The fascination of raw "baking"

Angela Griem | createrawvision.de

Why am I so fascinated by raw "baking"?

You can also prepare delicious cakes, breads and many other treats in vegan raw food that would otherwise be made in the oven. The difference is that all enzymes and vital substances are retained and proteins are still available to the body in their original, natural form. With this healthy version of "baking", you can promote your health while still being creative and experiencing real enjoyment. You can conjure up wonderful "pastries" and bring great joy to yourself, friends and family.

Advantages of raw "baking"

Raw "baking" has many health benefits in particular. But it's also a lot of fun. Once you have experienced how good it feels to feel the vitality of raw "baked goods" in your own body, you will soon not want to eat baked bread, cakes, etc.

• Raw "baking" allows proteins to remain in their natural state and bioavailable to us. In conventional baking, proteins denature at temperatures as low as 45 °C.
• Fats change from 130 °C into unhealthy trans fatty acids. Raw "baking" leaves fats in their natural state.
• Heating our food also destroys valuable vital substances that we so urgently need for various processes in our body.
• Depending on the type of food, enzymes are destroyed at temperatures as low as 42 °C. However, we urgently need them to digest the food in question. Raw "baking" preserves the enzymes in the food.
• Raw foods taste natural and provide energy.
• Raw foods are more filling than heated foods.

By not heating your food, you provide your body with the nutrients it naturally contains. Because so many substances have been altered in heated food, these meals have a negative effect on your body. The body then ingests "dead" food and has to get rid of the waste products. If it does not succeed in doing this completely, it builds up small deposits all over the body. Sooner or later, these will lead to obesity, wrinkles or even malfunctions within our organism. However, if you eat a raw diet, the body has plenty of energy at its disposal and can get rid of its stored waste products.

Disadvantages of raw "baking"

• Cost - Higher quality food is used, which is somewhat more expensive.
• Effort - Because there are only very limited opportunities to buy ready-made raw food "pastries" and because you therefore have to prepare everything yourself, you need some time. However, the effort involved is no greater than with other homemade recipes. You just need a little time at the beginning to get used to working with the dehydrator. You need to plan and prepare recipes differently. But after a while, habits develop and preparation becomes easy.

What techniques do you need to "bake" raw?

Making flour in a high-performance blender

A high-performance blender is particularly suitable for making your own fine flour from healthy ingredients. For example, you can use it to make fine flours from buckwheat sprouts, oat flakes, psyllium husks, linseed and nuts. But a good grain mill also fulfils its purpose here.

Making dough in the food processor with S-insert

To make dough, you need a food processor with an S-insert. This allows you to process nuts, seeds and fruit into a fine dough.

Drying in a dehydrator

Drying in a dehydrator replaces the baking process itself. Drying removes moisture from the dough and a raw "pastry" is created.

Temperature

You can select different temperatures for a dehydrator. I use a temperature of up to 42 °C for my raw food recipes. There is a thermostat in the dehydrator to ensure that the temperature is even throughout the dehydrator. It measures and regulates the temperature during the drying process.

Air

A dehydrator dries with heat and air. It uses the built-in fan to blow air into the interior, which circulates and removes moisture from the surface of the food. This means they dry faster, more evenly and don't get too warm.

Air permeability

There are special shelves with grids in a dehydrator. The food to be dried is placed on the grids and also dries from below.
Drying in the dehydrator is particularly suitable for bread, rolls, wraps, crisps and crackers.

Cooling

Another option is cooling. Here, fats such as coconut oil and/or cocoa butter are worked into the dough, the pastry is prepared and placed in the fridge or freezer. The cool temperatures cause the fat to solidify and the pastry to set too. This method is particularly suitable for cakes, biscuits and biscuits.

Which dishes can you "bake" raw

• Breads such as crispbread, focaccia, loaf bread, rolls, breadsticks, wraps
• Crisps & crackers such as kale crisps, savoy cabbage crisps, Chinese cabbage crisps, croutons
• Finger food and snacks such as dumplings, buffalo bites
• Breakfast such as granola, muesli, pancakes
• Biscuits and biscuits such as Florentines, cookies, Christmas biscuits
• Cakes such as cream cakes, crumble cakes, strudel, fruit cake, sponge cake, gingerbread

As an enthusiastic and experienced raw food "baker", I can definitely recommend raw baking to you. It simply feels good to work with living foods and serve delicious, healthy baked goods to family and friends. And if you didn't like baking before because you always burnt something, you can hardly go wrong here.

Your Angie