Even the most resolute of us can’t help but indulge a little. It’s the holiday season after all! 'Tis the season to be jolly and get baking.
But here’s your definitive guide to be slightly less guilty about indulging. But before we tell you how to reduce sugar in your home bakes, we need to understand why sugar is important.
Moisture
Also, if you’re baking with reduced sugar, check for the doneness of your baked goods’ earlier than usual. Baked goods with less moisture are prone to overbaking.
Aeration
Without enough sugar, your baked goods won’t rise properly. Creaming butter or eggs with sugar is an important step in many baked goods.
Browning
Sugar plays an important role in the Maillard reaction. It's a chemical reaction that gives your baked goods their pleasant color and flavor.
Spreading
The more sugar in your baked goods, the more they’ll spread. It also depends on the ratio of ingredients—keeping the amount of other ingredients while reducing sugar will make your baked goods spread less.
Fermentation
Although bread is typically less sweet than cakes and cookies, sugar is also important in breadmaking.
Yeast feeds on sugar and produces carbon dioxide that makes your bread rise.
Now that you know what sugar does in a baked dish, let’s see how we can smartly reduce sugar:
For most recipes, you can safely cut back to three-quarters the amount the recipe suggests without any adverse consequences.
Having said that, some chefs halve the amount of sugar recommended in a baked goods recipe with nobody the wiser as to the flavor impact.
With a gradual reduction, you'll find yourself getting used to the new way that the baked items taste which highlight other flavors and textures.
Stevia
Spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice, etc.)
Fruit puree or Fresh fruit, berries, or sweet vegetables
Syrups, such as maple and
Use this to make up the missed volume of sugar. For most recipes this will work but you do need to experiment a little
Yeast requires the sugar to activate. Try and make sure you have enough sugar to keep the yeast satiated.
A lot of recipes call for icing sugar, fine sugar or other sugars in the recipes as garnish. Just use fresh flowers or get creative with fruit slices or spices like cinnamon. Or better yet just leave them be.
(The author is a lawyer turned business intelligence consultant turned chef. He also designs weekly and monthly meal plans for clients and conducts baking and cooking workshops.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
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