Gransnet forums

Food

Could you please recommend an 'alternative' milk for use in baking?

(64 Posts)
Candelle Sun 25-Apr-21 00:38:01

I will be making an afternoon tea (sounds grand but won't be!) for a group of friends, one of whom is lactose intolerant.

I would prefer to use my own recipes and substitute the milk within them (yes, they all have milk!) for an oat, soya or almond milk (or similar) but wonder which would be best for not altering the taste and texture too much.

I will probably make scones, chocolate, lemon, and ginger cakes (individual cakes, not a mixture of all three!).

Has anyone baked using these milks? If so, could you please recommend which would be best ?

Do you think they alter the flavour or texture of baking?

Many thanks.

Redhead56 Sun 25-Apr-21 00:47:46

My husband has soya milk I use for a lot of cooking and baking. Just make sure you mix it well it has a tendency to separate.

CocoPops Sun 25-Apr-21 02:20:17

I use soya milk.

Jane43 Sun 25-Apr-21 02:39:02

We use oat milk and find it nicer than soya or almond milk.

vegansrock Sun 25-Apr-21 03:34:01

Oat milk is the best one to use in tea/ coffee, and for baking, although the flavour of almond is quite nice in chocolate cake.

Witzend Sun 25-Apr-21 08:31:58

I recently used Oatly for the white sauce in a vegan lasagne. It tasted fine.
Dd and family use Oatly all the time.

wildswan16 Sun 25-Apr-21 09:19:35

If she is only lactose intolerant then you could just use lactose free milk, available almost everywhere. Otherwise I would choose oat milk.

Peasblossom Sun 25-Apr-21 09:21:54

I’d only use oat milk unless you’re very knowledgeable about possible allergies.

(Says the woman who was put in hospital by a friend using almond milk in her baking) ?

Candelle Sun 25-Apr-21 10:02:44

Thank you for your helpful replies.

wildswan16 I didn't know that there was a lactose-free milk and peasblossom, I am sorry to read of your outing post-eating cake (I know it's bad for us but your experience takes matters to another level!)

I obviously need to double check that there are not other allergies for the lactose intolerant friend and then do the same for the rest of them if I use oat, soy or almond milk!

I may try and find the lactose-free milk as presumably that won't produce any altered taste or texture.

Please tell me if anyone thinks it (or the others, in case I can't find the lactose-free milk) may do.

Thank you for your help.

JackyB Sun 25-Apr-21 10:08:38

Lactose free milk is a little sweeter than normal milk (go figure!) so you may need to reduce the sugar a little. Maybe try a small batch of fairy cakes first.

geekesse Sun 25-Apr-21 10:24:40

Oat milk has a less distinctive taste than other options, so would work best for baking, I think. But almond milk is actually rather nice in sponge-based cakes because the slight almond-y flavour actually adds something.

Oopsadaisy1 Sun 25-Apr-21 10:27:26

What will you do about the bread? Bought in bread has milk products in it, you can buy Vegan ‘cheese’.

DDs other half is lactose intolerant so no milk or cheese, but he is ok with cakes and bread as long as he doesn't have to much or too many. He hates substitute cheese.

It might be worth checking how much milk she can tolerate.

muse Sun 25-Apr-21 10:32:45

I use soya and it's excellent. I find it better for sauces and yorkshire puds too. I also buy sweetened soya for MrM to have on his cereal. That's makes the best custard. I put that into cakes and reduce the sugar a little.

I think I'll try oat milk geekesse as I love cakes made with ground almonds.

Amberone Sun 25-Apr-21 10:36:27

I use coconut milk.

Whiff Mon 26-Apr-21 18:58:34

Coconut milk is delicious. I use it everyday to make my porridge. It doesn't taste coconutty. Use it in to make low cal soda bread. Coconut milk is great for sweet or savoury recipes.

Callistemon Mon 26-Apr-21 19:23:40

It depends on the cake, I would think.

Probably oat milk would be good for baking although soya milk is good in sauces and custard. Almond milk would be good in baking as long as no-one has a nut allergy so check first.

I think oat milk is not at all nice in tea or coffee!

crissy Mon 26-Apr-21 22:41:43

You can get lacto free milk, cream, cheese, margarine readily available in supermarkets. My daughter is lactose intolerant and over the years I have made lacto free trifles, quiches, scones etc. and no one seems to know the difference.

pen50 Tue 27-Apr-21 10:42:10

Please don't use coconut milk! I know it's only a small minority of us who don't like coconut, but we REALLY don't like it.

InselAffe Tue 27-Apr-21 10:49:41

We're a vegan family of 7 who all pefer oat milk. Never had a problem using it in baking or cooking.

Gangstagranny69 Tue 27-Apr-21 10:58:47

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

JanetOFB Tue 27-Apr-21 10:58:54

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Razzy Tue 27-Apr-21 11:00:51

Maybe look at some vegan recipes?

Riggie Tue 27-Apr-21 11:00:56

pen50

Please don't use coconut milk! I know it's only a small minority of us who don't like coconut, but we REALLY don't like it.

I heartily agree!!!!

Also candelle maybe check with your guests which would be best because almond milk could trigger nut allergies and then some people (like me) should not have much soya (in my case it interferes with some of my medication).

And the barista style milk which is great for hot drinks contains "fillers" to stop it separating, so not sure how they would affect cakes.

Aepgirl Tue 27-Apr-21 11:02:05

I also have a lactose intolerant friend, and her preferred alternative is soya milk. Don’t forget, you should also use soya fat for baking.

Her sons call these her “unleaded options’!

Gangstagranny69 Tue 27-Apr-21 11:04:11

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.