If you are doing a diet or want to suffer from diabetes and enjoy something sweet, Stevia is ideal as a healthy sugar substitute when baking. Stevia has been used as a sweetener in South America for hundreds of years. Steviolglycosides are the components that are responsible for the sweet taste of the plant. Stevia is 250 to 300 times sweeter than sucrose, but has neither calories nor carbohydrates or a glycemic index. Despite some problems that can occur when using Stevia as a sugar substitute for baking, it can help you and your family to enjoy sweet delicacies and at the same time eat less sugar. Stevia also holds thatBlood sugar levels stableAnd is therefore ideal for diabetics.
The role of sugar when baking
Household sugar is known for its sweetness, but also for its high calorie and carbohydrate content. Sugar always gets a bad reputation and is held responsible for many health problems such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. But all cooks and bakers know that sugar is an invaluable ingredient so that baked goods not only taste good, but also get the right texture, color and the right volume.
Sugar doesn't just make food and drinks more tasty. In baked goods such as cakes, cookies and brownies, sugar creates a delicate texture and more lightness. It also helps to bind the moisture so that your tough chocolate biscuits do not dry. Sugar helps with browning (imagine a golden crust on a banana bread) and can crystallize to give baked goods crunch or texture. If you are a bread baker, you will probably know that sugar will feed the sourdough starter. When sugar is heated, it caramelized and forms the basis for caramel sauce,CrispyOr flan.
Stevia as a healthy sugar substitute for baking
Stevia is well suited for baking, but it is important to know that the end result will not be like this with sugar. Sugar substances are very cute, but do not have the same properties or the same chemical composition as household sugar. For this reason, you should prepare for the following problems:
–Light color- Sugar substances do not offer the same browning effect that is created when baking through sugar. It is also important to mention that Stevia does not caramelize.
–Less volume- Cake and muffins will not work so well when baking when they are prepared with stevia.
–Texture differences- Baked goods with less or no sugar are usually drier and poet, since the sweeteners do not absorb moisture.
–Differences in taste- Stevia has a specific aftertaste that is a little reminiscent of liquorice. This is a big disappointment for some people, while others like the taste. If the cake tastes uncomfortably bitter, you can just leave it for 1 day. The next day the intensive taste is neutralized.
–Baking time- You may need to adjust the time required to bake a cake or cookies with stevia.
For the best results, it is recommended to use at least 50 grams of sugar to support the browning and improve the texture of the dough. You also have to choose a lower baking temperature and extend the baking time a little.
Replace sugar with stevia - the right dosage
Stevia is naturally much sweeter than sugar. Only 1 teaspoon of real stevia has the sweetness of 200 grams of sugar. It is not easy to give recommendations to the correct amount of stevia when baking. Stevia products that are offered on the market are sometimes very different in terms of their sweetness.
Around 20 g Stevia powder is enough for a normal cake. 50 g Stevia strree feet granulate corresponds to approx. 125 g household sugar. 75 g stevia sugar corresponds to 150 g normal sugar. In liquid form as a fluid, 20 stevia drops correspond to 10 g of sugar. It is best to follow those specified on the packageInstructions for the sugar stevia ratio.
When baking with stevia powder, a few ingredients in the recipes are also required. Sugar plays an important role in the structure of your baked goods, so you have to compensate for the mass lost by sugar with a filler.
How can you give the sugar -free cake volume?
Use 75 grams of filler per 200 grams of replaced sugar. Possible healthy fillers are: apple sauce, pumpkin puree or yogurt. In some cases, fruit juice or water can also be used. If one of these fillers is already used - for example a banana in oneBanana nut cake- Simply increase the amount of this ingredient in the recipe. The dough should flow toughly from the spoon and neither be too liquid nor too chunky. Sugar helps to make cakes easier so that your finished cake with Stevia becomes poet and possibly dough. You can counteract this by adding a little more baking powder than the recipe demands.
Use of stevia as a sugar substitute for baking
There are a few adjustments to be made to replace Stevia with sugar. When baking cookies, Stevia is best in recipes forcrispy cookiesuch as grumbling biscuits used. If you bake cookies with stevia, it is best to add some mass and moisture in the form of pumpkin puree, apple sauce, oatmeal or nut butter. Otherwise, your cookies could end up dry and crumbly.
AtCakeIf you separate the egg whites and sleep stiff to get the volume of the cake dough. Make sure to turn the cake over to a cooling frame after baking so that the volume is preserved and the cake does not collapse.
Hefebroteneed sugar to open. Only replace half of the sugar with stevia and increase the baking powder dose to compensate for the lack of sugar. In all cases, the oven must be preheated for the correct temperature beforehand.
Making the glaze with stevia is not easy
Follow the same dosage to replace sugar in glazes that you apply to your finished cake. However, some icing is almost exclusively based on sugar and the result with Stevia would be poor. It is often more practical to serve your cake instead with a low -calorie, low -fat whipped cream or to prepare a healthy sauce from fruits sweetened with stevia. A simple oneCream cheese frostingFrom 230 grams of cream cheese, 55 grams of butter, 1-2 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 teaspoon of Stevia, usually works well.
Note: Although stevia does not contain calories and does not cause blood sugar fluctuations, it is still advisable to use it in moderation due to the excess calories in desserts. Other ingredients in the recipe can contribute to blood sugar tips. The maximum permissible daily dose Stevia according to the EU requirement is 10 mg per kg body weight. A normal adult who weighs between 60 and 80 kilograms can therefore consume between 600 and 800 mg of stevia in a concentrated form.
