New Ingredients…

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

I am thinking of trying einhorn wheat. Any advice? It is VERY expensive so I may skip it. The Jovial brand bag say it is "the only non-hybridized wheat". The internet says it is the oldest existing wheat. Is there any good reason to use it or is it just the next, hot ingredient (although I have not seen it at KAB or on Food TV yet).

Next is coconut butter. I am thinking of starting to sub some in for butter because it is supposed to be a healthy fat. I like that it is solid at room temp and has a higher melting/smoking temp. But it is not taste neutral (at least the kind I've tried) so I need to tread carefully.

Thanks

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[Mike Nolan]

I've tried both einhorn and emmer, can't say either impressed me much. Yeah, they're really expensive.

[BakerAunt]

I'm not sure what was in the Ancient Grains flour that King Arthur marketed some years back, but none of us liked the resulting loaf of bread, which tasted somewhat bitter. I ended up subbing small amounts of that flour into other breads in order to use it up and not waste money.

I suggest being skeptical about coconut oil. While it is trendy in some "health" writings, it has a lot of saturated fat. The last I heard, the American Heart Association was not recommending it.

I have been using avocado oil in some of my cakes. It is neutral and has the same amount of saturated fat as olive oil, plus it also has healthy fats. I also use it, with a tad of butter when making crumb toppings. It works well for sauteing vegetables and meat, and it has a higher smoke point than olive oil.

For a time, I used grapeseed oil, but I could never find information on its health benefits, so I switched to avocado oil.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, thanks for the tips on fats. What I like about coconut oil over avocado oil is that it's solid at room temp. But if it's as bad for me as butter then I'll take butter any day.

And I think I'll skip einhorn right now. it's at least $4/lb so unless there is something out-of-this-world wonderful about it einhorn is not worth the price.

[Mike Nolan]

There's a mixed verdict on coconut oil, it is high in saturated fats (higher than butter, beef tallow or lard) but it also has properties that boost HDL (the good cholesterol.)

The Harvard Medical School paper on it advises you use it sparingly, as there have not been any long term studies yet on its effect on heart disease.

See Harvard Paper on Coconut Oil

[Author]

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