Dairy-free bread

[Mogget]

I'm trying to eliminate, as much as possible, my consumption of dairy products and eggs. However, I'm having a problem with finding bread not made with whey or milk. Even the bread recipes I have almost all involve dried milk. Does anyone know of relatively affordable bread brands that don't use any dairy products?

[seeksanctuary]

You might have to just buy a bread maker and find some recipes. It'll probably be the cheaper, more reliable option.

[Chip]

THe key is "affordable." There are some excellent dairy-free (and gluten-free as well) breads you can find in almost any health food store that has a frozen section, but they aren't cheap. In the lower 48, $3-4 a loaf. I'm guessing probably higher in Alaska.

So it will definitely be cheaper to make your own. Flour, yeast, little sugar or honey, little salt, and you're done You can make 5 or 10 loaves at a time and freeze the ones you don't use, and it really doesn't take much more time to make 10 loaves than it does to make two.

[Mogget]

$3-4 is the standard price of non-white bread here already, and I can't eat non-white bread because it just leaves me desperately hungry. Making my own does seem to be the way to go, and it's not as if I don't enjoy bread baking. I'm not much of an inventor when it comes to baking, though. Can I just use the ratio of flour to water in a regular recipe and just not use any milk or butter, maybe some extra honey or molasses instead? Or do I have to adjust for the absence of the fat and flavor that the milk and butter create?

[starfish]

I am curious why one would want to eliminate dairy and eggs from their diet.

[Mogget]

Essentially it's because it's not currently possible for me to buy products made from humanely raised cows (I have access to properly free-range eggs through one of my professors). Because I think it's immoral to sponsor what amounts to wanton animal torture, I'm choosing to try to avoid purchasing food made with the products of animal torture.

Which, since I'm already a vegetarian, means eliminating dairy and only eating eggs that are free-range ("cage-free" chickens (which are the only commercially available eggs that made any nod towards preventing animal cruelty in my area) are still in unspeakably horrid conditions; the cage-free label is mostly unregulated and only requires that the chickens have theoretical access to an uncaged area).

[Chip]

Liam, I've seen a number of bread recipes with little or no fat/oil in them. You need some sugar or honey or molasses so there's something to react with the yeast, but as far as I know, the oil or butter is mostly for flavor and moisture. Bread without it will be a little bit dry, but can be really good. Or you can experiment with using part oat flour, which has a bit of fat in it. (I'd say soy, but it tends to make the bread bitter.) If you can find a copy of the Deaf Smith Cookbook, I believe they have some very healthy (i.e., low or no fat) bread recipes in there. Otherwise, there are probably a ton of other healthy bread cookbooks by now.

I think you'll be surprised how easy it is, with a bit of experimentation, to come up with a really tasty bread recipe that's fat free and inexpensive to make. Just don't make my mistake and experiment, but not document what you did, so when you hit on the perfect recipe, you don't remember what you modified to get it perfect

[seeksanctuary]

Originally Posted by starfish

I am curious why one would want to eliminate dairy and eggs from their diet.

For the same reasons people would want to eliminate meat, gluten, nuts or anything else from their diets. Either they don't like it, are allergic or oppose the industry it comes from.

Anyhow, I've heard of people using pureed zucchini instead of butter. I don't know the conversion ration, though; one would have to google it.

[Eleanor Rigby]

Wait... you put some milk in the bread ? What kind of country do you live in ????
If you can't find way without milk, the easiest way would be to make it yourself. It's quite easy.
I can give you recipes if you want to.

[Mogget]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

Wait... you put some milk in the bread ? What kind of country do you live in ????
If you can't find way without milk, the easiest way would be to make it yourself. It's quite easy.
I can give you recipes if you want to.

Would you please? I'd really appreciate it.