10 Reasons to Bake with Fiber

Despite what you may have seen on TV, fiber is not responsible for dry tasteless baked goods. The creator of the recipe is responsible for any less than desirable result. There is a certain irony present in the baking industry currently. With the exception of bread and crackers, the commercial baking industry is still strictly a white flour, white sugar world. However, two products have been created recently to help cake and muffin manufacturers preserve moisture, create extra volume and allow them to add more water and therefore lower their costs. What are these new products? Rice bran and oat bran. That is right, while the conventional advertising industry continues to mock fiber as something to be spit out, (unless it is their product), the commercial baking industry is selling it as an additive in white flour products. Why, because used properly, it does help preserve moisture, create extra volume and allow for fewer ingredients to be used.

There are two types of fiber:

Insoluble fiber is scratchy and cleans the intestinal track by helping move material through it. It also helps balances intestinal ph, creating an environment more synergistic to the good bacteria and less inviting to bad bacteria.  It also helps with the removal of toxic waste, from metabolic processes or ingested from our diet. Examples of insoluble fiber can be found in wheat as wheat bran, as cellulose in vegetables, psyllium seed (not husk) and in all nuts, seeds and legumes

Soluble Fiber helps draw water to the colon. It regulates the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream so that blood sugar can remain steady and even. It also can help regulate cholesterol and fatty acid delivery from the diet into the body as well. No type of fat or carbohydrate can be properly studied unless the factor of fiber is considered as this is how natured designed our food. It also appears that fiber (working with the good bacteria in our intestines) is involved in regulating our vitamin and mineral absorption as well. Sources of soluble fiber are fruit and fruit skins, rice bran, oat bran, psyllium husk and seed, and all nuts, seeds and legumes.   

Baking with grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds with fiber can change the texture but knowing how to use this feature is the key.

1. Whole grains are easy to use to replace white flour in a recipe. Just add more water or use less flour. If the recipe is one you are familiar with, the whole grain version should be wetter or looser than the original.
2. Baking with grains that contain fiber will preserve the moisture in the item as long as you incorporated the right amount in the first place. It is the soluble fiber that is the most significant for this as its ability to dissolve in water give the water a structure that can replace some of the flour in a recipe. The more soluble fiber in a food, the less you need to use to improve the texture and preserve the moisture.  
3. Whole grain baked goods will satisfy your appetite allowing you to eat less or go for longer periods before you are hungry
4. Baking with whole grains will help you make fluffier muffins and cakes, as long you balanced the moisture level correctly, giving you a superior texture and eating experience.   
5. The foods that contain fiber contain many other nutrients that are essential for health including vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients and beneficial fatty acids.
6. Baking with foods that contain fiber delivers a tasty way to get the benefits of fiber. What would rather do? Drink Metamucil or eat a delicious cookie?
7. Most people can incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables easily into their diets, but grains products are another matter. By baking these items yourself, you get to choose exactly the ingredient you prefer, get the fiber you are looking for and the taste and texture that pleases you.
8. If all the grains, legumes, nuts seed, fruits and vegetables you consume have fiber, it is one less thing to worry about. You should not have to count fiber grams. A whole foods with provide an ample of both types so all you have to do is find what you enjoy.
9. Fiber helps stabilize blood sugar and regulate cholesterol. Would you rather eat a muffin or take a drug?
10. 99 % of the phytonutrients found in grains are bound to the fiber so when it is remove, the phytonutrients are also removed. There is much more to this story as this is relatively new information. To maximize the bioavailability of the phytonutrients, they need to be released by good bacteria either by fermenting the grain before consumption or by having sufficient in the gut.

Tips for Using Fiber in Baking:

• If substituting whole grains for white flour in cakes, breads and muffins add extra water. It will vary depending on what you are making but 1-3  tbsp water per cup of flour is the usual range. Start with one tbsp and work up if needed once you see the results.
• For cookies and pastry use less flour, as much as 3 tbsp per cup of flour. Again start with using 1 tbsp less and work up as you see the results.
• If using ground chia seeds, white chia, salba, salvia hispanica or coconut flour, 2 tsp of any other these can replace 1/2 cup of another type of flour like whole wheat or brown rice. Small adjustments may be needed depending on the type of flour you are using. If using ground flax, substitute 2 tbsp for a 1/2 flour    
• There is a substitution chart in  A Pastry Queen Goes Green which can makes can help with understanding the ratio of all flours to each other

It is clear from the charts below that all foods contain both types of foods. Foods are considered as sources of soluble fiber when the ratio between soluble and insoluble is such that when water is added, the food will thicken like jelly. Although most foods have more insoluble fiber than soluble, there are different soluble fibers and different insoluble fibers in different foods. Lignan is an insoluble fiber found on flax and cellulose is the insoluble found vegetables. Pectin is the soluble fiber found in apples and inulin is the soluble fiber found in bananas. They all behave slightly different when water or moisture is present so it is hard to say exactly how they will react in baking until you use them. Coconut flour and chia are a good example. Chia has far more soluble fiber than coconut flour and coconut flour has far more insoluble fiber than chia but they perform about the same when used as a substitute for grain flours in baking.