into)

Nut mylk straining bag – Buy an organic cotton bag from A Fine Choice, or try Rawsome Creations’ “more than a Nut Milk Bag”

♥

Dry ingredients for Vegan mylk ready to be soaked overnight in the fridge

Method
1. Measure 1 cup of raw nuts or a combination of several kinds of nuts, seeds, grains and/or a sprinkling of desiccated coconut. Purists can go for a cup of almonds, a cup of cashews or a cup of Brazil nuts, or mix up your recipe by combining with chia, oats, rice, hemp seeds… or any combination. Just pack a cup! My personal favourite is 1/3 cup almonds, 1/3 cup cashews and 1/3 cup desiccated coconut.It’s nutty but without an overpowering almond taste and smell, creamy because of the richness of the cashews and a hint of coconut makes it a little sweet…
2. Soak those nuts overnight. Put them in a glass container, cover with approx 1 cup of filtered water and leave them in the fridge. This activates, softens and plumps them up.
3. In the morning, drain off the water and discard.
4. Put the nuts into a blender with approx 1 cup of filtered water.
5. Add the date for sweetness and the salt for balance. (You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I think it makes a sublime taste difference…)
6. Pour the blended ingredients into a wide mouthed jug lined with a nut mylk strainer
  
  Blend until very smooth. Give it a full 30 seconds and then pause for the bits to settle, then another 30 seconds.
7. Place nut mylk straining bag in glass jug for straining, and open it out securely over the rim.
8. Pour blended nut mixture into bag in jug
9. Make sure the bag isn’t sitting in the liquid as it drips through… I tie mine to the handle and leave gravity to pull it through for half an hour or so.
10. Gently squeeze bag to ensure all the liquid is out.
11. Sometimes – if I’m feeling impatient – I sit the straining bag between two small metal strainers and compress… though squeezing out the liquid by hand is more satisfying if you have time.
12. Allow the mylk to drop through into the jug, leaving the pulp in the straining bag
  
  When you are done you will have about a cup of pulverized nuts left in the straining bag. Don’t throw it away!!! – follow my recipe to make super-easy gluten free wholemeal flour here. But before you do that…
13. Pour the strained mylk into your glass storage jug(s). There will be less than a litre as you haven’t finished adding all the water yet.
14. Taste your mylk – it should be quite thick and creamy.
15. Top up your jug(s) with approx 2 cups of filtered water to make 1 litre of delicious MYLK. You can add less or more water to suit your taste, but as a rough guide, I suggest a cup of nuts makes a litre of good “milky” mylk.
16. Store your mylk in the fridge. It will separate when stored, just stir lightly with a spoon before using. Mylk can be used in hot and cold drinks, on cereal or anywhere you would normally use milk or store bought mylk. Best used within 48 hours.
Ta dah! A litre of wonderful tasting and nutritious Vegan mylk… store in the fridge and use within 48 hours!
January 29, 2019

Tag: nutrition

Gluten free wholemeal flour

Vegan mylk