flax-*gg – the ultimate egg replacement

Today I am posting a brief but very useful little post about the flax-*gg which has become the ultimate egg-replacement in our kitchen. Yesterday whilst enjoying afternoon tea with a friend in London, I was given gluten and was violently ill, and now am horribly sick, so am keeping this (some-what late in the day post) short & sweet.

Living free-from lots of foods we are always on the look out for good alternatives to play with in our baking. The flax-*gg is one of those replacements that once discovered revolutionised our experiments!

There are so many alternatives to dairy available to those of us who have severe allergies to dairy, but egg-replacements that work have always been harder to find. We used a lot of bananas and stewed apples in our baking in place of eggs, which worked wonderfully.

A couple of years ago I discovered flaxseeds (a.k.a linseed) and chia seeds – they are both really good for our bodies. Flaxseeds are the richest vegetarian source of omega-3, they’re also a rich source of micronutrients, dietary fiber, manganese and vitamin B1. But fantastically for those who have severe allergies to eggs they have incredible congealing properties when mixed with water. This works when you soak them whole and when you grind them up.

We grind flaxseeds in our spice-grinder, the jars of which live eternally in our fridge so that the flaxseeds don’t heat up as we grind them. Flax-*ggs are really easy to make, and work incredibly effectively in most recipes as an egg-replacement in most recipes. They are also fabulous when working with gluten-free flours as the ground flaxseed helps hold everything together.

I hope this simple little flax-*gg recipe revolutionises your free-from baking as it has done ours!

flax-*gg (a.k.a flax-egg)

• Yield:

  1 flax-*gg

• Prep Time:

  15 mins

• Cook Time:

  0 mins

Allergens:

no allergens

Dietary:

dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, healthy, nut-free, paleo, soy-free, vegan

Being a free-from household we are always on the lookout for great egg-replacements. We have used bananas, stewed apples for years but a couple of years ago we discovered the wonder of flaxseed (a.k.a linseed) and chia seeds. They both have a wonderful congealing property, and both are really good for your body. You can use them whole, but in most of our recipes we grind the seeds in our spice grinder* to create the flax-*gg. I keep the glass spice-grinder jar in the fridge so it's always cold, to ensure the seeds don't heat up whilst they are being ground. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs ground flaxseed
• 3 Tbs filtered water

Method:

1. Into a cup add the ground flaxseed and water, stir and leave to congeal for 12 - 15 minutes. It goes all gloopy like an egg, as you can see in the photo! Once it has that wonderful congealing consistency it's a flax-*gg, ready to use in your recipe in place of an egg.

Notes:

*if you don't have a spice-grinder you can use a coffee grinder to grind the flax-seed. Or you can buy pre-ground flaxseed but that's way more expensive than grinding the seeds yourself!