Hi,

I was trying some experiments in the dehydrator today, thought I might share my research. I've been wanting to play around with rising agents and raw food for while. Today I did and I'm impressed.

Here's what I did.

- 1 lbs carrots
- 1 bunch parsley
- 6 desert spoon fulls of flax seed
- 1/4 teaspoon for baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
- a pinch of salt
- dash of oil (I used hemp)
- a splash of water here and there

First I juiced the carrots and parsley, then drank the juice (adding some ginger can be nice and well, but this isn't about the juice) and keep the pulp. Then I put the flax seed through the coffee grinder until it was flour. Place the flax flour in a bowl and little by little add the pulp from the carrots and parsley (make sure the pulps are well mixed first), at first they will 'crumb', you want to keep breaking up the crumbs while adding more pulp. After a while you'll start to get something that looks and feels like doe (I didn't use all the veggie pulp, fyi). Add the oil and a splash of water and need the doe so it's all the same consistancy. Next add the baking soda and a pinch of salt and need the doe again to get the salt and baking soda evenly through out the doe.

Then make the doe into small balls, squish them flat (half to quart inch thick) and put them in the dehydrator. I've only had mind in the dehydrator for a couple of hours, they seem to have risen and have a nice crust (still moist inside).

I was going to dehydrate them over night, but I've also most finished eating them!

Next time I might try and add more baking soda; maybe even look into using
yeast; trying a mix for ground up flax seed and wheat berries; a little more
oil/water.

It was pretty quick to make. Let me know if you try this and how it comes out.

Also, what do peeps think of using baking soda in raw foods?

Cheers,
Ian.

One piece survived over night in the dehydrator. It turned out pretty good. This would make really nice pizza crust.

Ian.

I made these again last night, dehydrated them over night and just had them for lunch. They came out great again. This time I actually managed to put some avo for butter, tomato and olive bits on them (well, half of them I ate plain).

The only thing I really did differently was to use kale instead of parsley and added a little extra hemp oil (which really helped the doe to stop sticking to my hands when it was getting needed). I think pretty much any veggie pulp will work.

I can see myself making these on a daily bases. In fact I've broken down and order a new dehydrator so I make bigger batches.

Next up on the research will be trying it with fruit pulp. Maybe some apple and raisen scones. Also at some point I'll compare the different between a batch with way too much baking soda and batch with too little to gauge the effects and try to figure out where the best baking soda level is.

Cheers,
Ian.

muy creativo

very cool. i like the idea of useing b.soda in raw foods. keep up the neat experimenting ian!

Thanks guys. The research continues. Mainly playing around how much of each to add and ratios, I've found if you use too much veggie pulp to flax flour, it tastes kind of like cardboard...

I'll publish a more formal recipe once I complete some more rounds of research. Probably for the garlic rosemary bread, which came out totally yummy (and made my kitchen smell great when it was dehydrating).

Cheers,
Ian.

Ian:

Your experiments are really interesting. Do you have any formal recipes yet? What about an update?

Hi Jilleen,

I've not made a batch for a while (I should probably make some tonight or this weekend). It got sunny so I spend more time out doors.

For the last couple of batches I was playing with reducing the flax flour and baking powder. The result was something like cardboard :-(, having plently of flax in it is important to keeping it bread like (and avoiding the cardboard problem....). I've still not deciding if the baking powder is really rising the bread, I think it is. I'll need to make a big batch up and add baking powder to half, then see if there is a difference in how they turn out.

I think having plently of flax flour is important to creating a 'seal', so that the CO2 created by the baking powder gets trapped in the bread and helps it rise. Too much pulp and there are channels for the gas to escape and it does no good.

It's kind of hard to come up with a straight recipe for this stuff, it's more like an art of making it... "try doing X, if it comes out like S rather than T, then add more Y next time".

I'll just keep turning out batches until I get it prefect every time, then write up a 'how to' for make it.

In the mean time keep bugging me about this, otherwise I'll forget and go on to something else (mmmmmm, sauerkraut!). ;-)

Cheers,
Ian.

I am finishing off the master cleanse and can't wait to try this in a week or two!!! If you do get the proportions recorded - they would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the creativity!

my site - raw4life
my raw show! - Raw Kitchen vodcast

Hi,

here is the last batch I made (last weekend), it came out pretty good.

Here is what I used:
2/3 cup of flax seeds
1lb of carrots
1 clove of garlic
1 tspn of hemp oil
some rosemarry (either finally chopped or dried and powdered)
pinch of salt
1/2 tspn baking powder

I juiced the carrots and ended up using only about half of the pulp.

First grind the flax seeds into a powder and place in a bowl, you can add the salt and baking powder now.

Next start adding the pulp, just sprinkle a little bit on the flour and mix it in, the pulp will "crumb" a little, just break up the crumbs and keep mixing it in. Add a little more pulp and mix it in again.

Once you've got some pulp mixed in, it's a good time to add the rosemarry and finally chopped garlic. Mix it in.

Keep adding the pulp little by little, mix it thoroughly each time.

Once the mixture turns in to a lump of doe that stays in one piece and doesn't fall apart it's about time to stop added the pulp.

You should be able to hear a fizzal or hiss from the doe if you hold it close to your ear. This is caused by the baking powder being active, so we have to work fast or it'll all have fizzed before we are finished. If it's not fizzing, you could add a little acid (lemon juice or something), although bare in mind it may have already fizzed a way.

Anyway, working quickly pull little balls off the blob of doe, 1 to 2" in diameter. Roll them round, then squish them flat and place in your dehydrator.
If you hands get sticky, just splash a little water on them. You can also make other shapes, like bagels or mini-pizza crusts with a rim. The main reason I squish them flat is because my dehydrator works best with flat things...

How long you dehydrate them for depends on how crunchy you like them. I like after a few hours when they are still quite moist. But I also like them after a day or so when they are crunchy, and I like them in between as well. ;-)

Let me know if you try this and how it comes out. I'm still considering this to be experimental. After some more research I think I can come up with an improved recipe.

Cheers,
Ian.